The Long Run

“To best appreciate the current boom in distance running, it’s necessary to peek back at its history. Martin Dugard’s The Long Run is an entertaining look at the roots of the sport, a celebration of its heroes, and a beautiful reminder that, while distance running hasn’t always been the most popular sport, it’s always been pretty dang cool.” —Des Linden, Boston Marathon Champion and New York Times bestselling author of Choosing to Run

“The Long Run goes beyond recounting America’s running boom, showing how Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz helped turn running—and the marathon—into a national force. With a historian’s eye and a runner’s heart, Martin Dugard delivers racing accounts that put you in the shoes of these legends, infused with his own passion for the sport. It’s a reminder not just of how running got cool (and keeps getting cooler), but why we keep doing it.” —Chris Chavez, CITIUS MAG founder and author of the forthcoming The Marathon Book

“Martin Dugard’s The Long Run unearths and relates many fascinating, long-forgotten stories of the first running boom. Dugard’s love of the sport infuses every page, while his rapid-fire narrative style makes every chapter a readable feast. From Bowerman to Pre, Shorter to Rodgers, Waitz to Benoit, it’s all here. A marathon tour-de-force that moves at sub-4 mile pace.” —Amby Burfoot, winner, 1968 Boston Marathon, author of Run Forever, and longtime editor of Runner’s World

“This just may be the best book on running that I have read. Combining the research skills of an historian with the powerful storytelling of a novelist, Martin Dugard gives us a thrilling narrative. He tells the incredible history of long distance running, it’s larger than life personalities, the dramatic events that brought running to millions around the globe and why it all matters so much.”
—George A Hirsch, chairman emeritus of the New York Road Runners, co-founder of the five borough New York City Marathon, founding publisher of Runner’s World

“More than a sports history, The Long Run is the story of a cultural phenomenon. Dugard shows how a perfect storm of charismatic figures and cultural anxiety transformed running from an obscure activity into a global phenomenon. It’s a powerful exploration of how we learned to embrace endurance, not just as a physical test, but as a defining part of our modern identity. A must read!” —Steve Magness, author of Do Hard Things

“Is there anything more pure than a foot race? In The Long Run, Martin Dugard captures both the passion of the hardcore runner and the curiosity of the beginner, taking readers on a journey from the mythic contests of ancient times to the boom of the 1970s and the electrifying competitions that define running today. The Long Run explores why people continue to be drawn to a seemingly simple sport and to a distance so iconic that it is sometimes used as a metaphor for life itself: the marathon.” —Grant Fisher, Team USA. 2024 Olympic Medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters