Must Read Running Books

The World History of Sprint racing, by Roberto Quercetani....also available from Track & Field News.

Some additional books

Lon

Inside the World of Marathoning, Fred Lebow

Anything for a T-shirt Fred Lebow and the NYCM..., Ron Rubin

Bob Wischnia has a bibliography on running books

to move away from the distances,

Run Bullet Run

Bob Mathias: The Life Of The Olympic Champion

The best that I can Be, Rafer Johnson's book

for sprinting (women's?)

JJK, Marion and FloJo all have books out, not sure if they are bios, or training.

The JJK book is:

Kind of Grace: Autobiography of World's Greatest Athlete

I don't have it, but I am interested in reading it.

Marion Jones book : Life in the Fast Lane - An Illustrated Autobiography is available on www.abebooks.com for only $1 USD

Please post you list of running books.

Abebooks is a great site, over the years, I have found many books there. Great for reference also.

Anyone have info on Jim Alder's Marathon and Chips? Is that the complete title? Where and when it was published?

I would also like to see the 700 strong list of publications that was mentioned.

My collection probably is in the 200. But like I mentioned earlier, with the internet, the thrill of the hunt is gone. I know I can always go onto Abebooks or another site to find 90% of the books I want.

Marathon and Chips by Arthur T McKenzie was published in 1981, a very hard book to find at any price.

Just as hard to find is the David Bedford Story.

Amazon.co.uk at least lists the books, however no copies are available.

My collection is around 195 running related books, so I too would like to see the list of 700 that was mentioned. I am interested in seeing the 500 + running books that I currently don't know about.

Might have missed them, but I don't see any of Peter Coe's training books listed:

Training Distance Runners (Coe/Martin)

Better Training For Distance Runners (Coe/Martin)

Winning Running

If you're a coach, Coe/Martin is required reading. In fact, if you went to the recent Vegas Distance Summit, you probably saw Coe referenced by various speakers more than all the books above in this thread COMBINED.

Two more;

Breaking Stride, Stephen Paske. Fiction (don't know if it is good or not)

How Longs the Course, Roger Black (Bio, British 400m Olympian)

Thanks for the info on Marathon and Chips.

I have some of Arthur's early books for sale. I could do them cheaper that $70US and that includes shipping from New Zealand.

Let me know what you want.

Cheers : Kim

Coach D, thanks, I currently have Coe's Books, Born to Run and Coming Back, but I am interested in these titles that you have provided......

A few other books that have not been mentioned:

Wilma, bio on Wilma Rudolph (a few different books on her)

Supernova, Russ Ebberts (on the Villanova teams)

The Guide to British Track and Field Literature 1275 to 1968, Peter Lovesey

Slinger Sanchez,Running Gun

Although not running, any of the books on training by John Jerome

A Cold Clear Day--the Buddy Edelen story

Good list from Broken Arrow. Here are some other good one I did not see on it:

The First Four Minutes— Roger Bannister (London, Putnam 1955)

All Out for the Mile—George Smith (London, Forbes Robertson 1955)

The Miracle of the Mile— Bill Nankeville (London, Stanley Paul 1956)

The Four Minute Smiler—The Derek Ibbotson Story—Terry O’Connor (London, Stanley Paul 1960)

The Golden Mile— Herb Elliott and Alan Trengove (London, Cassell 1961)

Flying Feet--Brian Hewson (London, Stanley Paul 1962)

The Legend of Lovelock—Norman Harris (Wellington, NZ, A.H. & A.W. Reed 1964)

Mes Victoires, Mes Defaites, Ma Vie—Michel Jazy and Raoul Solar (Solar 1967)

The Lonely Breed—Ron Clarke and Norman Harris (London, Pelham Books 1967)

The Kings of Distance—Peter Lovesey (London, Eyre & Spottiswoode 1968)

Four Million Footsteps—Bruce Tulloh (London, Pelham Books 1970)

Kipchoge of Kenya—Francis Noronha (Nakuru, Kenya, Elimu Publishers 1970)

The Dave Bedford Story—James Coote (Surrey, Penta Publications 1971)

Runners and Races—Mile/ 1500m—Cordner Nelson, Roberto Quercetani (Los Altos, CA, Tafnews Press 1973)

Corbitt-John Chodes (Los Altos, Tafnews Press, 1974)

Tale of the Ancient Marathoner: Jack Foster’s Own Story—Jack Foster/Runners World (Mountain View, CA, World Publications, 1974)

Golds Aren’t Easy—Dick Tayler and Spencer Jolly (Dunedin, NZ, John McIndoe, 1975)

Never Quit—Glenn Cunningham with George Sand (Lincoln, NE, Chosen Books 1981)

Marathon and Chips: Biography of Jim Alder--World Record Holder—Arthur McKenzie (Morpeth, self-published: Alder Sports 1981)

Marathon Winner—Arthur Keily (Derby, self-published, 1984)

The Olympians--A Quest for Gold--Triumphs, Heroes and Legends—Sebastian Coe with Nicholas Mason (London, Pavilion Books 1984)

Running Commentary—Dave Moorcroft and Cliff Temple (London, Stanley Paul 1984)

The Ballincurry Hare—John Joe Barry (Dublin, Athletic Publications Limited, 1986)

Sidney Wooderson—Forgotten Champion—David Thurlow (London, BSAD 1987)

Flying Finns—Story of the Great Tradition of Finnish Distance Running and Cross Country Skiing—Matti Hannus (Helsinki, Tietosanoma Oy 1990)

Sixty years a happy, healthy Sportsman—Arthur Keily (Derby, by author 1992)

Tom Longboat (The Canadians series)—Bruce Kidd (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Fitzhenry & Whiteside 1992)

Arthur’s Boys—The Golden Era of New Zealand Athletics—Joseph Romanos (Auckland, Moa Beckett Publishers 1994)

A Gentle Cyclone—The Running Career of Sydney Wooderson—Michael Sheridan (Congresbury, Somerset, self-published, 1998)

From Boghall to Bethlehem and Beyond: The Bertie Messitt Story--Ray Messitt (Dublin, Drimbane Promotions 2000)

Beyond the Finish Line— Mal Whitfield (Washington DC, published by author: The Whitfield Foundation 2002)

Life on the Run --Stan Eldon (Devon, Arthur H. Stockwell 2002)

The Road to Athens—Bill Adcocks and Trevor Frecknell (Coventry, by author--amrec69 2004)

The Perfect Distance—Pat Butcher (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2004)

American Miler: The Life and Times of Glenn Cunningham—Paul J. Kiell (Halcottsville, NY, Breakaway Books 2006)

With some time on my hands, the following is a list of the first three years of the monthly Runner's World booklets that were published beginning in 1971. It required a seperate subscription from the magazine. They measured 5.5 x 8.5 in. Many were just 30-50 pages, some going 100 or more (usually the Almanacs).

All About Distance Running Shoes

The Varied World of Cross Country

Coaching Distance Runners

New Views of Speed Training

Running After Forty

Gerry Lindgren Story

1972 Marathon Handbook

Runner’s World Pictorial

The Boston Marathon

Practical Running Psychology

Encyclopedia of Athletic Medicine

Racing Techniques

The Runner’s Diet

Beginning Running

Interval Training

1972 Olympic Games

Frank Shorter Story

1973 Marathon Handbook

Runner’s World Pictorial

1973 Runner’s World Almanac

Race Promotion

Runner’s Training Guide

The Young Runner

Shoes for Runners

Guide to Sprinting

The Running Body

Finnish Running Secrets

Exercises for Runners

Dave Wottle Story

1974 Marathon Handbook

Runner’s World Pictorial

1974 Runner’s Almanac

The Female Runner

Running with the Elements

Club Running

The series continued at least until May 1975, but I don't think a list was published after number #36, 'Club Running'.

The following four came out after #36;

Age of the Runner (#39 - September, 1974)

Athletes' Feet (#42 - December, 1974)

Running with Style (#46 - April, 1975)

African Running Revolution (#47 - May, 1975)

These two were scheduled to be published, but I don't know if they were;

Stress of Sports

Track Racers

It mentioned Joe Henderson was going to publish 'Run Gently Run Long', but I don't know if it came out as part of the series.

In all, I only have about 15 of them.

Feel free to fill in the blanks.

Great list, you left out the most sought after title, #41, November 1974:

Tale of the Ancient Marathoner (Jack Foster’s Own Story)

The Self Made Olympian by Ron Daws