"John Bingham is a beloved evangelist of running. Known by fans as "The Penguin" for his gentle humor and back-of-the-pack speed, Bingham's memoir An Accidental Athlete explores with wit and poignancy his evolution from a bespectacled fat kid in the 1950s to unlikely hero of the modern running movement. Bingham remembers unfulfilled childhood dreams of athletic glory seen through Coke-bottle glasses, his unhealthy sedentary years as he chased a career, and his epiphany at age 43, when he stirred from the couch, found his mojo, became a runner, and rediscovered himself. An Accidental Athlete is a warm, engagingly written, feel-good book for the everday athlete who is sure to recognize him or herself somewhere in these pages"--