Don't Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing Prs, and Started Chasing Happiness - Hardcover

by Keira D'Amato (Author), Evelyn Spence (With)

"D'Amato populates the book with lessons learned from her own experiences--about being open to opportunities, celebrating small wins, embracing failure." --New York Times

A victorious tale of coming back in middle age to topple marathon records, from the running world's most beloved underdog, mom of two, and woman voted "most fun follow" on Strava.

Keira D'Amato was an all-American runner who used to chase success. But after being injured in her early twenties, she assumed her running career was over, and settled into life as a military spouse and mother of two young children. In her early thirties, she found herself overweight, out of shape, and battling postpartum depression. She knew that improving her fitness would make her feel better, and told herself to just get out and run ninety seconds, down her street and back. To her dismay, she couldn't do it. But two days later she tried again. And six years after that, she broke the American women's record in the marathon at the age of thirty-seven.

Keira has created a buzz in the world of professional athletics by taking the road less traveled. The normal trajectory for an elite female athlete has been to focus on sport first, then get a "real" job, and finally, have a family. Keira upended that: she married her high school sweetheart, had two babies in quick succession, began her career in real estate--and only then returned to running. But it's not just her relatable background that makes Keira so popular amongst fellow runners. We assume that to be successful, one must be serious and humorless, with an all-or-nothing approach to ambition. But what if the opposite were true--that cultivating more fun, and more variety in your life could actually help you reach your biggest goals?

At an age when most athletes consider retirement, Keira is just getting started. And she's determined to share the secrets of her success to help readers to start chasing their own happiness, to dream a big, scary dream, and ultimately to find their way back to themselves.

Author Biography

Keira D'Amato is a four-time USATF National Champion: the 2021 women's half-marathon (1:07:55), the 2022 women's 6k (17:52), the 2022 20k (1:04:29), and the 2024 20k (1:06:25). In 2022, she broke a sixteen-year American record in the marathon by running 2:19:12. She holds the world best time in the women's-only 10-mile, and finished 8th at the World Championship Marathon in 2022. She is the proud owner of Potomac River Run & Walk, a specialty running store in Richmond, Virginia. She now lives in Park City with her family.

Evelyn Spence is a veteran outdoors and fitness writer whose work has appeared in Runner's World, Bicycling, Backpacker, Ski, Sunset, Outside, Bloomberg, Prevention, and Health. She has been an editor at several National Magazine Award-winning publications and has been honored by the Best American Sports Writing anthology. A longtime athlete, she has run the Boston marathon, finished a half-Ironman, skied with reindeer herders in Mongolia, ridden her bike up Pikes Peak, and carried a 40-pound backpack while participating in the Bataan Memorial Death March. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.