Best Running Book Ever??

Why is "Once A Runner" so darn hard to find?

The 1st 4 minutes had me all intrigued and shit...

Ron Hill - the long hard road 1 and 2

Hill's books should have been called'The Long hard Read'.

You are joking, aren't you?

1. "The Lonely Breed"- Ron Clarke

2. "A Cold Clear Day"- Frank Murphy (Buddy Edelen)

"Once A Runner" is hard to find because it is only being printed for Fleet Feet Sports Inc. If you want a copy thats your best bet.

"Chasing The Hawk" is pretty good...By Andrew Sheehan...

If I have to pick only one it'd be Best Efforts by Kenny Moore. Others in random order:

And then the vulture eats you-John Parker

The four-minute mile-Roger Bannister

Cross-country running-Marc Bloom

Thirty phone booths to Boston-Don Kardong

Pre-Tom Jordan

Heroes and sparrows-Roger Robinson

Five kings of distance-Peter Lovesey

Jumbo Elliott-Theodore Berry

And, it'll please our Canadian friend Pete: Johnny Miles-Floyd Williston.

I wrote a piece for Marathon & Beyond a few years ago w/the title 25 books every marathoner should own. A few above are on the list. Once a Runner made the list also.

Hey,

Johnny Miles was from my current corner of the frozen world. He won Boston waaaay back (1929 - even before Malmo was in his prime) in a then-blistering course record of 2:33. I didn't know there was a book about him. I'll have to look it up.

"The David Bedford Story". Plenty of pictures of Dave guzzling liters of beer and racing in red socks.

The best running book ever was your mom

After that, I really like anything written by Ron Daws. The big D has my copies - I'll get them when he gets back to this side of the world...

Non fiction- its "Running With the Buffaloes"

Fiction- "Once A Runner"

Others- John L. Parkers "Runners and other dreamers" is a good collection of his writing. Bill Squires wrote "Fast tracks: The history of Long distance running" and theres always the classic "Pre"

One more time, PAIN by Dan Middleman

scotth wrote:

If I have to pick only one it'd be Best Efforts by Kenny Moore.

I, too, would pick "Best Efforts."

I've always mondered if any of Parker's other books are as captivating as Once A Runner?

Runners and Other dreamers isnt as great, but its still a good read if you can find it. It includes articles and essays that he wrote for magazines between 1976 and 1985.

sjm1368 wrote:

I've always wondered if any of Parker's other books are as captivating as Once A Runner?

"Runners and Other Dreamers," a collection of essays and reprinted articles, is, to my mind, rather uneven, but there's a lot of good stuff in it, and it's well worth reading. Make sure to read the introduction to his essay on Jim Ryun.

Parker also "co-authored" "Marty Liquori's Guide for the Elite Runner" (also released under the title "Real Running"). It was excellent, and you can tell that much of it was written by the same guy who wrote "Once a Runner."

Running Gun Slinger Sanchez and the Purple Runner are decent reads as well. But my favorite is still Once a Runner.

Purple Runner by Paul Christman. It's hard to find, out of print.