First You Run, Then You Walk celebrates, the pleasures, mysteries, and demands of running -- and thinking about the sport -- over a lifetime. Tom Hart, a Boston-area coach, English teacher, editor and literary agent, takes inspiration from the labor and devotion of the ordinary runner, whether that runner conquers a mile, a marathon, or the rigorous courses of his school's girls cross-country team. During his three decades of running, fourteen years of coaching, lifetime of reading (especially his beloved Thoreau), Hart's pursuit of the sport leads inevitably to profound questions and personal growth. Even as illness makes his pursuit difficult in the extreme, Hart's quest continues, immersing him, now a walker, in the natural world and taking readers companionably along on a journey that is moving, funny and wise.