PDF Running for My Life One Lost Boy Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games Lopez Lomong Mark Tabb 9780718081447 Books

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Product details Paperback 240 pages Publisher Thomas Nelson; Reprint edition (August 2, 2016) Language English ISBN-10 0718081447

Running for My Life One Lost Boy Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games Lopez Lomong Mark Tabb 9780718081447 Books Reviews

• This would be a great story if it were fiction. The fact that it is real just makes it that much more compelling.
  
  I bought this book for me, because I am a runner and have spent some time in East Africa. However, I haven't even read the whole book yet. My wife seized it, read it in a day, and has been reading excerpts to my children, who are also captivated by the story. I read 2 chapters tonight to my seven year old son, who was begging for me to go on. I am really looking forward to reading the bits I've so far missed!
  
  Lomong's story has tragedy, hope, triumph, and humor- his stories about some of his first experiences in the US are simply hilarious.
  
  Lopez Lomong is among that class of young Africans like Meb Keflezighi (Run to Overcome), Valentino Deng (What is the What, by Dave Eggers), and William Kamkwamba (The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) who have compelling life stories (and books), and who will (I hope) continue to make the world a better place.
  
  Read this book!
• If, after reading the first one-fifth of this book, you don't feel incredibly RICH, then you probably weren't paying attention.
  
  Lopepe (the author) has such a work ethic and indomitable spirit and joy in life, you can't help but be inspired by him and his story.
  
  All of us should read this book, and take from it a major lesson in how to adjust our own lives, how to dream, how to work, how to set a goal and build our own determination to reach it, regardless of obstacles or hardships.
  
  I promise, after reading even the first part of this book, you will think twice before you complain about something as inconsequential as someone getting your parking space or the fast food server forgetting your "no mustard" instruction for your hamburger.
• It's been a long time since I've read a memoir that choked me up like "Running for My Life" by Lopez Lomong. When he was six, Lomong was ripped from his mother's arms by rebel soldiers in South Sudan. He was held in captivity in harsh conditions until he could be trained as a child soldier. But he and his "three angels" escaped, ran for three days, and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where he lived for the next ten years.
  
  The conditions in the camp left much to be desired and was only one step above the imprisonment he escaped from. Lomong's favorite past-time while in the camp was soccer, but there were so many boys wanting to play, they decided that they had to run one lap around the camp first. The lap was eighteen miles.
  
  He was finally given the chance to emigrate to America. All he had to do was write an essay - in English. He only spoke Swahili and the only school lessons he had were scribbled in the dirt with his finger. But as with all the roadblocks he faced in life, he overcame this one too.
  
  To make a long story short, he made it to the U.S., graduated from high school on time, ran track in college, and made it to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Now he spends his time helping other "lost boys" from Sudan realize their dreams.
  
  This is an amazing story, one that fills me with hope and proves that anything is possible. After reading "Running for My Life", I can no longer complain about the unfairness of life or use any excuse for not realizing my own dreams. And it makes me proud of my country, especially to see it through the eyes of this "lost boy" from Sudan.
  
  Review Written by David Allan Reeves
  Author of "Running Away From Me"
• I could not put this book down after I first started reading it, neither could I stop crying when reading the initial chapters. This book is incredibly inspiring and makes you feel more grateful for what you have and it made me revisit my reasons and examine my views when complaining about insignificant nuisances of life. Lopez Lomong is not only an incredible runner, he is a very positive example for many of us, somebody who overcame all the odds and not only achieved what it is a dream for most athletes, competing in the Olympics, but he never forgot where he came from and as a young adult works hard to improve the life of those who are not so fortunate and do not have access to many of the things most of us take for granted. I highly recommend this book, it's very heavy emotionally at the beginning with the very sad story of his kidnapping but by the middle of the book you are smiling from ear to ear as you read of his first time interacting with electricity, showers, etc. I was wishing this book didn't end and found myself googling about his latest races and accomplishments after the last chapter was over.
• There are times in a person's life that one simple image or event will trigger an unshakable goal. For Lopez Lomong, surviving day-to-day in killing fields and squalor of Sudan, he happened to see saw Michael Johnson, win the Olympics on a very small black and white TV. From that moment on, with an unshakable goal, Lopez Lomong suffered starvation, adversity and came close to death but never lost sight of his goal in a spine-tingling, goose-bumpy struggle as a lost boy in Sudan. This is a feel proud book. I often had tears in my eyes. Obviously, you know he didn't die. You know he made it to the Olympics,and the route to the Olympics is what the book is about, and also in competing, he realized there was a purpose in succeeding It was to somehow save the boys he left behind. This is a man who against all odds reached an impossible dream.
• This inspiring story of a young refugee from Sudan who is miraculously given an opportunity to pursue his Olympic dream in the USA presents some great life lessons, especially for those of us privileged to grow up in the USA. It humbles me to realize how much we take for granted and how little we appreciate the life we are given with no choice of ours. The story is engaging and rewarding. Character, hard work, commitment and gratitude find expression in the journey of one of the "lost boys of Sudan" in a way that could lead a boy to pursue a life well lived even while appropriately recognizing the overarching benevolence of a loving God. I hope to get my grandson to read the book.