Top five Best Books About Running, Runner's World Magazine Top three Best Books About Running, readers of Runner's World Magazine (December 2009) A phenomenal portrait of courage and desire that will do for college cross-country what John Feinstein's A Season on the Brink did for college basketball.

Provides a close-up portrait of champion runner Alan Webb, who in 2001, broke a thirty-six-year-old record by running the fastest mile in history, describing his efforts to stay focused despite life's many demands.

Authors Goucher and Catalano share their unique running philosophy, demonstrating how the transformative power of the distance run can inspire readers to push their limits as runners and as human beings.

The undisputed classic of running novels and one of the most beloved sports books ever published, Once a Runner tells the story of an athlete’s dreams amid the turmoil of the 60s and the Vietnam war. Inspired by the author’s experience as a collegiate champion, the novel follows 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 away when the turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school’s athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes’ protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team. Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life against the greatest miler in history. A rare insider’s account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners, Once a Runner is an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one individual’s quest to become a champion.

"Over the blazing campfires, where the wind moaned eerily through the thickets of juniper and fir, they spoke of it in the Indian tongue—the strange lake to the southward whose waters never rest. And Nawa, the medicine man, who had lived such countless moons that not even the oldest member of his people could remember a time when Nawa was not old, declared that, if only you arrived at the right time, on the right night, you would see the buffaloes rise out of the middle of the lake and come crowding to the shore; for there, he said, was the sacred spot where the buffaloes began." Ten-year-old Little Wolf, an imaginative and courageous boy, is determined to observe this spectacle, and his quest leads not only to a miraculous vision but also to the salvation of his tribe. This Caldecott Honor picture book and National Book Award nominee was hailed by Booklist as "an eminent picture book and, incidentally, one that proves that black and white can move as forcefully as color." The New York Times praised artist Stephen Gammell for his "spectacular scenes of tumbling clouds, of earth churned by flying hoofs, of teepees in the early dawn. But most of all he conveys the hulking, surging, rampaging strength of the shaggy buffaloes as they rise out of a shadowy mist, the mist of legend or dream."

A book for runners, marathoners, and joggers! Runners will enjoy this fun and lighthearted look at running enthusiasts who, of course, resemble them in many ways. This is both a send-up of runners and an affirmation of certain aspects of the running life. While laughing at this satire of the habits, attitudes and lifestyle of runners, they are laughing at themselves and also getting solid advice and tips on the activity they love. It includes chapters on: The Community of Running The Runner's Life Chasing the Dream and more!

The runners from Eisenhower High School have every justification to fail. They’re from low income families, many of whom are migrant workers. With little time to devote to their passion, they give everything they have to their quest for the Washington State High School Cross Country Championship. Running to Glory is a celebration of grit, perseverance, and the American Dream. It follows the cross country team from Eisenhower High in Yakima, Washington, through a tumultuous and challenging season with excitement, suspense and pathos. Despite enormous economic disadvantages, the Eisenhower runners compete with affluent schools in the Seattle-Tacoma area, where parent involvement is strong and funds are readily available. Their coach Phil English knows how his runners feel. He grew up poor in rural Ireland in the 1960s during The Troubles and emigrated to the U.S. for a college track scholarship. Over 37 years coaching in Yakima, Coach English won 11 state titles, and sent more than 100 kids to college with scholarships for running. Author Sam McManis crafts a compelling narrative, which follows the team from summer workouts in the blistering sun to the state championship meet in the bitter cold. Readers will discover how these young men and women overcome their environment or succumb to it—on the course and in the classroom.