At first glance, Still Running After All These Tears might sound like a familiar entry in the ever-growing genre of running memoirs. In reality, Lisa Jackson’s latest book sits somewhere deeper, and more useful. It isn’t a book about chasing performance. Instead, it is a clear-eyed and practical exploration of how running can coexist with grief, and the profound life disruption that can bring.
Running, grief and identity
In a period of just 17 months, Lisa lost her husband, her sister and her father. What follows is not a linear tale of recovery, but an honest account of what it looks like when the thing that once defined you – running marathons – disappears.
Lisa does not present running as a cure. During our conversation on the UKRunChat Podcast, she was explicit that running did not magically make the hardest times easier. At points, running fell away completely. At others, it became the only place where anger, fear and exhaustion could be processed safely.
Running as coping, not cure
Still Running After All These Tears is not really about running mileage, races or times. Running appears instead as a coping mechanism, a calming routine, and eventually a way back to identity when so much else has been stripped away. For runners used to measuring progress in splits and PBs, this reframing may feel unfamiliar. Lisa admits that short, consistent runs would likely have supported her mental health far better than the sporadic, emotionally driven running she defaulted to.
The book refuses to romanticise grief. Jackson writes candidly about burnout, rage and disconnection — experiences that will resonate with many runners who have struggled to maintain habits under emotional strain.
Practical insight for runners supporting grief
Where the book really distinguishes itself is in its practicality. Lisa is a clinical hypnotherapist, and rather than positioning that expertise front and centre, she weaves it throughout her story. The result is a narrative that doubles as a survival guide. Readers are offered clear, grounded strategies for navigating grief alongside training: reducing goals to the smallest possible unit, abandoning comparison (including with a former version of yourself), and rebuilding consistency.
Lisa describes setting herself a single, modest goal after months of struggle: run one mile. Progress here is not about bouncing back, but about re-entering life gradually, on new terms.
The book also offers practical insight beyond running. Lisa includes guidance on navigating medical systems, advocating for loved ones, managing mental overload, and understanding how grief can show up physically. These sections will be particularly valuable to runners supporting partners, family members or friends through illness or loss – an experience many will recognise, even if it’s rarely discussed openly.
Community, humanity and hope
Humour, a hallmark of Lisa’s writing, remains present throughout. It is not used to dilute the seriousness of the subject, but to reflect the reality that grief and laughter often coexist. This balance prevents the book from becoming overwhelming, and makes it accessible even for those currently in difficult emotional terrain.
Community is another recurring theme. Lisa writes warmly about the uplifting role of other runners: the conversations at the back of races, the shared miles, the hugs, the unspoken understanding.
Still Running After All These Tears avoids offering false certainty. Grief does not move in straight lines, and neither does a return to running. Lisa is open about her setbacks, false starts, and days when the old joy simply isn’t there. That realism makes the eventual moments of reconnection, including her return to marathon running, feel hard-earned rather than inevitable.
For UKRunChat readers, this is a book that speaks directly to the less visible side of running. It will resonate most strongly with runners navigating grief themselves, but it is equally valuable for those supporting others through loss, illness or major life change. It offers reassurance without platitudes, structure without rigidity, and hope without pressure.
Still Running After All These Tears reminds us that running does not have to look impressive to be meaningful. Read at a time when loss felt close and unresolved, it offered reassurance not through answers, but through honesty. Sometimes, running is simply the place where we remember who we are. And that can be more than enough.
Lisa Jackson kindly provided UKRunChat with an advance copy of this book.
You can listen to a full interview with Lisa on the UKRunChat podcast here
