Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel Book Review

Since The Barefoot Running Book originally came out, Jason Robillard has learned many tricks to make trail running, and living, more comfortable. He opens up in Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel and lets you in on all of his secrets.

Jason Robillard is an ultramaraton trail runner who originally started out passionately pushing the barefoot running movement. Since then, he has learned moderation and implements shoes as tools. This typically leaves him running in minimalist shoes on the rocky trails all across America. I believe he chose trail running as the theme for this book because he has more experience with it than roads, and generally prefers trail running.

Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel is written in a handbook-like fashion. Some tips are short and sweet, others are more in depth and require an entire chapter to cover. Overall, the book has a solid structure with little fluff.

Compared to other running books that I have read I am tempted to say that Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel is the most laid back running book I have ever read. I believe this book is not intended for a serious audience. It is not meant for the guy that runs ahead of the crowd to get his mileage in. Instead it is meant for the guy that is in the back showing his friends that he can write his name with his pee and pulling out beers 10 miles into a run.

Why would you pay for this book? Because it is fun and memorable! If you are hanging around 10 years from now do you remember the guy that ran ahead and got 10 more miles than the group in the same amount of time, or do you remember the time you got drunk on a 20 mile out-and-back and learned a new skill? I believe your answer is the latter, especially if you are a girl! How does this help you? Well when you are 90 miles into a race, your legs are on fire, and the miles are turning over slowly, are you going to be implementing some bullshit formula to keep your heart rate below your lactic threshold so you can do this or that, or are you going to remember something clever, funny, and interesting? I, personally, would remember the easier, funnier option and would not care to do math.

One critique that I have is that not all, but some of the advice given is the same advice that is on his blog. This is convenient for those that do not follow his blog, but somewhat repetitive for those that do. Even though I have read a majority of his blog posts I found that the repeated content was helpful and more in-depth in the book, as it should be.

Al-in-all Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel is an excellent addition to your running library. I ended up reading it over 2 days, which is extremely fast for me since it typically takes me weeks to read a book. I was very entertained by it and recommend it to anyone that runs trails, new or elite.

Jason had/has an odd sales plan with this book. Basically if one person buys it they can share it with their friends. I don't know if this still holds true, but either way I do not encourage you to do so. Instead, help a runner out who is trying his hardest educate you and make a buck(not a big one) writing about the things that he has spent years learning.

Here is a free sample to get you hooked.

To purchase Never Wipe Your Ass With A Squirrel go here and pick your format.

Physical Therapy

Today I went to the schools physical therapist. I heard they were giving out a free exam to first-timers. I told the physical therapist my story, my stack of injuries due to overuse, my dreams of running an ultra, etc. I tried to not mention that I run barefoot since I figured he would recommend custom orthotics.

Anyway, he looked at my knee and thinks that it is patellar tendinitis. He taught me how to really stretch and showed me some exercises. I was really excited because even after the stretching the pain went away. Essentially, my quad was really tight and I was not stretching it while pushing out my hips. He was really nice and told me to come back if I needed anything.

On my way out the door he asked me if I was planning on doing an ultra. I told him I would try to do the Alex's Fat Ass 50K next year. He then asked, "You don't wear those five-finger shoes do you?" Hesitantly, I confirmed. What he said next was the best news I have heard all day... "Awesome! I have a pair. I read Born To Run and it kind of convinced me."(I am paraphrasing...)

This is awesome news. Physical therapists, or at least mine, are looking into the barefoot movement and appreciating it. Good job bare-footers.

The moral of this story is to go to doctors/therapists, even if you think they won't agree with your opinion. You might be surprised and they actually know what they are talking about!