The Long Run: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and the Decade That Made the Marathon Cool

Dugard, a runner and coauthor with Bill O’Reilly of the Killing series, recounts the 1970s marathon boom in this detailed history. He traces the marathon’s origins back to the Greek legend of Pheidippides, a long-distance messenger who in 490 BC supposedly ran 25 miles from the battlefield of Marathon to announce the Greek victory over Persia, and notes that this story inspired the inaugural Olympic marathon in 1896. The U.S. saw a surge of interest in running in the 1970s, spurred by several factors, including President John F. Kennedy’s fitness campaigns and new research extolling running’s health benefits. Then, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, American Frank Shorter won the first marathon broadcast live on television in the U.S. Steve Prefontaine also rose to stardom around the same time, setting nine American running records in 1974. Women protested and broke rules to achieve equal treatment in marathons, Dugard explains, highlighting the success of female runners like Grete Waitz, who won nine New York City Marathons, and Joan Benoit, who won the first women’s marathon at the 1984 Olympics. Dugard dedicates about a third of the narrative to the years leading up to the 1970s and spends less time on the decade’s lasting impact, giving the account an unbalanced feel. Still, he offers affecting stories of the sport’s brightest stars. Runners will be delighted. (Apr.)