Greatest Running Book

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe.

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www.performancerunner.com

Fiction

"The Olympian" by Brian Glanville

Still the best.

harry potter is the best!!!!

"But Not the Hippopotamus"

My vote goes to Ron Daws' "The Self-Made Olympian."

If I could give a young runner one book that best encapsulizes the mindset and approach required to maximize one's potential, that would be it.

Sure, it has plenty of flaws but it's core message and approach to the sport are timeless. Daws went from being a 4:30 miler IN COLLEGE to making the Oly marathon team because he learned from his mistakes and always found solutions to whatever problem he encountered. His self-sufficiency and self-knowledge are lessons every runner can learn from.

"The Gift" by Paul Maurer gets my vote...

Okay I'm going to go through my running library, and tell you what I thaught of all of them. In no specific order.

Gerry Lindgren's Book on Running - Written by his shadow, take everything with a grain of salt. But the man is sychophrenic keeps you on your heels the whole time. The book wasn't very good.

Pre - might as well watch a movie. I didn't really enjoy this one, and it only makes you realize how hyped up the guy has become.

Steve Scott - I actually enjoyed this one. It's more about his life than the running. But it was funny and well written.

Heart Rate Monitor Training by John L Parker - It has some interesting stuff on why running easy is so important. It's a decent book to read if you want to get better use out of your heart rate monitor.

In Quest of Gold Jim Ryun - This is one of my favorites. It doesn't leave anything out. He talks about running, his stressful life his breakdown. But the last half is a lot about his finding god story, which is obviously important to Jim Ryun.

Marty Liquori's Guide written with John L Parker - It's a good book to read. It is actually a book about running training written by someone with credentials. If you liked the Complete Book of Running don't read this one. This book is for real runners.

Run with the Champions - Good biographies, a lot like the How they Train books that used to be around in the 70's.

Running the Lydiard Way - My favorite of the Lydiard books. He explains everything lodgically, avoids using too much scienctific and complicated lingo. Best of all the system works too.

Running to the Top/ Running with Lydiard - same applies to these books as Running the Lydiard Way. Every Lydiard book is a good read.

Once a Runner - Phenominal. I love this book. I don't care if everyone here doesn't consider it to be Shakespeare or Hemmingway. Well either do I. But at least it is entertaining which is more than I can say for some of those great authors everyone wants to compare Parker to.

Runner and Other Dreamers - Another John L Parker book. Lots of running essays, not a fiction. This book is amazing. If you can get your hands on a copy Buy It!

The Olympian - Good Fiction novel. Not as good as Once a Runner, but better than life at these speeds.

Life at these Speeds - I didn't even make it through the entire book. It was too boring.

Martin/ Coe training books - I've read a couple. A lot of science in them. The first time I read these books I was in high school and they really didn't make a lot of sence. After a couple biology classes I re-read the books. They are okay I just don't agree with all their training theories.

Sebastian Coe Running Free - Exellent book, even though I don't like Coe's training system, I repect him more than most runners. He is one of the classiest guys in the history of our sport.

I have more but I'll leave it at this, most of my other books have already been mentioned in this thread.

There are some great running books around but still aren't as many as there are about other sports. Every tinpot footballer seems to have a biography that sells loads.

I like reading wrote:

There are some great running books around but still aren't as many as there are about other sports. Every tinpot footballer seems to have a biography that sells loads.

Yeah, I want to read a biog of Bob Kennedy.