Running Away

When journalist Robert Andrew Powell finished his first marathon, he cried, cradled in his father’s arms. Long distance runners understand where those tears come from, even if there are others who will never understand what drives someone to run 26.2 consecutive miles in a grueling mental and physical test. Powell’s emotional reaction to completing the race wasn’t just about the run, though. It was also about the joy and relief of coming back up after hitting rock bottom.

Do you sometimes feel as if you're just going through the motions in life? Are you good at looking and acting as if you're fine, but secretly feel lonely and disconnected? If so, you are not alone. The world is full of people who have an innate sense that something is wrong with them - who feel they live on the outside looking in, but have no explanation for this feeling and no way to put it into words.

You've lost your daughter. She's addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she's made it clear that she doesn't want to be found. Then, by chance, you see her playing guitar in Central Park. But she's not the girl you remember. This woman is living on the edge, frightened, and clearly in trouble. You don't stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs.

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! We all know the term running away, but in March 2011, I started actively using the term in a different way.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.

How do you live with yourself when you don’t even know who you are? On a chill October night, a girl goes missing setting the small town of Oakridge on edge. James has spent the last five years running from a past that still haunts him to this day. Now he finds himself thrust back into a life he thought he left behind. Finding out his new home may be haunted and reconnecting with an old friend while being thrust into a murder mystery, James finds himself trying to figure out which end is up while questioning his own sanity. **AUTHOR’S NOTE** Buried Secrets is a New Adult, mystery ...

Galina Dombrosky was as patriotic as apple pie. An unexpected assignment drops her in St. Petersburg, Russia because of her Russian heritage. Beauty surrounds her, creating a longing for a land she doesn’t know – as well as an overwhelming attraction to the man she has been sent to spy upon, Nik. Nikodim ‘Nik’ Petrov is the most normal billionaire that she’s ever met (not that she has met many!) and completely down to earth. He is caring, friendly, and devastatingly handsome – which makes her wonder if the CIA has the hacker idententified correctly after all? When secrets are ...

In Running Away from Home, Tracy Burger explores her lifelong dispassionate relationship with her mother, why she couldn’t connect with her mom during the last five years of her life, and her desperate need to please her.

Running Away from Cancer is a symphony of inspiration, an anthem of triumph over adversity. The narrative invites listeners to embrace their challenges, to confront fear with courage, and to harness their inner strength to rewrite the narrative of their lives. As the author crosses finish lines and defies odds, he reminds us all that the human spirit is unbreakable, that adversity can be transformed into opportunity, and that within every step lies the promise of a new beginning.

Lisa Anselmo wraps her entire life around her mother, a strong woman who is a defining force in Lisa's life - maybe too defining. When her mother dies from breast cancer, Lisa realizes she hasn't built a life of her own and struggles to find her purpose. Who is she without her mother - and her mother's expectations? Desperate for answers, she turns to her favorite city - Paris - and impulsively buys a small apartment, refusing to play it safe for the first time.

As the 2008 recession hit, Jen quickly found herself with a newly purchased home, a fading freelance business, and an alcoholic boyfriend. To avoid slipping into an even deeper depression, she took to the streets. What started as a silly assignment (running and reporting on a 5k) soon became an obsession (running 50+ miles a week training for marathons). Running gave Jen focus, discipline, and a way to block out negativity; it gave her the confidence that her relationships with men never had.

Smart-mouthed Keane and feared warrior Sarah escape the mercenaries of Wallace’s Company to start somewhere fresh, where no one is trying to kill them. Keane steals the company’s wages in return for his attempted murder, and Sarah agrees to the plan. Unfortunately, Keane doesn’t have one. On the run from the vengeful lord marshal and his wicked mercenary cutthroats, Sarah and Keane hop from danger to disaster.

Sara is a second year student at a tiny junior college in Thatcher Arizona. The summer was a disaster, and all she wants is to be back with her close-knit roommates and blend into the background. She doesn't want to get married. She doesn't even want to date again for awhile. Little does she know that the small glitch in her plan will come in the form of Matt Constanello, the persistent guy living across the street who just might make her change her mind.

A young school teacher learns about strange lights in a foreboding marsh; a nurse in a remote outport visits the baby she delivered weeks before to find a devastating change; a woman meets a mysterious funeral procession late one evening; a musician falls thrall to a group of strange little people and can’t stop playing. The stories in Spirited Away are populated by the fairy-led, by changelings, by people who stray onto fairy turf and experience unnerving events.

Billionaire Ethan Connors vows to stop his ex’s wedding so they can be together. But crashing the wrong nuptials and spiriting away the wrong wife-to-be is more than he bargained for! Divya Singh is beautiful, talented, passionate … and from a traditional Indian family who won’t accept him as a match for their daughter. Can Divya and Ethan’s unexpected relationship stay the course or will one of them run again?

If you told Sandy Long six years ago that she would be carrying a baby that belonged to another couple, she would have thought you were crazy. Then things happened that changed her life. First, her husband died leaving making her a young widow with two children. Next, she found herself barely able to support her family with limited financial resources coming to her. She tried to do the best she could for her children but was watching them quickly move through their teenage years. A chance meeting with a woman who was a surrogate exposed her to something she was previously unaware of. Women ...

Do you wish your dog would listen to you on walks, rather than running after squirrels? Tired of getting left in the dust if a cat shows up nearby? Concerned that your dog’s prey drive is coming between the two of you? Conventional training protocols stifle your dog’s natural predatory behaviours through punishing or constantly forcing them to return. These restrictive protocols work against your dog’s nature and against what they want most: to go for a hunt! Predation is an inner need that makes your dog happy. Suppressing those natural urges is like putting an airtight lid on a ...

Lucetta Zaytoun's ability to bounce back from tragedy time and time again is uncanny. After raising six kids, yet another life earthquake hit. This one led her to put everything she owned in storage, sell her car, shut down her phone and travel in developing countries by herself for one year. Lucetta's precarious, intrepid and fascinating runaway journey took her to places she never imagined.

Alexis is at a turning point in her life and headed in the wrong direction… Alexis West dreams of being an author, but so far, her only book is a binder full of rejection letters. To make ends meet, she works nights as a waitress at the exclusive Manhattan restaurant, Antoine’s on Madison. When French supermodel, Simone Bouchard and her handsome boyfriend, Oliver Beckett, arrive for dinner at Antoine’s one night, little does Alexis know they will get her fired before the evening is over. Jobless, no book deal and fearing her parents will force her to move home and get a ‘real job’...

Jim Payne follows the waterways of America, living a Tom Sawyer life in his 12-foot kayak, getting scared, soaked, and bailed out of trouble by Samaritans he discovers along the way. His escapades span the country, from the Hudson River to the Columbia, from the Mississippi to the Erie Canal. As Payne's adventures unfold, you never know what's around the next bend He's entrapped by security guards at Mount Vernon, loses his rudder off the Florida Keys, and sleeps in Franklin Roosevelt's bed.