Racing the Clock

Anaward-winning, much-loved biologist turns his gaze on himself, using hislong-distance running to illuminate the changes to a human body over a lifetimePartmemoir, part scientific investigation, Racing the Clock isthe book biologist and natural historian Bernd Heinrich has been waiting hisentire life to write. A dedicated and accomplished marathon (andultra-marathon) runner who won his first marathon at age thirty-nine, Heinrichlooks deeply at running, aging, and the body, exploring the unresolvedrelationship between metabolism, diet, exercise, and age. Why do some bodies age differently than others? Howmuch control do we have over that process and what effect, if any, does beingactive have? Bringing to bear research from his entire career and in the spiritof his classic Why We Run, Heinrich probes thequestions of how we use energy and continue to adapt to our mutablesurroundings and circumstances. Beyond that, he examines how our bodies changewhile we age but also how we can work with, if not overcome, many of thesechanges—and what all this tells us about evolution and the mechanisms of life,health, and happiness.Racing the Clock offersfascinating and surprising conclusions, all while bringing the reader along onHeinrich’s compelling journey to what he says will be his final race—afifty-kilometer race at age eighty.