10 Books About Running to Add to Your TBR Pile

"The Monsters of Templeton" ($11, originally $19)

This story follows Willie Upton, an archaeology grad student who returns to the town where her family has lived for centuries after a series of messy decisions derail her life. As Willie uses her skills to dig through her family tree for answers, she exhumes long dead skeletons from the closets of many prominent townspeople, some of whom are her relatives.

Author Lauren Groff's prose is beautiful, and she masterfully weaves stories from the past and present together while juggling numerous voices. Part of this rich tapestry is the Running Buds, a group of older men who have gathered to jog together every morning for decades, and who take Willie under their wing and function like the town's Greek chorus, spreading gossip and discussing everyone's business.

"Slow Horses" ($17, originally $19)

You may think of spies as glamorous, skilled professionals, but the spies that populate Mick Herron's "Slough House" series are the opposite: a motley crew of disgraced, dysfunctional agents who've been demoted and suffered some mess up or humiliation that placed them on the outs. But under the guidance of brilliant but curmudgeonly spy Jackson Lamb, they do somehow manage to save the UK repeatedly, despite committing bungling missteps along the way.

River Cartwright, a promising young agent, is constantly trying to prove himself. This means placing himself physically in harm's way, which includes him running all the time: through crowded public spaces to (try) to catch suspects, away when he breaks into high security spaces to gain intel, and even on jogs to clear his head.

"The Break-Up Pact" ($16, originally $18)

Romance books are filled with satisfying tropes, and Emma Lord's novel "The Break-Up Pact" is no different. In this fun read, two childhood best friends, who've been estranged for 10 years, pretend they're a couple after their own humiliating breakups become the talk of the internet.

June and Levi are both struggling to emerge from their respective ruts: June wants to save her beachside tea shop and Levi wants to make his ex jealous. I'm sure you can guess that they catch real feelings for each other. As for why this made the list for books about running? Both June and Levi are dedicated runners (they met on their high school cross country team), and they reconnected while on a jog.

"Track Series" ($19 for all four books, originally $32)

Joining the track and field team is a part of many peoples' school stories. Jason Reynolds' moving four book "Track Series" follows four middle schoolers who compete on an elite track team. Over the course of four volumes, each named for a different runner, Reynolds spins yarns about how Ghost, Sunny, Patina, and Lu use sports and the community to heal and grow as they compete for a state title.

"The Vaster Wilds" ($14, originally $18)

A raw and tough tale, "The Vaster Wilds" is set in the colonial Jamestown settlement during a time when disease and famine killed most of the settlers. A teenage servant girl saves herself by fleeing the colony into the unknown wilderness. The taut novel is part woman vs. nature, part woman vs. herself. The protagonist pushes her body to its limits, trying to survive in the woods and evade capture as she starts to question all the narratives she's been told about the world she lives in. Groff's beautifully constructed sentences are so visceral that you may feel like you are hunting, puking, and running along with her.

"Milkman" ($10, originally $17)

Running in "Milkman" is seen as an act of rebellion — especially for "middle sister," the name of the protagonist in the novel. Middle sister tries to tune everything out: she reads while she walks and frequently goes on solo runs. But when an older, married paramilitary member starts harassing her on her runs, rumors about their relationship make her an outcast. In this world, everything is politicized, and middle sister's acts of rebellion, like running, puts a target on her back.

"Let the Games Begin" ($10)

The Olympic Games are, of course, a celebration of athletic feats and patriotism, but according to many news reports, they're also the site of plenty of romance and sex. It was only a matter of time until an author (in this case, Rufaro Faith Mazarura) saw the rom-com potential.

In "Let the Games Begin," Olympic sprinter Zeke Moyo, who is trying to focus on securing medals for Great Britain after a messy breakup, literally collides with scrappy and ambitious intern Olivia Nkomo, who has had to claw her way up the professional ladder. With their dual perspectives, you will get a glimpse inside each lover's head while reading this sweet story.

"Marathon Man" ($15, originally $20)

If you're in the market for a propulsive conspiracy thriller, try William Goldman's "Marathon Man." In the book, marathon runner Thomas "Babe" Levy is an awkward, ordinary guy just trying his best after his famous father's suicide, but he finds his life upended even more when he's implicated in a plot involving a Nazi fugitive trying to steal diamonds in New York. Caught in a cat and mouse game, Babe has to call on all his courage and resourcefulness to untangle a vast conspiracy and emerge with his life intact.

"What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen" ($10, originally $19)

To be an elite runner, running isn't always enough — weathering the storms of constant scrutiny, extreme performance pressure, tough training, and the possibility of injury all come with the territory, too. Young athletes can be particularly susceptible to struggling with these issues on top of the usual pressures that come with growing up.

"What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen" is a wrenching story about Maddy Holleran, a 19-year-old Ivy League freshman athlete who appeared to have the world at her feet before she died by suicide. Reading about Holleran's relatable fears of not being good enough and letting people down hurts tremendously as the pages inch toward her decision to take her own life.

"Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World" ($15, originally $18)

American runner Lauren Fleshman has reached every pinnacle of competitive distance running . . . except for the Olympics. Her memoir "Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World" shows all the ups and downs of an elite runner's career, and also explains how running culture treats female athletes as they work their way toward the podium. An outspoken advocate for athlete's rights, Fleshman draws on research and her own experience to detail how sports infrastructure designed for male athletes routinely fails female ones.

Helen Carefoot is a freelance lifestyle, culture, and entertainment journalist based in Washington, D.C. Previously, she was Well+Good's Lifestyle Writer and worked at The Washington Post on the lifestyle desk in the features section.