Glaze first caught my attention for his positive attitude and his running "jorts" (running shorts that look like jean cut-offs). And then I learned that he has run 100 miles per week for over 300 weeks--which is now close to six years! Is this a good idea? Absolutely not--which Glaze himself admits. But is it impressive? Indubitably. I've had so many weeks where I was traveling, I was sick, I was hurt, or I just wasn't feeling it and barely exercised. 100 miles a week is averaging 14.3 miles per day--for years! And if you can't run for a day, then you have six days to make up the mileage. I'm afraid this streak would start feeling like an albatross around my neck, but it's still very impressive!
When I saw that Glaze had a memoir out: Smile, or You're Doing it Wrong: A Journey From Rock Bottom to Redemption (2026), I wasn't sure I wanted to read an influencer book. I like to lurk in the shadows and not get too involved with people I see on social media. But I was curious about Glaze, and I had a credit on Audible waiting for me.
Glaze reads the Audiobook himself, and he talks about his life, the obstacles he overcame, and how he got into running. I've discovered that many people involved in punishing endurance sports have survived major difficulties in their lives. Whether it is an alcoholic or abusive parent, neglect, or addiction, it seems to pop up more often in these athletes than you might expect. I am guessing that sometimes they feel the need to keep accomplishing something, that endurance sports might be a helpful emotional balm on their past trauma, and/or the physical pain of a race is nothing compared to the physical or psychological pain that they've already been through. So, I was only a little bit surprised to hear that Glaze was a drug addict as a teenager. His parents tracked him down on the street and sent him off to one of those youth camps in Utah that have since been determined to be inhumane and abusive.
Even after getting off drugs and graduating from college, Glaze struggled to find himself. He was a sedentary, unmotivated chain smoker. When he ran 1.5 miles as part of a class and struggled mightily to finish, he decided to turn things around. To get all the details, you need to read his story, but he now runs much more than that mile and a half.
On the whole, I liked this book. Glaze seemed to be honest and open about his struggles, and he has an optimistic outlook that encourages people to try hard things. I found his book inspiring--even if my goals are simply to walk 10,000 steps a day and run when I'm not too hurt.
My only nitpick is that Glaze tells the story more by subject, and this sometimes led to my confusion. Sometimes more details would have been helpful. For instance, in high school, Glaze's father was dying of cancer. So, for much of the book when he talked about his father, I was assuming he meant his step father--even though we didn't get very much information on him until later in the book. And it wasn't until near the end of the book that I learned that Glaze's father actually survived a terminal diagnosis for thirty years and had been around the whole time. In addition, when Glaze mentioned that his first wife asked him for a divorce, I wasn't even aware that he had gotten married. He said the divorce was very hard on him, but it was difficult for me to understand the emotional implications when the woman and the relationship had not even been mentioned before.
This book was interesting, easy to read, and inspiring. Recommended for those that find this kind of thing intriguing.
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