Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon

This book does a good job showing two runners in their prime: one who drank water during the heat of the race and the other who did not and thus suffered greatly. What we have in the book is an account of one of the greatest marathons ever run--a race so competive, neither runner would gave an inch to the other, and neither runner was capable of breaking away from the other, so instead they pushed each other further into unimaginable exhaustion. The result is that both runners exerted themselves to near-death. The tragedy is that neither runner would ever return to that peak level of performance. They all but destoyed their bodies, especially Olympic gold medal hopeful Alberto Salazar.

I will own up front that the timeline in this book can be confusing. It is important to pay attention to dates as you read the story. But if you can get past that and avoid timeline confusion, the tale is great. I was given this book as a gift by my running club when I qualified to run the Boston Marathon. They all signed it and then I was also able to get Dick Beardsley to sign it as well at the Boston Marathon Race Expo. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was quite a page-turner, and my husband read it and enjoyed it as well. Amazing to see what these great runners have had to struggle with in their lives.

I really loved this book. Opposed to the previous reviewer, I liked the way that the author told the story by alternating between the race, and interspersing the runners background between chapters. I felt like it gave the story pace and allowed the race to unfold. Reading this book gave me the inspiration to train for a marathon which I actually completed last year. It's an exciting book and I have recommended it to many of my friends. I hope you enjoy it too.

Great human interest story for runners and non-runners alike. Many lessons to be learned for anyone who reads the book!

If you are/were a competitive distance runner (particularly from the mid-'70s to mid-'80s), you'll really enjoy this book. Not only is the race itself examined, but so are the lives (both before and after the race) of the two runners (Salazar and Beardsley) involved in this "duel". These two runners couldn't have been more different;their contrasts make the story that much more appealing. While the runners didn't realize it at the time, this one race ended up being not only the focal point of their running careers, but also their lives. This particular race, the 1982 Boston Marathon, can rightly claim the distinction of being one of the greatest American distance races of all time (and one of the last). Even the contrasts between distance running today and 20+ years ago add to the story. In many ways, just like the two runners themselves, American distance running has never been the same.