About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
The story of Al Howie is a remarkable and at times unbelievable adventure into the heart of the longest races in the world with one of modern history's most eccentric ultra-marathon runners.
If you ran 7295 kilometres across Canada in 72 days, wearing three-ounce racing flats, then two weeks later took on the longest certified race on Earth and broke the world record (which happened to be your own), what would you be? Likely an alien. If you won 24-hour races and three-, six-, and seven-day races several times a year in your mid-40s, and ran marathons just for training, what would they call you? Crazy for sure. If you were forever broke and shipped your clothes on buses in order to run free of baggage for thousands of kilometres just to get to races, you’d be institutionalized. And if you did all these things and were institutionalized for the last 15 years of your life, you would be Al Howie.
Al Howie was an eccentric among the extreme runners in the ultra-marathon world, and his life was as enigmatic as his runs. Based on interviews with Howie himself during his final two years (he died in 2016), Jared Beasley’s book takes the reader into the amazing and complex world of an astounding figure in modern sports history.
Editorial Reviews
"Jared Beasley sketches a soulful portrait of an embattled figure who, fueled by fish n' chips and beer and instinct, won dozens of mega-distance races in the 1980s and '90s, inspiring many with his working-class heroism and singular devotion to mileage." - Adventure Journal
"He was maniacally obsessed to the detriment of all those who loved him, but there is no doubt, that this myopic disposition is what made him one of the greatest mega distance runners of all time." - Treeline Journal
"In Search of Al Howie will leave you yearning for a recent yet distant unplugged era in human-powered adventure, when a free spirit kindled righteous pursuits of endurance as a way of life." - Adventure Journal
"It's a crazy ride, and one well worth reading." – Outer Edge Magazine
"This book is one of those "can't put down" reads." – Outer Edge Magazine
"Howie excelled at exploits bordering on the preposterous. He had an appetite for adventure that proved insatiable, and he spent his life running away from his demons and towards an elusive dream." – The Shakeout Podcast
"[In Search of Al Howie]...reveals the relationships, personal demons, and twists of fate that shaped Howie, rendering the legend fully human—fearful and driven, flawed but likable." - Kirkus Reviews
"Al Howie is a Canadian ultrarunner who ran really, really far. Like Prince George to Boston far. Like Winnipeg to Ottawa and back to Winnipeg far. He ran across Canada in record time and won more than 50 ultramarathons and multiday races in his lifetime." - Run the North
"Al Howie’s story is one that richly deserved telling, and Jared Beasley does a commendable job in bringing it back to public attention." - Ormsby Review
"[In Search of Al Howie] is recommended, not just for runners, but for anyone who may be fascinated by the stories of the lives of people who accomplish unbelievable feats. Al Howie’s life story as chronicled by Beasley is a legend of incomprehensible focus and determination." - Athletics Illustrated
