First You Run, Then You Walk: Pedestrian Thoughts

by Tom Hart

First You Run, Then You Walk celebrates, the pleasures, mysteries, and demands of running -- and thinking about the sport -- over a lifetime. Tom Hart, a Boston-area coach, English teacher, editor and literary agent, takes inspiration from the labor and devotion of the ordinary runner, whether that runner conquers a mile, a marathon, or the rigorous courses of his school's girls cross-country team. During his three decades of running, fourteen years of coaching, lifetime of reading (especially his beloved Thoreau), Hart's pursuit of the sport leads inevitably to profound questions and personal growth. Even as illness makes his pursuit difficult in the extreme, Hart's quest continues, immersing him, now a walker, in the natural world and taking readers companionably along on a journey that is moving, funny and wise.

210 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2014

About the author

Tom Hart is a critically acclaimed Eisner-nominated cartoonist and the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW) in Gainesville, Florida.

He is the creator of Daddy Lightning, and the Hutch Owen series of graphic novels and books.

The Collected Hutch Owen was nominated for best graphic novel in 2000. He won a Xeric Grant for self-publishing cartoonists.

He teaches sequential art at SAW and at the University of Florida and taught at NYC's School of Visual Arts for 10 years.

Reviews

[Pamela Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I admire the author for his dedication and perseverance in training himself and his students to be competitive runners (Hart was a marathoner), I did not enjoy this book. The story of his career in running could have been eclipsed by his struggle with cancer and his monumental efforts to substitute walking for running. Instead, the writer’s cancer struggle and eventual demise became secondary to his triumphs running.