The silence of great distance – Women running long

I’m reading “The silence of great distance – Women running long” an interesting book about the history of women running.  The book is engrossing at times, the subject matter is often fascinating.  I’m finding myself frustrated with the authors style of writing which includes some of the longest sentences I’ve ever seen (perhaps I’m exaggerating?).  I hoping I can get through the book…

Here is an example that took up nearly an entire page and clocks in at an impressive 295 words!

“In order to understand the magnitude of this part of the coach’s job, it is only necessary to examine a list of some (but not possibly all) of the potential stressors that might affect the performance of an athlete on a university scholarship: the athlete’s personal ambition to succeed; a high level of anticipated or actual competition both within the team and from external competitors; financial dependence; peer and family pressure; media attention; the creation of a “public” self, which may diverge from the person’s view of herself, and create unrealistic expectations and characterizations; motivations provided by and through coaching, including but not limited to the desire to please the coach and not disappoint her/him; academic pressure; social life and relationships, real or potential; lifestyle choices related to the accumulation of the above factors, and from interaction with them, such as sleep schedules, diet, personality changes, the construction of defenses to stressful situations (e.g. a person might rein in her emotional responses to maintain an even keel, and in doing so, increase the pressure rather than release it); physical and emotional fatigue; the enforced structure of workouts; physical injury; the threat of physical injury; success itself, including the discovery that it changes life less than one expected; the time limitations inherent in a college schedule; the ever-dwindling number of years available to accomplish the task at hand (i.e., the reach of a four-or five-year college career and the sure knowledge that the chance to compete at this level will not come again and therefore must be maximized); the burden of individual psychology, attitude, frame of reference, and character; the self-imposed pressure from such things as an athlete’s internalization of a difficult situation; general relationships among and with team members and with athletes from other schools.”