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Once a Runner

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 3,982 ratings · 594 reviews

Once a Runner captures the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner; to devote your entire existence to a single-minded pursuit of excellence. It has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever written. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold at road races out of the trunk of the author’s car, reading the book became a rite of passage for many runners,

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Paperback, 226 pages

Published May 1st 1999 by Cedarwinds (first published 1978)

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Jan 18, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not totally sure how I feel about this book as a whole - but I loved the last quarter of it.

The beginning nearly killed me with the author’s seemingly needful sense to try to impress us with his constant use of obscure words. It nearly handicapped the book as each sentence read as though he used a book of synonyms to replace simpler everyday language to build up his writing? I very nearly gave up and just walked away.

However, if you can plow through his obscure writing structure (and thoug...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Andy Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

After reading this book written in 1978 I understand why it went from a small publisher to being sold out of trunks during track meets and runs to cult classic to now being regarded by many as the best book on running ever written.

But this is not just a runner's book. in fact it is now one of my all time favorite books period.

Set in an university during the 70's the book is about a nonconformist runner who loves to think for himself and loves to run. A sample early passage:
...the runners kept up...more

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Jan 27, 2008 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my favorite novels. Very funny at times. This will really strike a chord for anyone who ran distance at the college level. Parker gets everything down from the dinnertime antics to the pre-race jitters and the absolute strangeness that goes along with identifying yourself as a long distance runner. A must read for anyone planning to run a marathon or who trains regularly. A great motivator for those days when you just can't seem to get out the door. Pick this up, read a chapter, and get o...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a lot of fun. I read a quite a few reviews that disparage the quality of the writing, and for the most part I would have to disagree. Yes, it's a little soft and you kind of have to be forgiving of purple prose... not simply for its own sake but when used in service of an idea. But it's an engrossing, quick read. I cannot believe this book is not filed under young adult, because that's most certainly what it is. It's a coming of age novel, for pete's sake. I'd compare it to 'The Ch...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Stoops rated it 4 of 5 stars

The true competitive runner, simmering in his own existential juices, endured his melancholia the only way he knew how: gently, together with those few others who also endured it, yet very much alone. He ran because it grounded him in the basics. There was both life and death in it; it was unadulterated by media hype, trivial cares, political meddling. He suspected it kept him from that most real variety of schizophrenia that the republic was then sprouting like mushrooms on a stump.

Running to h...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Taylor Sutton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Once A Runner Review
It is not often that the emotions of the distance runner are described. These emotions remain hidden, out of sight for the average person. To dedicate themselves to something so hard, so burdening, would be a waste of their time. Few understand the unique breed that is the distance runner. I, a cross-country man myself, didn’t understand for nearly sixteen years. I once thought of running as a waste of time. I thought of it as cruel. I thought of it as unrewarding and unprod...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read a review that said this is not a novel for non-runners.

I'm not a runner and never have been a runner, but I couldn't put the book down. I love to be immersed in a world about which I know nothing, and this book was a revelation. Reading it was probably the closest I'll ever get to knowing what it must be like to be an athlete in top condition. To have demons that "make you want to run through the jungle . . . cover countryside at a clip, slide by in the night like a scuttling cloud . . ....more

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Jul 11, 2011 Burd rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: hardcore runners everywhere

Shelves: running

OK. It's not the best written book. But if you're a runner, you can't not like this book. Not all of it held my attention. I devoured the parts about running and training because they were so bang on and passionately written. I guess Parker wanted to round out the novel so that it wouldn't be a total runner's geekfest. But the side plots about love affairs and political drama were like junk miles to me and I found myself skimming over them.

Apparently this book has been a cult classic for years...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Amy Moritz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Since entering the running community a few years ago, I heard so much about this book. And yet, I started it without knowing much about it other than the amount of high praise it received. At first, I didn't get it. The first quarter or so of the book took some time for me to get into. Perhaps it's because it's a "guy's" book, I thought. The story lines depicting collegiate pranks from the 1970s just seemed to get in the way at first. Get to the running stuff, I thought. But as the story unfolde...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Terzah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Despite being a classic from the 1970s that someone in Runner's World called the best-ever novel about running, Once a Runner started off on, um, the wrong foot with me. That's because it started off with this:

"The night joggers were out as usual.

"The young man could see dim figures on the track even in this pale light, slowly pounding round and round the most infinite of footpaths. There would be, he knew, plump, determined-looking women slogging along while fleshy knees quivered. They would oc...more Despite being a classic from the 1970s that someone in Runner's World called the best-ever novel about running, Once a Runner started off on, um, the wrong foot with me. That's because it started off with this:

"The night joggers were out as usual.

"The young man could see dim figures on the track even in this pale light, slowly pounding round and round the most infinite of footpaths. There would be, he knew, plump, determined-looking women slogging along while fleshy knees quivered. They would occasionally brush damp hair fiercely from their eyes and dream of certain cruel and smiling emcees: bikinis, ribbon-cuttings, and the like. And then, of course, tennis with white-toothed males, wild tangos in the moonlight.

"And men too of various ages and levels of dilapidation, perhaps also grinding out secret fantasies (did they picture themselves a Peter Snell held back only by fat or fear as they turned their ninety-second quarters?)."

Quivering fleshy knees? 90-second quarters? Rendered in purple prose? Let's just say, I can relate more to the night joggers than I can to Quenton Cassidy, the young miler with Olympic-level abilities who is the center of this story. And I dislike purple prose in any context.

At the beginning, the book dwells too much for my taste on Cassidy's track-team buddies at the fictional Southeastern University. The author's descriptions of their testosterone-fueled antics and 1970s dating rituals (words like "co-ed" crop up) also turned me off. But as Cassidy's talent attracts the attention of Olympian Bruce Denton and the action moves away from the track team and its dorm, the book grabbed me and did not let go.

And while the writing still had some overwrought moments, I found myself increasingly forgiving them. After all, Parker was writing about running, and all of the elemental fury and passion that goes into it when you love it. Even if I am more of a "night jogger" than anything else in Quenton Cassidy's world, I've seen and felt enough of what Parker is talking about through his gifted young hero's experience that toward the end, when the story culminates in one key race, I had fallen for this story, hook, line and sinker.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves running. You'll imagine its scenes during your own races but also on those beautiful runs by yourself, when you are aware with every tingling fiber of your body and every soaring thought that running is something you, too, were meant to do...fast or not. (less)

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Jan 30, 2011 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I think I could only recommend this book to runners, and even then I'd have to qualify it by saying it is probably best enjoyed the way I read it--by listening to it as an audio book on my morning jogs. That definitely helped... listening to running tales while I was desperately trying to make it up the hill, or psyching myself up to finish the 8th and last mile (even though my 8-mile runs are seen as easy warm-ups by the Olympians in this book!).

The author is clearly more a passionate runner th...more

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Jun 27, 2010 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are truths about distance running in this novel that strum at the very essence of it all.

Aptly named Quenton Cassidy is a promising collegiate runner who aspires to run the mile in under 4:00 minutes. The intensity of his training naturally has side effects on other areas of his life, causing rifts in his love life and a earning him a reputation as the ringleader of dangerously absurd escapades.

Having run cross country and track throughout my high school years, I can't deny the uncanny w...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loaned by Devin, this book touches the part of you that wants to go to the Olympics and thinks that, with a little more work, you can.

I am not a runner, but have been an athlete and can tell you the experience Parker relates transcends any particular sport, so you may resonate with this, whether a runner or not. I remember that feeling~! It was right after college, when Ron Wilkes proposed we work together on a pair. I felt very strong, agonized anticipating the work that would be required, fin...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Dave Cunningham rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read lots of pans here and got frustrated...until I realized that it's simply because this isn't a book for everyone.

This isn't a book I'd recommend to a non-runner. In fact, it's not a book I'd recommend to every runner, either. If you know at some level what it's like to strive for an unapproachable, amazing physical goal, then I hope you can enjoy it for the description of that struggle. If you have to have great writing, or feel like the storyline has to be scintillating or the characters...more

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Dec 02, 2009 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The history of this book is more interesting than its contents.

The former Dallas Baptist University cross country runner who loaned it to me said it was a "cult running book". I was eager to see what type of book runners would form a hidden fan base around.

Unfortunately, and quite predictably, the running enthusiast's choice of fiction is a book that enthuses about running. A book that describes running accurately and compares most everything in life to running, and features characters who run o...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Clint rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: incredibly-fucking-awful

How in the hell is the average rating for this book over 4 stars? Oh yeah, I know, the only people who would read this book are runners and they don't really care about literary merit at all, they only care that the main character in the book is a runner. Not that runners make bad writers (or readers, can there be a bad or good reader?), but runners are usually people obsessed with running over everything else, so a book about a runner is probably the coolest thing in the world for them. I thoug...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Jonathan Nichols rated it 5 of 5 stars

This story changed my life. I know I may sound dramatic, but I read this after spending most of the summer of my junior year of high school prohibited from running because of a bum ankle. Leading up to my injury, I was in the best shape of my life and felt ready to break five minutes for the mile, but my progress was halted by my body. I tried biking and swimming to no avail, and had halfway convinced myself that running was a horrible endeavor when this book fell into my hands. It got me motiva...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quite simply, Once a Runner is a novel about running. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold by the author at foot races across the country, the book became a cult favorite among high school, college and professional runners of all abilities. I was skeptical when I first heard about it. What does it mean to be a novel about running? Seems like saying John Grisham's oeuvre is about law, or that Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series is about politics. The only novel I could think of that used running...more Quite simply, Once a Runner is a novel about running. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold by the author at foot races across the country, the book became a cult favorite among high school, college and professional runners of all abilities. I was skeptical when I first heard about it. What does it mean to be a novel about running? Seems like saying John Grisham's oeuvre is about law, or that Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series is about politics. The only novel I could think of that used running as a metaphor and plot element is The Marathon Man by William Goldman, which contains the best passage about running I have ever read. Seeing as much of my writing as of late has been focused on running, I decided to give this book a read.

The story is simple: Quenton Cassidy, captain of the track team at the fictional Southeastern University in northern Florida, longs for track glory. He has dedicated himself to breaking the elusive four-minute mile, and maybe even going further. Along the way he gets caught up in a scandal involving a new dress code issued by the head of the athletic department and head football coach. What makes this novel special is not the story, it is the characters and it is the way the author managed to capture the feeling of running. I am a marathoner now, but in junior high school I was a miler. I too dreamed of running a four-minute mile, though that dream was never realized. (Now I dream of a sub-three hour marathon and a fifty mile finishers medal.) Cassidy rises early and runs in the pre-dawn hours, rain or shine, tired, hungry, hungover. Doesn't matter. He lives to run. It is his all-consuming passion. His girlfriend doesn't understand it. Even he doesn't completely understand it. It's not something that can be explained in so many words. Parker, though, manages to capture the feeling, the desire, the dedication that comes with becoming a runner. "There was no alternative, it just had to be done." "Let others flail; the runner runs truly to the end." "He was not a health nut, was not out to mold himself a stylishly slim body." "Running to him was real; the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free."

This is the best quote about running in the novel:

A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke at precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.

The novel is not without its faults. Some of the language is stilted and cumbersome, and the opening chapters left me confused and feeling like my copy was missing pages. Though Parker wonderfully captures the feeling of being a runner, the sub plots are thin and weak and sometimes unnecessary. (I'm talking about you, Andrea.) Other stories seem to just fade away. (What ever happened to young Mize?) That doesn't mean you shouldn't read this book, especially if you run. Heck, it's a good read for anyone who has a passion and a dream, one that consumes them and one that their friends or family think they are crazy for striving towards.

The title of the book seems to refer to two ideas. One, that Cassidy was once a runner and in the beginning of the book (most of the story is told in flashback) he seems to have decided that his running days are over. The other meaning behind the title, it seems to me, is the old adage, "Once a runner, always a runner." Parker is telling us that we are all runners and that once we become that thing that we are, we can never go back to being what we were before. In fact, the title word "Runner" could be replaced with almost any other profession. In the end, what makes this book so good is that, while it is a book about running, in effect the novel is more universal than that. It's about all of us and all of our dedications.(less)

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Aug 01, 2011 Courtney Foster rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book was about a runner who runs in college and how running takes over his body. I loved reading about a world I know nothing about. The amount of running, the amount of pain and the amount of emotional work they put into being a runner. It really was amazing to read about a life that is so much more into runner than I ever will be.

Now as someone who isn't or wasn't ever competitive it was hard to understand. They don't always explain the details of something so you shake your head and just...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have had this book on the periphery for a few years now. Running seems to be in the spotlight for exercise and this book has been rediscovered by running enthusiasts all over.
Reading this book reminded me of stepping into my grandparents house and going to their limited bookshelf and finding the one book that was not written by some 1960s 1970s christian minister. The style of writing in this novel is very dated and it is amazing to see how literature and fiction can be identified with certai...more

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Mar 30, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Whew! This book dredged up the old feelings, now carefully filed in my subconscious, of my competition days.

I was a half-miler in the 1:58 range and my mile time didn't even reach the 4:30 time that, according to the runners in this book, "everyone" ran in high school. So I am not privy to the feelings of the really excellent runners such as the author, John Parker. Thus, to be fair, I have to give great weight to his description of how a well-trained competitive runner feels during workouts and...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow! I cracked this book for the first time yesterday afternoon, and before I knew it I was 1/3 of the way through. I opened it again last night, and when I checked I was 2/3 of the way through. Then, this morning, the last 1/3 flew by and I made a beeline for the computer to post this review...it couldn't wait!

I have been active most of my life...all kinds of sports, but mostly basketball and soccer, but about two years I started to run for exercise. I ran first on a treadmill and then on the...more Wow! I cracked this book for the first time yesterday afternoon, and before I knew it I was 1/3 of the way through. I opened it again last night, and when I checked I was 2/3 of the way through. Then, this morning, the last 1/3 flew by and I made a beeline for the computer to post this review...it couldn't wait!

I have been active most of my life...all kinds of sports, but mostly basketball and soccer, but about two years I started to run for exercise. I ran first on a treadmill and then on the road. At nearly 50 years of age, and at the times I've been able to manage (1hr58min 1/2 marathon, 23:15 5k), I am definitely one of the "distant cousins" that the main character in the book refers to when he sees "joggers".

I am amazed at the insights that John Parker reveals about the lives and minds of world-class runners. It's not just the running paces or the 100+ mile/week routine that is mentioned in the book, it's the glimpse into the heart, mind, and soul of these runners that makes this one of the most gripping tales I've read.

This book is a MUST READ for runners of all ages and abilities. It provides solace and encouragement, and it underscores the camaraderie that exists among all runners.

This book will, alas, be less meaningful to non-runners than to those that run. If you have ever trained for and then run a timed race, the distance doesn't matter, those experiences have already provided you with the perspective you need to fully appreciate the essense of this story.

If you are not a runner, well, you will almost certainly not be able to understand what a 6:30 min/mile training pace means, or what a 13 mile run is like, much less the 34 mile day put in at least once by the main character in the book. This book cannot therefore be comprehended by anyone that has not run for time. I would have fallen into that camp two years ago, but now, even after my feeble efforts of running, my hat goes off and my jaw drops when I read of the training, the times, the emotions, and physical stresses revealed in this book.

I must admit that I could do without a few of the very minor storylines, such as the football coach and his secretary...I just skimmed quickly past those parts. Otherwise...a top-notch book!

If you run, read this book! Let me repeat that...IF YOU RUN, READ THIS BOOK!

5 stars for the reading runner! (less)

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Jul 16, 2010 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I want to give this book five stars. I absolutely LOVED certain chapters, sections, lines. Then there are a few chapters that I really didn't like AT ALL (most notably chapter 30) and I felt weren't even important to the plot. And there was a lot of language. I don't mind a colorful adjective now and then, but there were a few too many for my taste. Still, overall I couldn't put it down, thought about it when I wasn't reading it, couldn't wait for the end, loved it.

Favorite parts: The descripti...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Kevin J. rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: public-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 07, 2011 Joan Sherwood rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This may be a good book for someone who is a competitive runner. It is described as 'one of the most beloved sports novels ever written." I expected more from this book than what it delivered.

a passage from the book that I enjoyed:

"The herd reached the fence, turned sharply to the right, and proceeded parallel to the runners at the same pace, looking straight ahead and running at a slow gallop with what appeared to be considerable pleasure. When they reached the corner of their pasture, they tu...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Elissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Despite being a work of fiction, Quenton Cassidy and his mentor capture the mentality of a distance runner perfectly. So much so that I had goosebumps and tears streaming down my face during the final pages of this book.

Many truths reside within the pages which describe what it means to be a runner.

"Cassidy knew what the mystic-runners, the joggers, the runner-poets, the Zen runners, and others of their ilk were talking about. But he also knew that their euphoric selves were generally nowhere to...more

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Jul 13, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've read this novel twice because it's a wonderful book about serious running. At times Parker gets bogged down in sophomoric plot points about campus life, but it is peppered with tremendous passages that seem to really capture the essence of why running can be so consuming. Few books have given me such motivation, and Once a Runner has the effect of making me want to run a hundred miles a week, plain and simple. Many people have tried to explain why they run, and Quenton Cassidy muses on it m...more

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Dec 04, 2011 Justin TerAvest rated it 1 of 5 stars

This came highly recommended as the best fiction on running.

I suppose running is a key part of the story, but everything else is horrible.
The arrogant lead (Cassidy) is frustrating. The basic premise is interesting-- the personal goal to be your best. But, the writing is very hamfisted, the key plot is basically a joke (view spoiler)...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Aimee rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book took me some time to get into, like other reviewers had mentioned. It felt heavy and difficult at times, and I could only read a chapter or two before I had to walk away from it for a while(the chapters are very short, mostly only a few pages long).

But, WOW, the last third to last quarter of the book was amazing! I felt like I was actually inside the character's head, and felt every spike of adrenaline, every drop in the pit of my stomach. I will never ever be an elite athlete, unfortu...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Pwilczewski rated it 4 of 5 stars

A novel written by a runner for runners. I wish I had read this book 8 years ago, it may have made me enjoy racing far more. I never ran to race, it has always been about the training for me. I never had the right mentality to race, winning was just never that important. For me it was always about the comradery among runners and the freedom of the run.

This book really hammers home the point that running is simple, the more you run the better you get. Its easy to measure, there are no tricks, no...more

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About John L. Parker Jr.

John L. Parker Jr. has written for Outside, Runner’s World, and numerous other publications. He was the Southeastern Conference mile champion three times, and the United States Track and Field Federation national champion in the steeplechase, and was the teammate of Olympians Frank Shorter, Jack Bacheler, and Jeff Galloway on several championship cross-country teams. A graduate of the University o...more

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Quotes from Once a Runner

“In mind's special processes, a ten-mile run takes far longer than the 60 minutes reported by a grandfather clock. Such time, in fact, hardly exists at all in the real world; it is all out on the trail somewhere, and you only go back to it when you are out there.” — 12 people liked it

“Cassidy's heart tried to leap out through his taught skin and hop into his wet hands. But outwardly it was all very calm, very serene, just as always, and it seemed to last a tiny forever, just like that, a snapshot of them all on the curved parabola of a starting line, eight giant hearts attached to eight pairs of bellows-like lungs mounted on eight pairs of supercharged stilts. They were poised on the edge of some howling vortex they had run 10,000 miles to get to. Now they had to run one more” — 6 people liked it

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