It’s a hard find these days but Ron Hill’s two volume autobiography is fantastic. Also unintentionally hilarious, an amazing runner but the man was mad as a box of frogs.
Dual in the Sun is probably the best running book I’ve read.
Like most people I’ve a soft spot for running with the buffaloes but if we’re honest it’s not exactly great literature.
Running with the Kenyans is great too
Duel in the Sun is ok, it also has some glaring factual errors.
Jakob’s book is actually really cool and a page turner. It’s titled The Norwegian Way. It’s mostly autobiographical but he writes a lot about his training and workouts as well. It’s available on Amazon.
I purchased my original copy from the British Miler (now Welsh coach) James Thie.
The book is a great window into Ovett's life from a youth to the 1984 Olympics. It also has a nice listing of all his races (any distance) from 1970 - 1984.
A great read!
Fun facts, he long jumped 20'07" at a Brighton meeting (July 20, 1971) when he was 15, and ran his 21.7 200m PB at a National League meeting in Barking (July 26, 1975) when he was 19.
This post was edited 11 minutes after it was posted.
The “ How they train” series books of Wilt and Brock
Those were so useful for me, Joe Henderson's were too. Those and biographies are my favorites. Ron Hill's "Long, Hard, Road, Pts 1 and 2" top that list. Bob Hodge's "Tale of the Times" is a really good account of the years when road running was changing from an aamateur to professional sport.
Two more are "Why Die" and "The Impossible Hero," biographies of Percy Certify and Gordon Pirie.
A book about UK (ultra)marathoner John Tarrant and his struggles with the amateur code. As a teenager he boxed "for money", which made him ineligible for national championships and the Olympics.
I really enjoyed reading The Silence of Great Distance by Frank Murphy. One of the more under-the-radar running books, I thought he did a great job of capturing the history of womens distance running and then tying it into the career of a top collegiate athlete in the mid 80s.
Duel in the Sun is ok, it also has some glaring factual errors.
What is incorrect?
Among other things it identified Rodgers as a three time Boston winner. Not an error that should be in a book from a major press. I have found egregious errors in other books by Brant, things that the average distance running enthusiast knows off the top of their head.
I love reading, and I love running, so this is a great thread! Thanks UtahDogJogger.
My favorite running books:
Running With the Buffaloes - probably the best running book of all time
26 Marathons - Meb has written two books, and this is by far the better one. A must-read.
Running Home by Katie Arnold - a beautiful book about ultrarunning and loss
Bravey by Alexi Pappas - I'm not necessarily a fan of Pappas the runner, but the woman can write. Shockingly good book. I enjoyed the audiobook.
How Bad Do You Want It? by Matt Fitzgerald. Lots of great anecdotes in here. Fitzgerald's best in my opinion.
My Year of Running Dangerously by Tom Foreman. I'm not sure why I like this one so much, but I must have read it three times, and I'm tempted to read it again. It's funny! And about running.
Sub 4:00 by Chris Lear - about Alan Webb.
Honorable mention to Run the Mile You're In, Let Your Mind Run, and Out of Thin Air.
The most overrated running book of all time must be Once a Runner. When I started running in the 90s, it topped all "best running books" lists, but as a starving student, I couldn't imagine paying $100+ for a used copy. Then they reprinted it, and I finally read it in the 00s, if memory serves. What a massive disappointment. It's not a terrible book, but definitely not the best running book of all time.
Among other things it identified Rodgers as a three time Boston winner. Not an error that should be in a book from a major press. I have found egregious errors in other books by Brant, things that the average distance running enthusiast knows off the top of their head.