The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Summary

A seventeen-year-old boy, identified only as "Smith," is confined in a place called Borstal for committing an attempted robbery. Borstal is a sort of boys' home for troubled and delinquent youths. The headmaster of this place, called the governor, has asked Smith to train in long-distance running, and compete in a local tournament (presumably between Borstal and other boys' homes), with the goal of Smith competing in and winning the long-distance running championship. And so every morning Smith runs for miles, which he finds liberating and a good time to think. Though he puts up every appearance of being a good kid and intending to win Borstal a long-distance award, inwardly he feels he is at war with the governor and "in-laws" (those people who abide by the law), and he means to...