2007 - December

[El Gordo]

Sheehan is strangely hard to track down. He deserves to be lauded in the running community, and actually he is. But for some reason his books go out of print, though occasionally get republished as new generations discover him.

I've bought 6 of his books (3 of which were in one volume), but had to buy them all second-hand from Amazon. Sometimes they reach high prices though I notice that there are currently some reasonably-priced copies of one of his classics, Running And Being, on there at the moment.

For more immediate satisfaction of Sheehan hunger, check out http://www.georgesheehan.com, and pick out a few of his essays at random. They're short and very readable. Most of them will make you think, and some may make you want to punch the air -- even if you don't actually carry through that urge.

He's a fascinating guy, if somewhat eccentric. Each morning he would run for an hour in ski mask and long johns, along the shore in New Jersey where he lived, before attending to his patients. He was a GP. He used to recommend a couple of beers each evening. But a great runner too. Started at the age of 45, and became the world record holder for the mile for the 50 age group. He got his marathon PB of 3:01 at the age of 60.

But it's his writing that was truly his talent. Not just the writing but the perception and the wisdom that drove it.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan.

Success rests in having the courage and endurance and, above all, the will to become the person you are, however peculiar that may be. Then you will be able to say, 'I have found my hero, and my hero is me.