Lear returns for book signing
By: Justin Feil
Chris Lear’s circular journey came back for a brief stop in Princeton on Friday.
Nine years ago, the New Jersey native graduated from Princeton University after a running career in which he garnered All-America cross country honors twice under Mike Brady, who retired last year from the Tigers coaching staff. Two years after his PU graduation, Lear’s solid running background helped open the door to his first book, "Running with the Buffaloes: A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men’s Cross-Country Team."
The book was a first among running books as a non-fiction story about Colorado’s 1998 season, with focus on Wetmore, the renowned coach, and Goucher, who has established himself as one of the top distance runners in the United States. It was similar to what "A Season on the Brink" was to college basketball and "Friday Night Lights" was to high school football.
Lear lived and trained part-time with the team before writing about the Buffaloes’ season. It was well-received in the running community and it has made Lear a popular speaker at running camps, in running stores and even for English departments.
"It runs the gamut," Lear said. "It’s a great chance to meet people who are fans of what I’ve done. And it allows me to see some of the country."
Friday, Lear, who has also penned "Sub-4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile" and recently finished working as a production assistant to the documentary film "5,000 Meters: Nothing Comes Easy," returned to Princeton to talk about his writing experiences, to answer questions about his connections with some of the top American runners and to sign his books at the Princeton Running Company on Nassau St.
"It was pretty cool," said Lear, who lives in Boulder, Colo. "It’s something where I don’t think I’ve ever been back there for a personal appearance or my work. Some of the current guys form the team came by. It was really cool to see the next generation of Princeton athletes. It was nice to answer some of their questions about what it’s like for guys at the top of the sport. I’d like to go back and do something maybe more formal with them."
Lear’s appearance brought almost 50 people out to see the author at the Princeton Running Company on Good Friday.
"We had a very good turnout," said store manager Rob Chew. "There were a lot of high school kids from Princeton and West Windsor. They were very enthusiastic about him coming here and speaking about all the different aspects he experienced with the Colorado team. Some of them had that movie with them. Apparently, he seems to connect well with younger runners.
"He’s an excellent speaker. He went to Princeton and Pingry and he did a lot of his background. We had other people there too. There was some of the older crowd. The enthusiastic runner has read his book."
Lear went from the Princeton Running Company to a Saturday appearance at the new New York Running Company in Manhattan, an appearance that coincided with the U.S. 8k Championships earlier that day. There, almost 100 people came to meet Lear and talk about "Running with the Buffaloes," his most popular work.
"For one, it is by virtue it’s been around the longest," Lear said. "Second is the nature of the story. It has a real Hollywood ending. When you’re playing with non-fiction, you’re playing with the hand you’re dealt. It was a little lucky. I did the Webb book second and I’ve been freelancing after that. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after having moderate success as an athlete, it’s how fickle that is. You can be a world champion and four years later, people don’t know your name. As a writer, that’s going to be my legacy. I’m going to be more remembered for that than for what I did on the track."
Lear still holds the indoor mile record in New Jersey. He was also the outdoor champion as a senior at Pingry before coming to Princeton, where he still holds a Top-5 time on the Princeton Battlefield cross country course. Lear decided to follow up the advice of his senior thesis professor, Suzanne Keller, to explore his writing talent. He came up with the idea of following the storied Colorado cross country program for a season, and doing so well for the Tigers athletically helped him secure the "Running with the Buffaloes" project.
"Even though I’m not on the level of someone like Adam Goucher, it helps to know that I did have a modicum of success," Lear said. "It gave them a bit more respect than someone that didn’t know what they were going through. People are pretty savvy. If there’s one thing I could do, I was able to convey what it’s like. I have that perspective to write about it. It gives me some credibility. If people aren’t familiar with my writing, they know I have some athletic background."
Lear holds a day job with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, but continues to do freelance work for "Runners’ World," "Running Times," mens-racing.com and the "Washington Post." His work on "5,000 Meters" introduced him to something new.
"It was a chance to work with a different medium," he said. "I really book-ended the project. I worked on the beginning and a lot of the end. It’s something that’s never been done before, a film on a sport like that. It’s like my book."
The book brought plenty of interesting running enthusiasts out to see Lear and found out more behind his books.
"This is the first one we’ve done this year," Chew said. "I think we’re planning to have more. That’s being decided by the operations people. Overall, it was a good experience. Everyone enjoyed it. It was Good Friday, and it was pretty busy."
For some of that, they can thank Lear. A West Coast resident since his 1996 Princeton University graduation, he doesn’t make it back often to where he first made a name for himself nationally as a runner. Chris Lear returned Friday to Princeton, this time as well-known author to the running community.
"The most rewarding thing you could have is to have someone say they’ve been affected by something you’ve done," Lear said. "It’s been a real thrill for me."