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Copyright
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FIRST EDITION
Text © Alex Hutchinson 2018
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Source ISBN 978-0-00-828509-8
Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008277079
Version 2018-02-08
Dedication
For my parents, Moira and Roger, whose curiosity, rigor,
respect for differing perspectives, and talent for clarity remain
the model I strive for in everything I write.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell
CHAPTER 1 The Unforgiving Minute
CHAPTER 3 The Central Governor
CHAPTER 4 The Conscious Quitter
Foreword
By Malcolm Gladwell
All distance runners have races that, in retrospect, make no sense. I have two. The first came when I was thirteen, in my first year of high school. With no more than a month of training under my belt, I ran a cross-country race in Cambridge, Ontario, against boys two years older than me. One of them was among the best distance runners for his age in the province. I can summon the memories of that race even today, forty years later. I simply attached myself to the leaders at the beginning and never let go, and ran myself to complete exhaustion, finishing a close and utterly inexplicable second. I say inexplicable because although I would go on to have a creditable career as a middle-distance runner on the track in high school, that race remains the only truly superb distance race I’ve ever run. I’ve underperformed at anything over 1,500 meters for the rest of my running life.
That is: with one exception. Two years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I ran a magical 5K in a small-town race in New Jersey, finishing a full minute faster than any 5K I’d entered since returning to serious running as a Master. On that summer day in New Jersey, I was suddenly my thirteen-year-old self from forty years ago in Cambridge. I dreamt big. I marveled at my running prowess. And then? Back to mediocrity again.
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