The People Who Made the Marathon Cool

In this episode we speak with bestselling author Martin Dugard about the inspiring people who made running mainstream. The first NYC Marathon only had 127 runners (only 1 woman). Now it draws over 50,000 runners (half of whom are women) and over 2 million spectators. Martin Dugard explains how we got here. Hear about Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, Bill Rogers, Jim Ryun, and others.

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Martin Dugard is the author of a dozens #1 NYT bestsellers. He is a Fellow of Great Britain’s Royal Geographical Society, board member of USA Track and Field Foundation, and a high school distance running coach.

His new book is called The Long Run: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and the Decade That Made the Marathon Cool.