John L. Parker's Once A Runner

Capturing the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner is not an easy task, but author John L. Parker Jr. does it with ease in his fiction novel Once A Runner. Published in 1978 by Cedarwinds Publishing Company and 272 pages in length, it brings the art of writing sports literature to an entirely new level. Renowned as an author, Parker has written for Outside, Runner’s World, and numerous other publications in addition to writing several other fictional books on the subject of running including Racing the Rain, one of my personal favorites. His writing style paints vivid pictures in the reader's mind and captures the essence of what it truly means to be a competitive runner. Reading this book is well known as a rite of passage on many competitive running teams and for good reason. Once A Runner tells the story of collegiate athlete Quentin Cassidy at the fictional Southeastern Florida University, based on the University of Florida. After Cassidy becomes suspended from the university and is prohibited from competing, he drops out of school and subjects himself to a brutal training program while being coached by Olympic gold medalist Bruce Denton. He plans to compete at the spring Southeastern Track and Field Relays meet against the best miler in the world, …show more content…
You can really tell that Parker himself was once a runner because of the way that he is able to so accurately describe the meets, practices, and just in general what being a runner is all about. Coincidentally enough, the novel is loosely based on Parker's collegiate experience as a runner at the University of Florida. At first glance Parker’s novel tells the story of Cassidy, but it’s really about anyone who has ever laced up a pair of spikes and dedicated themselves to the single-minded pursuit of a