The Long Run

A dramatic narrative telling the story behind the running and marathon boom of the 1970s and early 1980s, featuring the stories of Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Grete Waitz, and many others, and how a generation of runners turned a formerly obscure distance into a national obsession

On September 3, 1970, the New York City Marathon was run for the first time. One hundred twenty-seven runners paid a $1 entry fee. The race was won by a Long Island firefighter who came to the starting line straight from his overnight shift. Only one woman competed. All but one runner was a New York resident.

Fifty-four years later, nearly fifty thousand runners finished the same race. Nearly half were women. More than three times as many runners applied, and over two million spectators watched. Today, runners from all over the world run the NYC Marathon, and many others like it. Marathons are inclusive, fully global, and still exploding in popularity.

How did we get from there to here? As Martin Dugard, long-time runner, running coach, and #1 New York Times bestselling author explains, it was thanks to four very special runners who changed the way America, and the world, saw running. The Long Run will celebrate these athletes—Frank Shorter, Steve Prefontaine, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Grete Waitz—and many more, sharing stories of the specific races and social movements that transformed running from a niche sport to a national obsession. It is a story with big characters, enormous moments, and a historical arc that has never been completely explored. The Long Run will reveal how the sport of running, and the race, that we all know and love became iconic—and how “finishing a marathon” became a top bucket-list goal for runners and non-runners alike.

Author Biography

Martin Dugard is the author of a dozen #1 New York Times bestsellers. Among these works of running and history is the international sensation Into Africa. He is a Fellow of Great Britain’s Royal Geographical Society, Board Member of the USA Track and Field Foundation, and high school distance running coach of more than two decades with multiple California state championships to his credit. Mr. Dugard blogs weekly as The Paper Kenyan on martindugard.com.
Martin Dugard and wife Calene live on a hill in Southern California.