Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race

This is a book for any running aficionado (especially the veterans), who has gone out there and run distance. It's also a great story and inspiration for anybody who has run a marathon and in particular Boston. The mass start in Hopkinton, the crowds, the cheers at Wellesley, Heartbreak Hill in Newtown, coming through the Fenway, and on to the finish at the Boston Public Library. The 1982 race was perhaps the best one ever run and Beardley took us back there in the first person. Beardley takes any runner to the soul of this sometimes underappreciated sport. Spectacular!

I'm fortunate enough to be a Minnesota runner who has followed Dick's life since he first started well after college. How he got there was fascinating to me. It is a testament to the human will to see a person that faces such adversity, some perchance and some self-imposed, and to bounce back. He is still running, after all this. I've bought this book for other runners and I always get the same response "I read it more than once".I'm not a big reader, but I read this and was rivetted. I challenge anyone, runner or non-runner, to buy this and finish it without being changed a little.My hat's off to Dick and Mary Beardsley (Mary for sticking it out).

Dick Beardsley appeared at the Grandma's Marathon in June 2002 where I heard him speak. He was so inspiring, I decided to buy his book. He graciously signed each book and talked to each person as if you were his new best friend. His book is a reflection of his friendly personality and the intensity he brings to whatever he does. He recounts some great anecdotes including how he secured a running sponsership and how he had no choice but to run over a child when he won Grandma's Marathon in 1981. Then he touchingly describes the numerous accidents he experienced, his subsequent addictions to pain pills, and the struggles to overcome them.Inspiring for both runners and non-runners. Beardsley is the kind of guy who has what it takes to perserve and make bad into good. His book will get you fired up to do so yourself.

My marathon days were in the years when Dick was one of the best, so I remember many of the races described. I didn't expect, however, such a candid picture of his early years and the tough years following the glory years. Dick is back running a few marathons now (Grandmas, Madison, Boston) and he is an inspiration to a guy who hasn't run one in 14 years. Thanks Dick.

I sat down last night and picked up this book thinking I was going to read a few pages and go to bed. I ended up reading the entire thing.I picked up my copy at the Boston Marathon Expo this year (my first marathon). Dick Beardsley was there and signing copies including mine. He didn't just sign it, but he wrote a personal message in every single one. Took the time to talk to everyone, asked me about my marathon coming up, etc. For several minutes.So I figured, "OK, he's a nice guy but his book is probably not going to be memorable." But it was. The man thoroughly loved running from the beginning like few people ever do. It fires you up to hear him talk about it. Yes he was talented, but he did an amazing amount of work because he just plain loved it. He simply trained himself to world class level.My favorite part was how he got shoe company sponsorship. At the time (around 1980) he was not much of a marathoner compared to the talent this country had (back then he'd "only" done 2:20 - fantastic by my standards but not by theirs, I guess). Still, he simply made his way into a shoe convention that was closed to the public and talked to shoe company reps (giving them his resume) until one of them (New Balance) took a chance to him. And when other companies tried to buy him off after he started doing well, he stayed loyal. Just a straight shooter.I was there (in Wellesley Hills) for his famous "Duel in the Sun" with Salazar. His description of the race is worth the price alone. At the time he'd done 2:09 but most people didn't know who he was. We all knew about Alberto Salazar and Bill Rodgers, but "Beardsley?" Who was that? Yet here he was, this unknown, taking it right to the best marathoner in the world for the entire race. Never giving an inch. What an epic race.Finally, he holds nothing back when talking about his subsequent problems with injuries, accidents, and addiction. Throughout it all, he's just the same guy. Straightforward, incredibly nice and a huge running fan.Look, clearly this isn't Shakespeare. I give it 5 stars not because it's Pulitzer material but because it is well written and it grabs you. Yes, I bought it because I like running books, but it's more than that. It's part running book, part through-hell-and-back book. It's a straight ahead story of a genuine guy who made amazing achievements and came through astoundingly hard times. He doesn't brag or hide his mistakes or faults. He just tells you what happened and what he was thinking and you keep turning the pages.I'm normally somewhat cynical, but you can't be about Dick Beardsley. You just like him too much and want him to succeed. After reading this, I was so fired up to train for my next marathon, I couldn't believe it. And this at was 2:00 A.M. two days after Boston when my legs were dead.Incidentally, Beardsley ran Boston "easily" this year, just for fun and only finished a couple of minutes behind me!-Joe O'Leary