Once a Runner Novel, Important Quotes/Plot Details, Why did you like/not like it?

The lean wolf leads the pack, baby

quentin cassidy is a champ, 'trial of miles' is an key quote you should remember, and andrea is a babe...that's what I took away from it. I didnt like it because I cant run a sub 4 mile and several characters in the book can, waaaahhhhh!!!!

Once a Runner is a novel by American author John L. Parker Jr. and was first published in 1978 by Cedarwinds (0915297019). In Once a Runner, Parker illustrates the hard work and dedication that is required of an elite runner. Since its publication, the novel has become a cult classic for competitive runners of all abilities. A sequel was recently published titled Again to Carthage. This book was originally printed in a limited supply and was reprinted and re-released on 04/07/2009.

The novel opens with a physically fit young man standing on a track, watching as "the night joggers" toil around him. He begins to walk toward the starting post, and thinks that now that the Olympic games are over for him, he does not know what he will do with his life. The man starts to walk around the track, and thinks back to four years ago.

Quenton Cassidy is a collegiate runner at fictional Southeastern University based on the University of Florida. He is a distance runner who specializes in the Mile. After writing a petition for the college's athletes protesting a dress and conduct code, Quenton is suspended from the university and prohibited from competing in the university's annual track meet. Cassidy drops out, moves to a cabin in the woods, and submits himself to a brutal training regimen. He is under the coaching of fictional gold medalist Olympian Bruce Denton. His plan is to compete at the Southeastern Relays against the best miler in the world, John Walton (obviously based on John Walker). Because he is barred from competing at the meet, Denton comes up with a plan to disguise him as a Finnish runner attending a nonexistent university in Ohio.

Cassidy, who has always dreamed of running a sub 4:00 mile, spends many months training for the race of his life, urged on by Denton, who is nearing the end of his running career due to injuries. After completing an agonizing interval workout of 60 quarter miles, Cassidy finally believes he is ready to face Walton. The night before the race, Cassidy performs a ritual of his to prepare himself for the meet—he walks a mile on the Southeastern track, putting all of his "demons" in a symbolic "orb" that will hold them in during the race and allow him to push through the pain.

The next day, Cassidy arrives at the meet, which his disguise allows for, but spends more than an hour warming up on the cross-country course near the track. As the race draws nearer, Quenton fights to keep control of his adrenaline and anxiety, waiting until the race starts so he can unleash them. A large part of a chapter is devoted to the race itself, which comes down to a contest between Cassidy and Walton in the final lap. The novel describes the effect lactic acid has on Quenton as he fights to close in on Walton, who has a slight lead. Excruciatingly, Cassidy reels Walton in, and outsprints him in the final straight to win the race in a time of 3:52.5.

After the race, the scene changes back to Cassidy standing at the Southeastern track, walking through the last lap of a mile. Quenton reflects upon his running career, and realizes that while it is over for him, there is much to be left behind on the track. When he reaches the end of the lap, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a box with a silver Olympic medal inside. Cassidy thinks to himself that he can live with leaving behind his old life, and with a bittersweet feeling walks off into the night.

At least that's my opinion.

its a shit novel, with a hackneyed plot, cliches and poor writing.

"Runners" fall all over themselves for some strange reason at this "book"

Liked: Story about runners, final mile scene

Disliked: Cliche style with spotty character development. Some really horrible similes and metaphors.

But overall, I liked the book...because so few have written in detail about our sport.

So in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I love that book - the only thing that gets me is the time discrepancies (and yes I noticed that Parker addressed that in the front of ATC).

the book blows, it's all about quentin's obsession and he is really not that lean at all. he is on a friggin pedestal courtesy of parker and a sub 4 mile really aint all that hot of shit!!

onecityatatime wrote:

the book blows, it's all about quentin's obsession and he is really not that lean at all. he is on a friggin pedestal courtesy of parker and a sub 4 mile really aint all that hot of shit!!

yeah man! if parker made Quenton 20 pounds lighter the book would have been awesome. but his 167 pound frame just made the whole thing suck!!! ugh, i hate people who aren't underweight. god!

also, he ran 3:52.5 (well under what "sub-4" generally implies). in turn, you are retarded and should off yourself. happy thanksgiving!

I thought the movie was pretty good but I don't know why they picked Ron Howard's brother to play Dick Doobie.

do you guys pronounce andrea

an-dree-uh

or

on-dray-uh

Well duh it's not a great piece of literature, but no other book captures the essence of what it IS to be a college runner. You can't really understand how absurdly well OAR captures the life of a serious college runner if you didn't actually run in college. You realize a lot of the "hackneyed" stuff that happens in the book is so outrageous it MUST be true. And in fact, most of the stories, anecdotes, and "little" events in the book REALLY DID happen to Parker or his friends in college. So it's not supposed to be the next Great Gatsby. It's a book about college running and "going for it." There's a great quote by Parker about being told that his humor was sophomoric, and him responding that several of his characters were, in fact, sophomores.

Does anyone take away any moral lessons from the book? I thought never leave a teammate/friend behind (as in help them out), and running isn't everything, it's the only thing (jokingly). Cassidy reminds me of a grinder trying to break 4 in the mile, he works hard and keeps plugging away and keys off the success of other characters to reach his goals.

Moral lessons of the book:

1) Fight the Man. Be subversive, fight the power.

2) Give your dreams everything NOW so you don't have to regret not doing so later, when you have a wife and kids and a lawn and a white picket fence.

I personally love the book. For me it is only second to Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I convinced my father, who falls under the category of "night jogger" to read the book and he loved it. This was around the time Again to Carthage came out and he loved the book so much he went out and bought a copy. Anyways, after reading both the books he told me they were his all-time favorite books, and he is a fairly avid reader. I believe the ending of ATC is what sealed the deal for him.