Recovery Run: When cancer, cocktails and compression gear collide

Recovery Run will make you laugh out loud and make your eyes leak. It's the story of the girl who, along with her partner in crime, Marc and daughter Cleo, totally bitch slapped cancer to oblivion! A hilarious and heart-warming recollection of how, against the odds, her love affair with running saw her through her darkest days and gave her the fighting spirit to conquer 3 London Marathons and umpteen Half Marathons. Imagine Bridget Jones takes up running and hallucinogenic drugs and you're on the right track, except this Bridget is real, has already found her Mr Darcy and there's a happy ending! Some people talk out of their arse....... she talks about her arse.... a lot! This is a Triumphant, no-holds barred story of courage, strength, hope, stupidity, love and stubbornness beyond belief told by Nicky in all her magnificent, hairy glory... Recovery Run is not the story of my life, I’m not done writing that yet. But it does tell the story of what happened when I was diagnosed with cancer then inexplicably decided to take up running (please someone explain that to me because I’m still clueless!) It opens on 1st January this year with my ludicrous thoughts about fitness resolutions and half baked plans for the year. Each entry thereafter reflects on either a run I've done that day or a particularly noteworthy one from the past six years including three London Marathons through chemo, five Great North Runs and a ton of other escapades. I share the challenges and difficulties I've had to face during my treatment whilst simultaneously talking about runs that I have attempted with colossal hangovers or the many insanely misjudged situations I've found myself in. It's also a story of my love of two cities, Liverpool and Newcastle and of my life with my sidekicks Marc and Cleo along with some of the brilliant characters we’ve met over the last couple of years. If you’re looking for a technical running book that’s going to talk to you about the finer points of hill sprints, negative splits and nutrition then you’re going to be seriously disappointed. I’m just a girl who got cancer and had to do something to teach me how to survive. But if you want to read about the absolute love of running, the days you think you’ll never run again and the moments you feel completely invincible then this is the book for you. After all, you may not realise it now but if you’re anything like me, running might just be the thing that saves your life. Nicky Lopez