In Search of Al Howie
The Man Who Ran Forever
Published on 14. April 2026
280 pages
979-8-9907958-7-7 (ISBN)
Description
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. Honest and raw, Howie's journey unfurls like an epic mystery of a tortured soul running for his life.
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. Honest and raw, Howie's journey unfurls like an epic mystery of a tortured soul running for his life.
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Person
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." He's been a featured guest on several podcasts, including Ultrarunner, Author's Stories, Bad Boy Running, and The Shakeout Podcast.
