The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner [Paperback]

Russell Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Out-of-shape and hammered more often than not, Russell Taylor, nearing 40, begins training for the NYC marathon as something of a midlife crisis. His journey from the treadmill in North London to the mountains of Wales to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway illuminates the meaning of the egalitarian race, the only sport where any weekend jogger can run with world-class champions. For everyone who has contemplated running the marathon or watched from the sidelines feeling an uneasy mix of envy and gratitude, this comical and inspiring account will change their understanding of the legendary race.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Taylor is a humor writer...and he puts his talent to prodigious use in documenting his odyssey-by-foot...Beginning with his first visit to the gym - not to run, but to use the shower when the hot water goes out in his building - I laughed out loud at sketches made funnier by the resonance of recognition...."

About the Author

Russell Taylor is responsible for the words of the Alex cartoon strip in the Daily Telegraph and also composes TV music. In addition to annual collections of Alex cartoons he has also written humorous books on Russia and the city of London. He lives in Muswell Hill, North London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844429415
• ISBN-13: 978-1844429417
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,532,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the nose, February 1, 2004

By 

kayea "customer63012" (BARNHART, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner (Paperback)

Taylor captures the realities of starting a running program beautifully and with LOL humor. If you're a runner, don't miss this.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars sometimes funny, but overall not terribly interesting, July 29, 2005

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner (Paperback)

After agreeing to sponsor a friend of his for the NYC Marathon, Russell Taylor decides that he would like to run that marathon the following year. Taylor is nearly 40 years old and is not a runner. "The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner" is Taylor's account of training for the NYC Marathon. The subtitle for this book covers exactly how crazy he is: "an unfit Londoner's attempt to run the New York City Marathon from scratch".

Russell Taylor is, apparently a humor writer, and so this book is filled with humorous observations on running, training, races, and why exactly he is doing this. Some of it is actually quite funny and I honestly found myself chuckling out loud a couple of times. Unfortunately, when I wasn't chuckling I was reading and hoping that something interesting would be on the next page. Often enough there wasn't. As a runner I am drawn to books about running and about marathons so I figured this book would be a natural fit, but it was a struggle to get through this one. Taylor includes a section of his training diary and that section was the single least interesting part of the book. It just dragged on and on and on. Sort of like this review.

Then Taylor gets to the races. As a part of his training Taylor ran several races and his racecourse descriptions and his feelings during the race (he made some interesting decisions as to which ones to run) were fascinating and funny. Once again I started enjoying parts of the book. The marathon itself seemed a little skimpy in the description.

I just can't recommend "The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner" to anyone. There are far better books about one man's journey to race (try "To the Edge" by Kirk Johnson for a more interesting book about an ultramarathon), and unfortunately when the humor stops there isn't much here to hold my interest. Pass on this one.

-Joe Sherry

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very British humor but observations apply to US runners too, July 1, 2004

By 

Alex Stewart (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner (Paperback)

Taylor is a professional British comic writer, which shows: the book's well written, funny, and British. British in a P. G. Wodehouse, not a ribald way. Much of the humor derives from his observations of runners' everyday peculiarities, most of which may be seen in the new world as well. The book is also a bit sad, because (I think) Taylor tried to overcome middle aged unfitness too quickly - to run the NY Marathon - and paid a price. The price was all post-NY so I'll not reveal details. But check his 1/2 marathon time and his NY time: the former predicts over 20 minutes better than he ran in NY. Check also his training heart rates: too high. It's fair to assume he ran the marathon before he was ready. But as he writes the "marathon"'s a unique brand; who'd want to read about his travails trying to run merely 13.1 miles?