John L. Parker Jr. Is the Man!

Earlier today I finished up Again to Carthage the sequel to John L. Parker Jr.'s Once A Runner. I have to say that I am astounded, and admittedly envious, of Parker's ability to make racing and training  into a poetic and fantastical thing. 

In his first book, Once a Runner, probably the most well known running novel ever, the end paints the picture of an intense mile face-off versus the fabled New Zealand runner, John Walton. Though the book works through different motifs and themes that runners are able to associate with, especially college athletes. 

When you strip away the rich literary value, a reader is easily drawn to the final chapters of the book. The race. What every reader looks for is the action and spice of a story and the end is hard to over-hype. In the interest of any readers that may not have gotten the chance to read Once a Runner, I'll leave it at: READ THIS BOOK (or at least the last 30 pages)!!!

Talking with a lot of my friends, the general consensus was that Again to Carthage fell short of its famed predecessor. Reluctantly, I bore through the first 80 pages or so before the real running started. By the end however, I was grateful for having the general sense of our hero' emotional and mental state. 

Much like the first novel, Again to Carthage provides an ethereal and theatrical account of Cassidy's race at the Olympic Trials. 

The difference between the first and second race is: the first has four laps on a track to work with, and the second has a freakin' marathon! The race in the first book was an intense and powerful description of speed. A real ballad, or an ode if you will, to the triumphs of a finely tuned racing machine.

With the marathon, it's different. Naturally the race is 26.2 times longer, and gives more time for the write to fill the reader in with every single detail of Cassidy's experience. Unlike it's predecessor, the race description brings in more of the real life pain and experience that anyone could go through. 

Instead of the final race of Cassidy's life being about physical triumph, it is about the mental conquest of a race longer than anyone thought he could succeed in. The reader is taken through the pain, the mental ups and downs, as well as the emotional fluctuation in the 2+ hour race.

I wish I could talk more about this final passage without giving anything away. If you have read Once a Runner, (and if you haven't read this cult classic, GET ON IT) you need to read Again to Carthage! Make it through the first half of the book any way you can, but be ready for the last race, it might just make you stand up and cheer, or cry, for Cassidy.

Next on my read list is Parker's Runners and Other Dreamers.