Sorry to hear about the reason for the drive. I hope it went well and you were able to get the audiobook.
I just finished it. Here are my thoughts:
1. The audiobook production is okay. Brosnan reads it himself, but like many non-professional audiobook readers this is hit and miss. He could have used better direction in reading it. For example, sometimes he puts emphasis in poor places or parts of a sentence that would make sense reading it do not make as much sense at first how he spoke it.
2. This book is not poorly written, but not well written. I don't mind this; Brosnan is not an writer by trade. His co-author maybe could have done more to smooth it out. Then again, having had to take written work as an editor for an academic journal and make it make sense, maybe this *was* the smoothed out version.
3. While not "well-written," it was very readable and fun—if you are a high school cross country fan. Or, maybe, just a cross country fan. If you're reading LetsRun, sometimes also known as "LetsHate," then I reckon you fit this bill and will enjoy it (even if the enjoyment is to find new reasons to hate Brosnan).
4. I enjoyed the audiobook quite a lot. The kind of enjoyment where I was listening to it cutting grass, cooking dinners, driving errands, etc. The kind of enjoyment that found me doing those things with more alacrity and frequency so I could listen to the book. I am, however, an aforementioned cross country "fan" per item 3 above.
5. This is more about the Newbury Park story, and less about methods. Methods and workouts are mentioned in passing, but done in order to tell the story and not to provide a blueprint or roadmap. Even so, you can glean some coaching and training tidbits from this book.
6. I have newfound respect for Brosnan after reading this. I am no Brosnan hater, but I didn't know if I could get a read on whether it was his system or the luck of the talent. I do feel it was part the luck—I think he would agreed to that to some degree—but I also fully believe his coaching had a big impact. Is it replicable? I dunno. He had some success at UCLA, and some issues. I do think pointing out how he was able to build up the Newbury Park girls XC team really cuts against a lot of the anti-Brosnan hate, too. Still, while he was a success during a 6-7 year period, I do have to admire the programs that get it done year after year (and, in some cases, coach after coach).
7. After reading some of the stories about specific races, I went back and watched some of them with the inside commentary from Brosnan and the runners (who show up from time to time to discuss bits from their perspective) and that was fun.
TLDR; if you are a fan of cross country, especially high school cross country, in the USA then this is a must read. Partly because there is not a lot of stuff out there to read, for sure, but it was enjoyable enough to make it worth your time.
