Once A Runner…

Once A Runner Never Fails to Deliver

I just finished Once A Runner for the God-only-knows-how-many-th time I’ve read it. By the time the duel between upstart Quenton Cassidy and world record-holder John Walton reached its fever-pitched climax, I was ready to throw the book down and blow out the door for a burn-down-the-demons run myself. Ah, if only I could.

Regardless of the fact that I can’t run right now, reading Once A Runner seriously makes me want to run again all the more. Yeah, it was nice to get swept up into and carried along by the excitement of John L. Parker, Jr.’s writing. He does a damned fine job of describing the racing, for sure, and he gives a very good picture of the training involved in just getting to there to toe the starting line for the race, too. It’s a cult classic for a damned good reason. It speaks directly to the runner. And I hope I never wear out my copy.

So, I picked up my ordered copy of Again to Carthage from the local Borders last night, but I had to finish the obligatory rereading of Once A Runner before I dove into his new novel. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Quenton turned out after all these years, and I hope Bruce Denton and Jerry Mizner show up so I can find out how things turned out for them, too.

I’ll probably not comment on the book until I’m finished. Maybe not until I’ve read it twice. If Again to Carthage delivers a marathon race anything close to Once A Runner‘s mile, I’ll probably love it.