Going Long: Legends, Oddballs, Comebacks & Adventures Edited by David Willey

I’m a very typical runner, very typical. About five years ago I decided to overcome a very serious addiction by quitting smoking. I hear gasps when I am asked how much I smoked, the gasps are pronounced, but not nearly like the gasping I was doing when I would climb a flight of stairs. I had always prided myself on my stamina, but even I knew. I was dying with every pack, every cigarette, every strike of the match.

When my son said, “Daddy, your lungs sound like a flute.” I knew it was time. It was time to give up my addiction, my best friend, my left index finger, my Mother’s soul, my addiction, time to admit that I was a junkie smoking three packs a day, and always looking for a convenience store to replenish.

And so with the aid of patches and stubbornness, I quit for the long run. Of course, with a personality such as mine, I had to find a replacement to fill the void, and I found this in running. To help me become the best runner in the world, I subscribed to Runner’s World magazine. This rag for runners is chock full of great information, but more importantly, the pages are always filled with well written stories about runners by runners. David Willey collected the best of these stories and had them published by Rodale under the title Going Long: Legends, Oddballs, Comebacks & Adventures.

The collection of articles run the gauntlet from American John Brant’s retracing of Canadian legend and hero Terry Fox’s run across Canada to Don Kardong’s humorous run at Le Grizz, a 50 mile ultra in Montana. John Brant’s article Duel in the Sun exemplifies the quality of writing in Runner’s World. He captures the incredible emotion of Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley’s epic battle in Boston, 1982. Transported by the writing and emotion of the battle, the reader is there among the crowd, feeling the heat, witnessing history. Amazing.

All of the stories in Going Long are written in a conversational tone, and connect heartily with the reader. Some say there is a love of the written word in the running community, and Going Long proves this. Apropos of a typical runner, I continue to try to challenge myself and look for greater adventure. So I run, and I read. My October goal is going long at the Medoc Trail Marathon. This summer will find me training and running, and finding inspiration in the pages of Going Long.