Long Run Solution: What I like best about running and do most as a runner

by Joe Henderson

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 “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 “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 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 “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.”

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1976

About the author

Joe Henderson is a former US runner, a running coach and writer.

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was delighted to see that this book has been reprinted. I believe I was the one who typeset it when it was originally published by World Publications. We worked in an industrial building next to the Bayshore Freeway, did yoga on the tiny postage-stamp lawn at noon, and had a great time. The typesetting equipment: an IBM compositor - you typed each line once, read a color and number from a window, set them into the dials, and typed the line again. It would have been twice as fast to use unjustified text!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe Henderson is one of the pioneers of running and his insight is certainly valuable. Sometimes the information seemed dated which is expected because the book IS dated. However, I enjoyed his stories. The book seemed to end rather abruptly and not all of the transitions were smooth throughout, but all in all, this is a nice book that any runner should enjoy.

[Katie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oldie but a goodie

Liked reading this from the 70s/80s and seeing what still rings true. It reaffirms my slow plodding along and has put a small pep in my step. :)

[milind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why we need to run...

Philosophy of running should have been the title of this book. It tells you what it really means to be running. As a runner it's most important to incorporate the activity into one's life as a necessary routine. As necessary as eating and sleeping. Just as you don't always eat or sleep for pleasure, similarly one must run not just for recreation but for sustenance. And why only running? Because it is the most natural, primitive activity. As natural and primitive as eating and sleeping. I would recommend this reading to anyone who has been running or has any kind of excuse for not doing so.

[Clark Beattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out. I was managing an Adidas store while in college. I wasn't a runner... I played college rugby and baseball and worked out year round. This book inspired me to begin running. Eventually reaching 7 miles a day. Joe's explanation of running long and consistently opened my eyes to this form of exercise and meditation that has lastedis into my 60's as long walking.

The book is a very easy and fast read while explaining why running long helps body and mind.

[David Allen Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in the mid 1970s and it was a bit dated when I first read it in the late 1980s as a beginning runner. But this book had more impact on my running career than any other. I recently decided to re-read it, and though even more dated now, it was still a great read and still spoke to why I took up running in 1988 and still run today 28 years later. I have always been a bit big and heavy for a runner, some 200lbs or so, and I was never fast. Nor was I ever a good athlete in high school. But when I took up running and cross country in high school my life changed and I developed fitness and self confidence and teamwork skills that have proved invaluable in my life since. When my school running career ended I wanted to keep running but without the intensity. Joe Henderson's "Long run solution" or running long and slow to enjoy running fit me perfectly. When I initially read "Long Run Solution" I said, "This is me!" and it is still me today.

Joe Henderson talks to the many aspects of running long and slow and making running a lifestyle rather than a thing to do. Adopt running slow and long, and you are assured of a lifetime of fitness, with a minimum of injuries. Running long and slow clears your mind and refreshes your body. Stress melts away!

I don't like today's "formulaic" books on running plans and programs, or the opposite, today's trendy "participatory" runs where out of shape people just try to finish. If you want to make running a way of life, read this book.

The last two chapters are the most dated and least satisfactory. Second to last, Henderson rages about the then growing professionalism of running which today sounds quaint and the final chapter talks about longevity with some obviously now discredited information on how long some people live. And the book just "ends" without a summary chapter.

But overall, it's a great read! Runners World today is a shadow of the magazine it was when Joe Henderson and George Sheehan wrote columns that were thoughtful and meaningful. All of Joe's books are good reads, but to me, this one is special and most meaningful.

[Susan Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how I feel about my new (s l o w) running life.
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