The Humiliation Tour, by Jeffrey Recker

Running Book Reviews with Alan and Liz

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The Humiliation Tour is a running themed fiction novel that could’ve probably been 2 novels. There are 2 separate stories, one starting in 1933 during the great depression and the other starting in 1993, that are related in an unexpected way towards the end of the book. Both stories feature a young man that discovers running and this changes his life in some way. Both stories are centered around running and both involve some humiliation.
Since the book is a novel and we didn’t want to give away the story, we chat with author Jeffrey Recker about the writing and publishing process and how he got ideas for his characters; some of the stories and characters are based on real life, but of course he didn’t tell us how much was real.
As a young kid, Jeff suffered acute asthma attacks, and on a doctor’s advice, his family moved from Pittsburgh to Phoenix for a dryer climate. The asthma persisted for many years, and his early memories were that of his friends playing outside, while he stayed inside, fostering creativity by writing short stories. The arid climate of Arizona worked to help cure his asthma, and he went on to be a very active young adult, obsessed with lifting weights, and playing varsity baseball at Moon Valley High School. Labeled a jock, little academic expectation was placed on him until his creative writing teacher took notice of his assignments and encouraged him to explore that passion. Though, he went on to study business at the University of Arizona, in Tucson. At 27, he became a runner, with the only goal of losing weight. But his self-admitted OCD kicked in. To date, he’s run over thirty marathons, including the Boston Marathon on five occasions, and has competed in eight Ironman Triathlons – all this from the kid with asthma whom the doctor said would never do anything athletic. Writing continues to be Jeff’s creative outlet in adulthood. He’s authored articles for Colorado Runner Magazine, and other publications. The idea of writing The Humiliation Tour came to him after hearing about a very humiliating event that a friend experienced while running in the Las Vegas Marathon. Many years later, when COVID hit and the country shut down, he found himself laid off with a lot of time on his hands and began that journey. Jeff lives and plays in Grand Junction, Colorado, with his wife, two children, and three rescue dogs.
You can get a copy of the book (and follow the author) on Amazon: https://a.co/d/izEDVhV

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