In Search of Al Howie

by Jared Beasley

Overview

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 2225 kilometres from Winnipeg to Ottawa, you’d be crazy. If the day after you arrived in Ottawa you showed up to a 24-hour race and started knocking back beers, you would be stupid. If you then ran the 195 kilometre, 24-hour race, won it, and ran all the way back to Winnipeg, you’d be a true freak of nature. If later, at 46 years old, you ran 7200 kilometres across Canada in the world-record time of 72 days, 10 hours, and then followed it up two weeks later by breaking another world record (which happened to be your own) in the longest certified race on Earth, you’d be a mega-distance alien. In all of this, if you were forever broke, using fake names and aliases, teetering on the edge of sanity, and doing it all in three-ounce racing flats, you’d be Al Howie.

Based on interviews with Howie himself during his final two years (he died in 2016), Jared Beasley’s book takes the reader into the incomprehensible distances of a legendary runner and the amazing and complex world of an astounding figure in modern sports history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771603386
Publisher:	Heritage Group Distribution
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,181,948
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jared Beasley has spent years as an actor and director, having written numerous feature screenplays and independent shorts. Originally from the American South, he has a degree in literature and theatre from the University of Alabama and is the co-author of The Black Sheep: The Fittest / Unfittest Bar Owner In New York. Jared lives in New York, NY.

Table of Contents

A Note on Multi-days and Mega-distance 11

Introduction: The Pirate 13

Map: Trans-Canada Highway, East to West 18

Part 1 Newfoundland

Chapter 1 Finding Al 23

Chapter 2 Arthur John 29

Chapter 3 On the Run 39

Chapter 4 June, Turkey and Lord Byron 43

Part 2 Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick

Chapter 5 The Big Move 55

Chapter 6 First Run 59

Chapter 7 Niagara 63

Part 3 Quebec

Chapter 8 Hell's Gate 73

Chapter 9 Celebration of Life 87

Part 4 Ontario

Chapter 10 Fight with a Greek God 99

Chapter 11 Claudia 105

Chapter 12 Scotland 113

Chapter 13 A Boy and a Bike 121

Part 5 Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Chapter 14 The Bengali Tiger and Al's First Multi-Day 129

Chapter 15 The Misfits: A Peep into Other Aliens 137

Chapter 16 Impossibility 183

Part 6 Alberta

Chapter 17 Mile "o" 191

Chapter 18 The Meteor 199

Chapter 19 Trans-Am 205

Part 7 British Columbia

Chapter 20 A Slippery Slope 215

Chapter 21 One Last Talk 229

Acknowledgements 237

Appendix I Al Howie Bests 239

Appendix II Selective Running Chronology 241

Appendix III Journal 247

Editorial Reviews

★ 2019-09-16
An energetic work that chases the legend and captures the life story of premier Canadian extreme-distance runner Al Howie.

In an eccentric sport, Howie stood out. He would run hundreds or thousands of miles cross-country to the starting lines of multiday races—and then run to the next. Like a tour guide, Beasley (The Black Sheep, 2016) explores the cloistered world of extreme-distance running—involving races longer than standard 26.2-mile marathons—where Howie became an icon but never a household name. In 2014, the author found Howie, a silent shell of his former self, at a group home for the mentally ill. During the runner's final two years, Beasley teased out recollections while tracking down documentary evidence and Howie's friends and relatives, charting a path through memories and mythology. Howie, a native Scot, grew up in a hiking family and later enjoyed a hippie lifestyle before leaving his drug-addicted wife with their preschool-age son. He moved to Canada, where he was "on the run" long before his first race, which took place after he was 30. His stamina, flowing hair, and penchant for hydrating with beer defined him. In 1989, he became first to finish the 1,300-mile "Impossibility Race"—in 17 days, nine hours. In 1991, he ran 7,295 kilometers across Canada in 72 days, 10 hours—still the record—and two weeks later, broke his own 1,300-mile record. The book also reveals the relationships, personal demons, and twists of fate that shaped Howie, rendering the legend fully human—fearful and driven, flawed but likable. Beasley, an actor, director, and screenwriter, writes in a cinematic fashion, interspersing flashbacks between chapters with third-person snapshots of Howie's signature trans-Canada run. He also seamlessly shifts focus from wide-angle settings to character close-ups, packs details into scenes without slowing the pace, and uses the colorful runners' vernacular that christens a competitor a "manimal," "alien," or "freak." Some may find the style hyperbolic, but they'd likely concede that if the author described a smoke-filled bar, they'd smell it. He achieves a fluid narrative that makes the pages fly by, like the miles beneath Howie's feet.

A quirky, captivating biography.

Kirkus Reviews