In Search of Al Howie - by Jared Beasley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Al Howie's monomaniacal pursuit of distance made him a legend. His demons made him human.

In the mid-1970s, Al Howie began showing up at the world's longest footraces, sporting a wild mane of blond hair, a mangy beard, and white singlet that read "Hell's Gate." While most of the runners stretched and warmed up, Howie downed beer. When the gun sounded, he went out too hard, too fast--but won anyway. No one was surprised--Howie had run hundreds of miles just to get there.

Perpetually broke, Al Howie was part of a countercultural scene of hippie-vagabonds who stumbled into the golden age of multi-day racing. These dirtbag athletes ran hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles. But no one covered more ground than Howie. In 1991, he ran 4,474 miles across Canada in world-record time--72 days, 10 hours. Two weeks later, he entered a 1,300-mile race in Queens and broke the world record--his own.

Years later, Jared Beasley sets out to find this legendary runner. In Search of Al Howie takes readers on a surprising journey, uncovering bizarre aliases, fake IDs, and a multi-national kidnapping. Despite his unbelievable drive and athleticism, Al Howie is a man trying to outrun his own failure.

Review Quotes

"A quirky, captivating biography." -- "Kirkus (starred review for 2019 edition)"

"This moving biography will leave you yearning for a recent yet distant unplugged era in human-powered adventure." -- "Adventure Journal "

About the Author

Jared Beasley is an author and journalist who never expected to find himself embedded in the world of ultrarunning. A former actor with a degree in theatre and literature from The University of Alabama, he brings a human perspective to a sport that is at times rife with danger and denial. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Canadian Running, Outside, and he has a monthly column in Ultrarunning Magazine, "Detours of the Lost and Found." Two of his articles made Runner's World's top ten stories of the year in 2020. He's been a featured guest on several podcasts, including Ultrarunner, Author's Stories, Bad Boy Running, and The Shakeout Podcast.