Once a runner novels

Originally self-published in 1978, Once a Runner captures the essence of competitive running—and of athletic competition in general—and has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever published.
Inspired by the author's experience as a collegiate champion, the story focuses on Quenton Cassidy, a competitive runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second...

"From the author of the New York Times bestselling Once a Runner--"The best novel ever written about running" (Runner's World)--comes that novel's prequel, the story of a world-class athlete coming of age in the 1950s and 60s on Florida's Gold Coast. Quenton Cassidy's first foot races are with nature itself: the summer storms that sweep through his subtropical neighborhood. Shirtless, barefoot, and brown as a berry, Cassidy is a skinny, mouthy kid...