At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics an unknown Vancouver runner named Percy Williams shocked the sports world by capturing the 100- and 200-metre gold medals. Some said the feat was a fluke. It wasn''t. In 1929 Percy silenced naysayers by sweeping the US indoor track circuit, then he went on to set a world record in the 100 metres that would stand until the advent of Jesse Owens. And in between he waged a speed duel with the fleetest men on the planet, a battle for track supremacy and the title "World''s Fastest Human." I Just Ran, based on extensive research that included access to Percy''s private letters, diary and scrapbooks, is the first full-length account of this sports legend, one of the most famous Canadians of his day but now largely forgotten. It begins as the Cinderella story of a youth who conquers a sport dominated by American sprinters. Then it gets grittier, for success and fame had a dark side. I Just Ran follows Percy and his janitor-coach Bob Granger as they journey through the world of elite running in the 1920s and ''30s -a world that was not always pretty beneath the veneer of amateurism.

Samuel Hawley is a Kingston-based historian, writer and former teacher. His books include Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties, The Imjin War: Japan''s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China, and America''s Man in Korea. His website is www.samuelhawley.com