Running with the Legends, Training & Racing Insights from 21 Great Runners.

In his introduction to The Lonely Breed (1967. o.p.), a book about 21 great distance runners, Ron Clarke wrote "This is just the type of book I have always wanted to read." The stories behind legendary athletes enthrall and inspire many of us. Citing the influence of The Lonely Breed in his introduction, Sandrock also writes about 21 runners, choosing an interesting cross-section: 14 men and 7 women, short-distance through marathon champions, and retired legends through current record blasters. Sandrock is a 25-year runner himself as well as a recognized sportswriter (currently for the Colorado Daily), and he offers not only fascinating insights into how these athletes live, train, and run but also much-needed updates of our historical and political perspectives on running. Recommended for public libraries.?Cindy Eubank, Waterloo P.L., Ia. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author, an accomplished marathoner, offers brief biographies of 21 of the best distance runners of the modern era, ranging from Emil Zapotek, the four-time Olympic gold-medal winner who set 18 world records in the late 1940s and early 1950s, to Uta Pippig, the East German defector who has recently dominated the women's marathon circuit. In each profile, Sandrock summarizes the subject's accomplishments, training regimen, athletic background, and recent life. But more than that, he searches for the ephemeral quality that drove each to succeed. These runners all possess--or are possessed by--an inner strength that propels them past equally talented competitors who have trained equally hard. Zapotek's sheer determination, for example, tended to discourage his opponents, while Pippig may still be running from the oppression of her Eastern bloc childhood. This is among the most fascinating books on runners and running to appear since Dr. George Sheehan was in full stride. Wes Lukowsky