Once a Runner: Discussions, Quotations, Reflections

You have some good excerpts, but I think you missed the best one of all. It's at the end of the best chapter, "Breaking Down," on p.104:

"He ran because it grounded him in basics. There was both life and death in it; it was unadulterated by media hype, trivial cares, political meddling.... IT WAS ALL JOY AND WOE, HARD AS A DIAMOND; IT MADE HIM WEARY BEYOND COMPREHENSION. BUT IT ALSO MADE HIM FREE."

Don't know if I can be of any help with your paper, but I have some perspective on A.P. courses (I used to teach A.P. U.S. History) and I had the good fortune to do a few training runs with Bruce Denton (Jack Bacheler) and some of the other Florida Track Club guys in the '70s. Heck, I now live in Kernsville (Gainesville, of course) just a couple of blocks from the "bacon strip" which Parker mentions on p.10 in his "Morning Run" chapter.

Ah yes, there are so many great quotes. I have to try to keep them relevant to an essay though, otherwise I risk just becoming Parker's cheerleader throughout the whole paper, which I know my teacher won't appreciate.

I took AP US History last year.

If you plan to quote me, cool. However, then you have to post your paper on the message board for us to read!!

Matt Stohl

If anyone else wants to comment on the interactions and perceptions of runner vs. jogger vs. sedentary person, or the idea of enjoying the journey, that might be useful for me. I will post the paper if it is worthy of reading, which I hope it will become.

"pain is the sole origin of consiousness" doestevsky. he must have been a distance runner to comeup with that one. and if he wasn't he should have been - probably still hold some records today. basically though we, as runners, do pursue pain because it only this that makes us fully aware of ourselves, fully appreciative of the human condition.

"I don't do it for the pleasure. I do it for the pain. In my most painful moments...I am at my most self-aware and self-defining."

That's a quote from Lance Armstrong's autobiography.

Here's my current introduction ("summary of content, themes, contexts, significance") for those of you who are interested. Feel free to comment, make suggestions, or proofread. A lot of the formatting details (such as italicized words) seem to get screwed up when I copy/paste, so keep that in mind.

Introduction

The classic novel for runners since its first publication in June 1978, John L. Parker, Jr.?s Once A Runner covers the career of a collegiate distance runner named Quenton Cassidy. Cassidy, a miler at the imaginary ?Southeastern University? in Kernsville, Florida, begins the book as an aspiring sub-four minute miler and ends with an ascent to the uppermost echelon of the sport, earning a Silver Medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. John L. Parker completed an excellent running career of his own before creating Once a Runner. The author graduated from the University of Florida in 1970 with eight school records and personal bests of 4:05.2 in the mile, 8:51.0 in the two-mile, 13:47 in the three-mile, 8:51.4 in the 3000-meter steeplechase, and 2:33 in the marathon. The author also trained with Jack Bacheler and Frank Shorter, both legendary Olympians, on national champion cross-country teams. Parker said that he believed it took a runner to tell a runner?s story, therefore Once a Runner was actually an eight year project, ??seven years being a runner, and one year writing the book.?

Quenton Cassidy represents the archetypal miler, a runner with ample endurance and blazing speed. In Cassidy, Parker gives life to a character that the reader can both closely identify with and distantly admire, a regular runner, yet a true hero. Cassidy trains compulsively, ?about sixteen, eighteen miles a day? in his semi-casual terms (49), yet he also possesses a strange sense of humor, and a certain celebrity status at Southeastern which owes its origin to attributes unrelated to running ability. After an interval workout during the fall cross country season, Cassidy learns that John Walton, the mile world record holder from New Zealand, has agreed to run in the Southeastern University Relays in the spring. This fact indirectly launches the young prodigy?s ?Mission.? During the indoor track season that winter, Cassidy wins the Wannamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, then runs a 4:00.1 mile in San Diego. But a few weeks later Cassidy, already in low spirits due to the intensity of his training and the subsequent ?breakdown? of his body and mind, receives news from his coach that he has been suspended due to his participation in a school petition. Even Bruce Denton, an Olympic Gold Medallist and the pride of Kernsville, cannot get the absurd punishment revoked. Denton, suffering from the severe stress-repetitive injuries caused by thousands of miles hammered on the roads, decides to coach Cassidy himself. He offers the miler a home at his country cabin. Quenton Cassidy retreats from school, his girlfriend Andrea, and all the trivialities of the world to live and train in isolation. Cassidy becomes the Thoreau of running, and Denton?s cabin the Walden Pond. Early that spring he runs a mile in 3:58.6, in a workout, by himself. Cassidy disguises himself as a Swedish runner named ?Seppo Kaitainen,? an international friend of Denton?s, at the Southeastern Relays where he shocks everyone and beats the great Walton. After this climactic victory, the tense shifts to the present with Cassidy cradling his Olympic Silver Medal. Once a Runner remains idealistic but realistic; guarantees do not exist in running.

Once a Runner means many things to many runners. The book remains a cult classic for those within a certain narrow niche, and a largely ignored work for those outside of it. Parker displays a remarkable ability to capture the essence of the running experience in his work. His prose passages mirror the encapsulation of effective poetry, allowing runners to relive their own pasts, live vicariously in the present through the characters of the novel, and imagine their own ideal futures. Nevertheless, Once a Runner receives its unequaled recognition due to the dearth of comparable books. Running novels are a rather rare breed, giving Parker a near monopoly on the genre. Once a Runner represents the one great story out there for runners at the moment. Not surprisingly, they latch on to the book and treasure it, for reasons ranging from the sheer entertainment of the story to the training inspiration it provides. The book excludes, and even insults on several occasions, the casual runner, the lowly ?jogger,? the fitness aficionado. For the non-runner, the plot probably feels flat and a tad predictable at times, the humor awkward, and the details too tedious. Yet serious runners celebrate Parker?s classic work almost without fail. Once a Runner is the competitive runner?s story.

Once a Runner has been out of print for several years. While rumors of an upcoming release have been floating around internet message-boards for months, old, used copies of the book frequently fetch over two-hundred dollars on eBay. In the past, a seller with the alias ?quentonc? (some suspect it?s Parker himself) regularly sold signed copies of the novel for no less than forty dollars on the aforementioned auction website. Though it frustrates runners to no end, perhaps a cheap paperback publication is not in the author?s best economic interest. The demand for Once a Runner, although a relatively concentrated phenomenon, far exceeds the current supply. Among runners the demand not only exists, but is quite intense, as seen in the steep prices. Urban legends abound of lucky runners walking into local book stores and finding Once a Runner neatly tucked right on the shelf, or hidden away in the used section and marked at three dollars. For now, one must either pay ridiculously well or wait very patiently in order to obtain Once a Runner. My copy only cost fifteen dollars, however it took four months of scrounging to find it at that price.

IOR - Definitely a good paper so far, I looked forward to your continuous updated postings.

Thanks, bump to the top in case anyone has some late additions.

Sounds like a fun paper, ISO, and I'll try to help out here. This is my current favorite quote, recently replacing the "Running to him was real..." quote found on the back of the maroon-cover edition that most people have. Now I don't have my book in front of me (thus, I'm paraphrasing), but you can find this passage in the chapter called "Orchids".

"None of them were prepared, truly prepared, to comprehend that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks than with that most unprofound and often heart-renching process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?"

Good call to whoever it was about the "Breaking Down" chapter. It's definitely a microcosm of the book's overall theme in my opinion.

ISO_OAR, I'd give you a decent grade for the intro. It is interesting, and you have written it well.

I have an article (you'll have to keep in mind it was geared primarily to fitness runners) that may have something that you could use for the elite vs fitness perspective (probably more on the fitness side) as well as for the "running as a journey" motif. I'll post it tommorrow - it's at work.

While I really liked what you've written, these are some ideas you may want to consider...

1) while I found your 4th paragraph informative, I am not sure it fits. Maybe you coulds fit one line that summarizes your 4th paragraph into the 3rd paragraph? As it is the outline so far would be:

- About the author

- summary of story

- why/how it appeals to runners

- the book is scarce

See how the fourth para. kind of doesn't fit? Also, I would take out the line about the dearth of other running books. Sure, I canb see how you have thought that, but it doesn't add to your paper. On the one hand, you are saying that the book is good because it appeals to runners, and then you throw in there that maybe it appeals because they hae nothing else to read. Is it good because it's good, or because there is nothing else to choose from? I would stick with it's just good because of the way Parker relates with the runner.

Sincerely,

Justin Epic Hiccup

Good paper thus far thougb one mistake....Katainin, whom Cassidy disguised himself as was Finnish, not Swedish. Other than that, it looks good.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. As for Mr. J. E. Hellyebuck, the paper is due tomorrow so you don't need to scrounge up that article if it'll require alot of effort. I think I could do the book more justice with more time, but I guess this is how it goes for the senior a week from graduation.

Also, thanks for the proofreading JEH. I can post some of the other essays later if anyone is planning to be up late tonight or early tomorrow. I usually put on the final touches the morning of.

just a thought: try not to use contractions in formal writing (it's for it is). i thought my thesis advisor was going to kill me when i did that.

I'd like to thank everyone for the help they gave me on such short notice. I ended up with 17 pages. It was sort of a rushed project, which I'm sure had some effect on my overal unity and coherency, but on the whole I think it was a decent effort. It's a bit long to copy/paste, but I can e-mail it to people or try to get it uploaded online if anyone is interested. Mostly, I just wanted to thank everyone again.

I would love to read it if you don't mind. My email address is atuttle_459@yahoo.com. Thanks

me too... runjeh@yahoo.com

What grade did you get on this...and can we see the finished 17 page project? Or do you even have it anymore?