Running with the Buffaloes: A Book Review

Running with the Buffaloes is a book told from the experiences of Chris Lear and his season with the University of Colorado’s men’s 1998 cross country team. It fills the reader in on what it takes to train for a team that is nationally competitive every year. Most of the emphasis is on Mark Wetmore (the coach) and Adam Goucher (the #1 runner).

There are two scenes I remember specifically from reading this book (about a year ago). The first came after one of the runners had a bike accident and broke his next. At their next meet, one of their competitors from Africa was so scared witless that he ran an amazing race, because he thought that one of the Buffaloes was actually a ghost.

The other scene is when the team went to see “Without Limits” (which also has a review here). Adam Goucher basically said that Pre would have had nothing on him. I found this humorous.

It seems like this is a real-life modern version of “Once a Runner” (which also has a review here), but without as wide of an audience. Once a runner might interest the casual reader, but I do not see this book as being interesting to anybody that does not (or has not) run cross country competitively, or is an avid track or (maybe) road racer. You get to see some real workouts, but the explanations of the workouts are not always the best. The frequent typo and grammar issues that should have been caught can also be a bit distracting.