THE RUNNER’S LITERARY COMPANION: Great Stories and...

THE RUNNER’S LITERARY COMPANION: Great Stories and Poems About Running edited by Garth Battista (Penguin: $12.95; 324 pp.). As every runner knows, there’s a good deal of sameness to the sport, and many of the authors in this anthology tell similar stories of underdogs coming from behind to win the Big Race. Bruce Tuckman’s “The Long Road to Boston” typifies the genre: An unknown athlete wins the marathon to complete his recovery from a traumatic accident. The more interesting stories, including “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara and “The Medal” by George Ewart Evans, bring characters to life, rather than situations. Curiously, the collection omits Patricia Nell Warren’s “The Front Runner,” the most popular novel about running in recent decades.