Funny story . . .
The girls on my team and I were cleaning out one of our friend's locker for her and we came across this book . . .
I read the first page and was hooked!
This book is about a runner who grows from being a good 400 meter runner into an incredible world-renowned athlete because of people who believed in him.
The book is completely fictional, but the thoughts of the runner are completely real. I think that's what got me hooked . . . his thoughts mirror mine in training and racing. It's incredible! It makes me think that the author has got to be a runner to match our thoughts that accurately.
This book was published in the 60's, but the principles in there are the same as they are today. I even gained a little bit of knowledge that I had not been aware of.
I loved this book, but there were things that turned me away from it at times.
1. In this book, there are some swear words. This didn't bother me too much, because I sometimes am thinking a bad word in the middle of bad races and so I knew what pain he was going through when I came across those words.
2. I think Mr. Glanville should have focused more on the training and races than on the social/immorality issues. I understand he was writing a real book and he wanted it to be real, but sometimes I thought it was unnecessary and it made me sick.
But at the end of reading it, I wanted to keep it and read it again a few days before cross country started up again because it definitely pumped you up and kept you interested throughout the entire 276 page book.
I would recommend this book if you are a runner looking for someone who feels your pain during intervals and competition. It's amazingly written so you are right there on the track taking his splits.
