OAR is amazing. Racing the rain is just a brutal read. Truly awful.
OAR is amazing. Racing the rain is just a brutal read. Truly awful.
Swedish runner here.
I thought the English in OAR was fairly difficult to understand/read.
I didnt read more than a few pages. So for me it lacked in quality (or whatever you might call it) in that aspect...
And this comes from a keen English reader who reads anything from Stephen King to Ishiguro to Michael Connelly to Lawrence Block to running with the Buffalos, in English.
It was a few years since I tried reading it, so maybe I will give it another shot soon. But I also feel that you have to be in a certain mind frame when you dive into it. Thats just my opinion.
And like somebody else pointed out, its the perfect example of how not to carry out your training. But I think we all trained or strived to train like that in the late 90s early 2000s..
One just have to read Rojo or wejos account here of why he sucked in college...
Yeah man, totally get what you’re saying. Once A Runner was the hype back in the day — had everyone chasing those 100-mile weeks and dreaming of sub-4 glory. Now it feels like breaking 4 is just the entry fee to the club. 139 guys already? That’s nuts.
Cassidy probably wouldn’t even get a shoutout now with how stacked and intense the D1 scene is — everyone’s just going full send, all the time. Different era for sure, but still cool how that book lit the fire for so many of us.
4o
Once a Name in the History Books wrote:
When I was going through college it was considered the top of motivational pieces. It played a big influence in me moving to hundred mile weeks. Now a days, breaking 4 is so much more common though. 139 runners have broken 4 this year thus far. Quenton Cassidy might not even get a mention in t&f news. Every D1 runner is all out all the time and always training like a madman.
Good Book.
The Olympian by Brian Glanville is better
I very much like OAR. Reread a few times. But I actually enjoyed Again to Carthage and Racing the Rain even more. But I'm an "extended universe" guy.
20 year old college runner - read "once a runner" a few years ago and it was definitely an inspirational book. sub 4 is a huge milestone the 99% are still chasing