--- product_id: 1548325 title: "Once a Runner: A Novel" price: "NZ$31" currency: NZD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.nz/products/1548325-once-a-runner-a-novel store_origin: NZ region: New Zealand --- # Once a Runner: A Novel **Price:** NZ$31 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Once a Runner: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** NZ$31 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.nz](https://www.desertcart.nz/products/1548325-once-a-runner-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description 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. Review: John Parker got it exactly right - I read Once a Runner in 1978 between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I was running cross-country and track. I thought it was a fantastic book and it is still one of my all-time favorites. It was a motivator for me then, pushing me toward consistent training and fewer empty squares in my training log. For someone who took up running later, in their 20s or 30s, running 10ks and half-marathons on the road, it probably would not feel as relevant, as reflected in other reviews. It is not Hemingway nor Shakespeare, does not pretend to be, and I do not think any runner who is a fan would pretend that it is. What it does, it does well. It tells the story of what it is like to be a young, competitive middle or long distance runner on a team. John Parker captures every emotion, feeling, situation, memory, motivation, and obstacle germane to that. He does it so well that anyone who has trained and competed as a distance runner on a high school or college team, would read this and say "that's it! He got it exactly right." And that is a bit ironic, since Quenton Cassidy at one point thinks to himself, “It was a good thing, he decided, not to have everything available in capsule form.” Much of the criticism I’ve seen is rather amusing. Cassidy and his teammates are labeled as arrogant. Aren’t many world class athletes? To reach that level, confidence (often masking insecurity) spilling over into arrogance is pretty much common. The book is called sexist, because Parker leans on some stereotypes (sorority girls in the South, Andrea not handling the breakup well). Hey, Cassidy’s girlfriend is premed and studying organic chemistry, this circa 1970, presumably, when not so many women entered medicine. Hardly sexist there. And because a woman tries to seduce Cassidy at a party (has no woman ever seduced a man?), and because “where are the female athletes? There are NONE in the book.” Female athletes? Parker graduated from University of Florida around 1970. The school did not field a women’s track team until 1973, so that is what he knew. Complaints about the timeline. Which Olympics did Denton compete in? Pre and Rose and Drayton and Ron Hill and others mentioned in a way that doesn’t all mesh. But, who cares? It’s a novel. If timelines and people and events are blurred, that’s OK. Read the sequel, Again to Carthage, and you can really get your knickers in a bunch over the timeline. It’s fiction. Criticism of Cassidy and Denton’s training volume (“That’s waaayy too many miles! Nobody should do that much.”) Again, it’s a novel, not a “how to” manual. There are training books out there, and websites. Go find them if that’s what you are looking for. And, that kind of mileage is what guys WERE doing in the late 1960s and 1970s, Frank Shorter included. John Parker should know, he trained and raced with Shorter, Jack Bacheler, Barry Brown, Marty Liquori, and others. (Hint: Bruce Denton is based on Jack Bacheler.) Criticism of the hermit thing (“That’s unhealthy and a bad idea and nobody should isolate themselves like that.”) Again, it’s a NOVEL. And there surely have been athletes who did that, training for the bigtime in whatever sport they were pursuing. Nobody is saying it’s healthy. But it probably got a lot of athletes to the Olympics or World Championships in their chosen sport. Scoffing at some things “just couldn’t have happened”, preposterous events like the Honor Court prank and the 60x 440 workout. But they did. John Parker did both of those things himself. Read his interview on Gary Cohen Running Interviews. Complaints that there was no backstory of Cassidy’s childhood. Heck, it’s fiction. Make up your own childhood story for him. Or read the prequel, Racing the Rain. If you’re a young person running on a team, in high school or college, read it. Review: A must-read for any competitive runner - I was told this book was a must-read for competitive runners of any level, and I maintain that stance. It's not that the book is particularly well-written or the plot is particularly well-constructed or the character development is particularly nuanced. None of those things are true, though I found the book adequate on all of those fronts. What sets this book apart is it's accurate portrayal of the lifestyle and mindset of an elite collegiate runner. It does this so perfectly that it still rings true many decades later. Which is not to say that everything in this book should be put on a pedestal as exemplary for modern runners, but it feels real and that is worth something, especially when there are so few works of fiction about distance running. That being said, this book is extremely self-gratifying. If you are in the "running" tribe, you should read it and you will probably enjoy it. If you are not in the "running" tribe, you could read it and you probably won't enjoy it. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #26,484 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #196 in Sports Fiction (Books) #399 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #1,632 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,695 Reviews | ## Images ![Once a Runner: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-eKUmte3L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ John Parker got it exactly right *by H***N on November 1, 2023* I read Once a Runner in 1978 between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I was running cross-country and track. I thought it was a fantastic book and it is still one of my all-time favorites. It was a motivator for me then, pushing me toward consistent training and fewer empty squares in my training log. For someone who took up running later, in their 20s or 30s, running 10ks and half-marathons on the road, it probably would not feel as relevant, as reflected in other reviews. It is not Hemingway nor Shakespeare, does not pretend to be, and I do not think any runner who is a fan would pretend that it is. What it does, it does well. It tells the story of what it is like to be a young, competitive middle or long distance runner on a team. John Parker captures every emotion, feeling, situation, memory, motivation, and obstacle germane to that. He does it so well that anyone who has trained and competed as a distance runner on a high school or college team, would read this and say "that's it! He got it exactly right." And that is a bit ironic, since Quenton Cassidy at one point thinks to himself, “It was a good thing, he decided, not to have everything available in capsule form.” Much of the criticism I’ve seen is rather amusing. Cassidy and his teammates are labeled as arrogant. Aren’t many world class athletes? To reach that level, confidence (often masking insecurity) spilling over into arrogance is pretty much common. The book is called sexist, because Parker leans on some stereotypes (sorority girls in the South, Andrea not handling the breakup well). Hey, Cassidy’s girlfriend is premed and studying organic chemistry, this circa 1970, presumably, when not so many women entered medicine. Hardly sexist there. And because a woman tries to seduce Cassidy at a party (has no woman ever seduced a man?), and because “where are the female athletes? There are NONE in the book.” Female athletes? Parker graduated from University of Florida around 1970. The school did not field a women’s track team until 1973, so that is what he knew. Complaints about the timeline. Which Olympics did Denton compete in? Pre and Rose and Drayton and Ron Hill and others mentioned in a way that doesn’t all mesh. But, who cares? It’s a novel. If timelines and people and events are blurred, that’s OK. Read the sequel, Again to Carthage, and you can really get your knickers in a bunch over the timeline. It’s fiction. Criticism of Cassidy and Denton’s training volume (“That’s waaayy too many miles! Nobody should do that much.”) Again, it’s a novel, not a “how to” manual. There are training books out there, and websites. Go find them if that’s what you are looking for. And, that kind of mileage is what guys WERE doing in the late 1960s and 1970s, Frank Shorter included. John Parker should know, he trained and raced with Shorter, Jack Bacheler, Barry Brown, Marty Liquori, and others. (Hint: Bruce Denton is based on Jack Bacheler.) Criticism of the hermit thing (“That’s unhealthy and a bad idea and nobody should isolate themselves like that.”) Again, it’s a NOVEL. And there surely have been athletes who did that, training for the bigtime in whatever sport they were pursuing. Nobody is saying it’s healthy. But it probably got a lot of athletes to the Olympics or World Championships in their chosen sport. Scoffing at some things “just couldn’t have happened”, preposterous events like the Honor Court prank and the 60x 440 workout. But they did. John Parker did both of those things himself. Read his interview on Gary Cohen Running Interviews. Complaints that there was no backstory of Cassidy’s childhood. Heck, it’s fiction. Make up your own childhood story for him. Or read the prequel, Racing the Rain. If you’re a young person running on a team, in high school or college, read it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A must-read for any competitive runner *by M***T on March 23, 2024* I was told this book was a must-read for competitive runners of any level, and I maintain that stance. It's not that the book is particularly well-written or the plot is particularly well-constructed or the character development is particularly nuanced. None of those things are true, though I found the book adequate on all of those fronts. What sets this book apart is it's accurate portrayal of the lifestyle and mindset of an elite collegiate runner. It does this so perfectly that it still rings true many decades later. Which is not to say that everything in this book should be put on a pedestal as exemplary for modern runners, but it feels real and that is worth something, especially when there are so few works of fiction about distance running. That being said, this book is extremely self-gratifying. If you are in the "running" tribe, you should read it and you will probably enjoy it. If you are not in the "running" tribe, you could read it and you probably won't enjoy it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perfect Read for Your Miles of Trials *by K***R on August 31, 2010* As Quenton Cassidy trains to run the biggest race of his life, Once a Runner may look like a novel with a conventional story arc, but to the runner-in-the-know: runners (and probably most athletes at Cassidy and author Parker's level of competition) are not conventional people. There is something more lurking as Cassidy loses his girlfriend, is kicked out of school, off of the running team and out of his house. As he decamps to a friend's country cabin, he is left only with what has been the only thing in his head anyway: running. Perversely, by losing it all, he gets to focus his life on one race. He runs. He trains. He obsesses. He always has; now, he does so freely, without all the distractions. And, there is a purity and enjoyment evident that is the domain of the elite athlete alone. Parker returns again and again to that mysterious strain of human, and - in many ways - how they are ill-suited to so many of life's more mundane duties and tasks by virtue of the same skill and mind sets that make them so perfectly suited to elite performance. Quenton realizes (or at least his girlfriend does, and he runs his way to the realization through the book) that a guy who can turn it on the way he can in competition is not suited to turning it off in the rest of his life. This is the famous Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, "they have to beat you at checkers" conceit. But, parker does it in fiction and does it very well. He surrounds his reflections on running with a healthy cast of characters. Admittedly, they recede as "Cass" sequesters himself in the woods to wrestle with the demon (running) that he can only conquer by using his one coping mechanism (running). Nonetheless, there is genuine humor in the early phases of the book as Parker introduces town father Sidecar Doobey, of his mythical town (adapted from the Gainesville, Florida locale where Parker himself was an SEC mile champion). For runners - even weekend road racers - Parker does an admirable job of evoking the running subculture: down to the equipment, the obsession over seconds, the constant brain-rattling focus on training, etc. He writes, "in the waking world his whole being centered around covering ground quickly on foot. At this he really had no equals save a few dozen others scattered about the country and world who also woke to such disquieting dreams. Quenton Cassidy knew every one of them by name." Talk about subculture! Every runner shares some sense, however limited, of the bonds that form in the "Miles of Trials" that help Cass define himself and his friendships. And, as Parker beautifully portrays in the person of Bruce Denton, Cass' Olympic gold medalist confidante, every runner knows the feeling that while only few people may know the difference between the and a near competitor, it is there. Of course not every revelation will resonate with the weekend runner as it does with a champion miler. But, the book is packed with the kind of running mysticism that will have avid runners locked in to what is otherwise a very solid novel. ## Frequently Bought Together - Once a Runner: A Novel - Again to Carthage: A Novel - Running with the Buffaloes: A Season Inside With Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, And The University Of Colorado Men's Cross Country Team --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.nz/products/1548325-once-a-runner-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.nz/products/1548325-once-a-runner-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart New Zealand* *Store origin: NZ* *Last updated: 2026-05-31*