In November of 2012, Robert Earl Stewart left a cardiologist's office terrified of dying. He was 38 years old and weighed 368 pounds. Not so much an instructional manual on how to run, but a humorous meditation on what not to do, The Running-Shaped Hole examines how running affected Stewart as a husband, father, recovered alcoholic, journalist, bookseller, and writer, following him through various adventures, injuries, and spiritual epiphanies had while running.