Following the Flame

Author: Greg Lautenslager

ISBN 1-58939-809-2 (softcover)

450 pages

I had run around this track hundreds of times - in my mind…
In only minutes, a gunshot would send me onto the footsteps of Steve Prefontaine. My spikes would touch the same holes he made in this surface en route to an American Record and touching off a thunderous chant of "Pre! Pre! Pre!" heard from the surrounding green hills to the rocky Oregon coast.
I took a breath and closed my eyes as I reached the starting line. For a moment, I felt like I was home.
Jonny Langenfelder will do whatever it takes to make the Olympics. He will run 150 miles per week through duststorms or snowstorms, endure the torment of crazed coaches and bizarre teammates, flip burgers, wash dishes, and live in a van or a basement or with the two people who tell him he is wasting his time - his parents. Follow Jonny on a whirlwind journey that will take you around the world and into the locker rooms, hotels, stadiums, bars, and training ground of some great and not-so-great athletes, and inside the mind of a high-spirited runner who battles to stay on the straight path - no matter what temptation or tragedy threatens to keep him from reaching his goal.