Favorite running books?

Lots of threads on this but a favorite topic of mine. the sequel to once a runner is decent.

The Perfect Distance by Pat Butcher

It's about the Ovett and Coe rivalry. cracker of a off

Off beat recommendation: 26.2 miles to happiness.

It's about a British D list celebrity trying to break 3 hours in the marathon. Good relatable read.

The “ How they train” series books of Wilt and Brock

Our favorite zebra authored a book about her struggles to qualify for Boston in about 25 attempts.

Beyond Fast (by Sean Brosnan)

Building Championship Cross Country Programs (by Doug Soles)

Amazing Racers (by Marc Bloom)

My favorite is Buck Benson’s Indoor Cross. It’s a futuristic sci fi novel which chronicles a collegiate women’s xc team during their fall season. In Benson’s futuristic world collegiate xc is run on indoor courses utilizing artificial surfaces and terrain. There is a lot of world building; including cities under bodies of water and space stations orbiting the globe. The setting doesn’t distract too much from the story and the characters are quite relatable. I highly recommend. Also check out Edwin Hershel’s The Accidental Marathoner.

Taboo by Jon Entine

That’s a good one. I forgot to mention Zone Red by Travis Mersinger. It’s about a 5k road runner who becomes obsessed with getting his times down and winning so he tries all these drastic training and diet approaches. It’s a really good sample of the emerging transgressive runner literary movement

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.

THE LONGEST RACE by Kara Goucher with Mary Pilon was really well done.

It kinda depends on whether or not you want a good running story, or are interested in the training side of things. I feel like Beyond Fast is the best of both worlds of the running books I've read though.

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

The Long Hard Road by Ron Hill Voulme One and Two.

There is no more detailed and thorough account of ones running career. Some absolute nuggets of wisdom and the books I turn to whenever I suffer a lull in my training. 2:09 in 1970, second to Jerome Drayton in the 1969 fukuoka marathon, first british man to win Boston. What a runner!

The Lonely Breed by Ron Clarke; and Norman Harris

Every chapter is devoted to a different distance runner at the peak of their powers. A very hard book to come by but some fascinating insights!

The Kings of Distance by Peter Lovesey

Oh how I wish someone would write a book in english about Paavo Nurmi, this comes closest and tells his story alongside Shrubb, Zatopek, and Deerfoot. An overview of their training, careers and races.

Forget all the hype around Zatopek, Nurmi is king for what he did at that those Olympic Games.

Life at these speeds is super good

Bannister's book about his four minute mile is a pretty good read. Can't find mine right now to check, but I think it was published under a couple different titles either by edition or for different markets. I think 'The First Four Minutes' is the more common one.

once a runner was trash