Running With Reckless Abandon: A Teenager's Hilarious Adventures in Distance Running with Legendary Coach Joe Newton
by Joe Radcliffe (Author) Format:
Running with Reckless Abandon” takes readers on a wild ride into the warped mind of the author, a high school distance runner, whose coach is the legendary Joe Newton of York High School, west of Chicago.
He builds state championship teams from average athletes—through discipline, perseverance, hard work and a lot of laughs. Fast-moving, deeply personal and laugh-out-loud hilarious, the book is extensively researched from interviews with Newton and his wife, Joan, and dozens of runners, along with Newton’s detailed meeting notes.
Radcliffe’s story-telling transports the reader, starting with a life-defining race, to Newton’s childhood on the South Side of Chicago, to his first teams at York, and how he inspired his runners to be great.
The book also chronicles the rise in the popularity of distance running, thanks to runners like Jim Ryun, Frank Shorter and Steve Prefontaine, along with untold stories of some of the best high school runners in the country: Craig Virgin, Bill Fritz, Mike Marks and others. Dozens of York greats are also featured, including: The Judge, Mac, Vacuum, Woodie, Lic and many more.