The 1970s, which came to be known as the Running Boom years (and later the first Running Boom), books about this sport sold better than ever before – or since. Rich Benyo writes in his new Foreword to Joe Henderson’s 1976 book, Long Run Solution: “In all the excitement, one of the best running books of its generation was overshadowed, overwhelmed and overlooked.” Benyo, editor of Marathon & Beyond magazine, now pick this as his “favorite book of the running revolution… There isn’t a five-year period in which I don’t pick up Long Run Solution and read it again, both to bring back the energizing effect of validating long-distance running as an adult pursuit and as an antidote to a too-pressured, too-stressed life… Today’s long-distance runner, enjoying this simple little sport and lifestyle, can learn much from this simple little book.”
In his updated Introduction, Joe Henderson names Long Run Solution as his own favorite book of the two dozen he has published: “This book is my clearest statement of how I feel about running. Much of what I’ve written since is touched on here, and most of these feelings have changed little in the meantime… Naming LRS as my favorite book might sound like a knock on the 15 or so books that followed, but it really isn’t. They served purposes, just as races do after the last personal record is set. There is value – even a certain nobility – in keeping going after we’ve peaked. Which is the message of the book: Do what it takes to run long, not in miles but in years and decades.”
A simple, sample statement from the original book, available again in this electronic reissue: “The challenge of running is not to aim at doing the things no one else has done, but to keep doing things anyone could do – but most never will. It’s harder sometimes to keep going back over the same ground you’ve covered a thousand times before than to go someplace you’ve never been. It’s harder to get down to the little, everyday tasks than to get up for the big, special ones.”
In his updated Introduction, Joe Henderson names Long Run Solution as his own favorite book of the two dozen he has published: “This book is my clearest statement of how I feel about running. Much of what I’ve written since is touched on here, and most of these feelings have changed little in the meantime… Naming LRS as my favorite book might sound like a knock on the 15 or so books that followed, but it really isn’t. They served purposes, just as races do after the last personal record is set. There is value – even a certain nobility – in keeping going after we’ve peaked. Which is the message of the book: Do what it takes to run long, not in miles but in years and decades.”
A simple, sample statement from the original book, available again in this electronic reissue: “The challenge of running is not to aim at doing the things no one else has done, but to keep doing things anyone could do – but most never will. It’s harder sometimes to keep going back over the same ground you’ve covered a thousand times before than to go someplace you’ve never been. It’s harder to get down to the little, everyday tasks than to get up for the big, special ones.”
