Once a Runner: A Novel

This is the inspirational cult classic that Runner's World (and many others) have called "the best novel ever written about running". 
The Reno Gazette-Journal has also called it "a book so good, people will steal it." 
How often do you hear about someone borrowing a friend's book, then later buying their own copy because they liked it so much? Or a book so treasured that it gets passed from friend to friend until it simply falls apart from so many readings? Once a Runner is such a book. It has become a cult classic and our all-time best seller. It's been acclaimed over the years by Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar and many other top runners. 
Many regard the story of Quenton Cassidy's battle to the top as the most accurate portrayal yet written of the tiny universe of world class runners. And it's a great source of training inspiration and wisdom as well. Many readers say they learned more about running from this novel than from all the training books they have read. 
It has won Running magazine's award as the best book of the year, and has been highly acclaimed by Runner's World, Running Times, Racing South, and Track &amp; Field News, as well as by writers like Don Kardong, Kenny Moore Tom Jordan and Hal Higdon.

Literature & Fiction

John L. Parker

United States

Cedarwinds Pub Co

[Read by Jim Meskimen]  From the author of the New York Times bestseller 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 with aspirations to be a great athlete. As he explores his primal surroundings, along the Loxahatchee River and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, he is befriended by Trapper Nelson, the Tarzan of the Loxahatchee, a well-known eccentric who lives off the land. In junior high school, quite by chance, Cassidy discovers an ability to run long distances, but his real dream is to be a basketball star. Still, Cassidy absorbs Nelson's view of running as a way of relating to and interacting with the natural world. Though he is warned of Nelson's checkered past, Cassidy dismisses the stories as superstitious gossip until his small town is stunned by the disappearance of a prominent judge and his wife. Cassidy's loyalty to his friend is severely tested just as his opportunity to make his mark as a gifted runner comes to fruition. John Parker's prequel to the New York Times bestseller Once a Runner vividly captures how a runner is formed and the physical endurance, determination, and mindset he develops on the way to becoming a champion. Racing the Rain is an epic coming-of-age classic about the environments and friendships that shape us all.

Racing the Rain: A Novel

Literary

Blackstone Audio,Inc.

[Read by Jim Meskimen] From the author of the New York Times bestseller 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 with aspirations to be a great athlete. As he explores his primal surroundings, along the Loxahatchee River and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, he is befriended by Trapper Nelson, the Tarzan of the Loxahatchee, a well-known eccentric who lives off the land. In junior high school, quite by chance, Cassidy discovers an ability to run long distances, but his real dream is to be a basketball star. Still, Cassidy absorbs Nelson's view of running as a way of relating to and interacting with the natural world. Though he is warned of Nelson's checkered past, Cassidy dismisses the stories as superstitious gossip until his small town is stunned by the disappearance of a prominent judge and his wife. Cassidy's loyalty to his friend is severely tested just as his opportunity to make his mark as a gifted runner comes to fruition. John Parker's prequel to the New York Times bestseller Once a Runner vividly captures how a runner is formed and the physical endurance, determination, and mindset he develops on the way to becoming a champion. Racing the Rain is an epic coming-of-age classic about the environments and friendships that shape us all.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by John L. Parker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by John L. Parker

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by John L. Parker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Once a Runner: A Novel

Racing the Rain: A Novel

Racing the Rain: A Novel