Once a Runner is a novel by American author John L. Parker Jr. and was first published in 1978 by Cedarwinds (0915297019). In Once a Runner, Parker illustrates the hard work and dedication that is required of an elite runner. A reissue was released in 2009. The novel was followed by the sequel Again to Carthage in 2008 and the prequel Racing the Rain in 2015. Plot summary The novel opens with a physically fit young man standing on a track, watching as "the night joggers" toil around him. He begins to walk toward the starting post and thinks that now that the Olympic games are over for him, he does not know what he will do with his life. The man starts to walk around the track and thinks back to four years ago. Quenton Cassidy is a collegiate runner at fictional Southeastern University based on the University of Florida. He is a distance runner who specializes in the Mile. After writing a petition for the college's athletes protesting a dress and conduct code, Quenton is suspended from the university and prohibited from competing in the university's annual track meet. Cassidy drops out, moves to a cabin in the woods, and submits himself to a brutal training regimen. He is under the coaching of fictional gold medalist Olympian Bruce Denton, based on Jack Bacheler. His plan is to compete at the Southeastern Relays against the best miler in the world, John Walton (obviously based on John Walker). Because he is barred from competing at the meet, Denton comes up with a plan to disguise him as a Finnish runner attending a nonexistent university in Ohio. Cassidy, who has always dreamed of running a sub 4:00 mile, spends many months training for the race of his life, urged on by Denton, who is nearing the end of his running career due to injuries. After completing an agonizing interval workout of 60 quarter miles, Cassidy finally believes he is ready to face Walton. The night before the race, Cassidy performs a ritual of his to prepare himself for the meet—he walks a mile on the Southeastern track, putting all of his "demons" in a symbolic "orb" that will hold them in during the race and allow him to push through the pain. The next day, Cassidy arrives disguised at the meet but spends more than an hour warming up on the