It was 1978. Jimmy Carter was President; gas prices were soaring; and Americans were hunkering down to weather the economic crisis. But on the roads, a revolution was happening. Frank Shorter’s gold medal in the Olympic marathon put distance running in the mind of a public enamored of baseball and football. Suddenly, the odd activity of “jogging” became “running,” and America was in love.

That summer, a junior from the University of Oregon named Alberto Salazar went head to head with Olympic champion Frank Shorter and Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers at the Falmouth Road Race, losing in the last mile to Rodgers’s record-setting 32:21, nearly dying in the process, and setting the stage for a great rivalry. In Shorter, Rodgers, and Salazar, running had its conflict and drama like boxing had Ali and Foreman, like basketball had Russell and Chamberlain. Each man built on what the other achieved, and each pushed the other to succeed. Their successes, in turn, fueled a nation of coach potatoes to put down the remote and lace up their sneakers.

More Info
non-fiction narrative by Cameron Stracher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 9, 2013)Pages: 240 pages
Available in: English, Spanish
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