FREE DUEL IN THE SUN: , , AND AMERICAS GREATEST MARATHON PDF

John Brant | 210 pages | 06 Mar 2007 | RODALE PRESS | 9781594866289 | English | Emmaus, PA, United States Watch the insane finish of the Marathon (Duel in the Sun) - Citius Mag

In front of some audiences, Dick Beardsley never even mentions the . In fact, he barely touches upon his running career at all. When Beardsley finishes speaking, and the people are wiping away their tears and settling back into their seats after a standing ovation, then the host might explain how Dick Beardsley is the fourth-fastest American marathoner of all time, and that his race with Alberto Salazar at Boston 22 years ago remains one of the signature moments in the history of distance running; perhaps, in the history of any sport. Beardsley is not good at leaving things out. He tells the crowd of about getting creamed at his first high school football practice, quitting the team, and turning out for cross-country without knowing quite what it was. Beardsley is blessed with the fundamental trait of the born entertainer: a complete lack of self-consciousness. He strides back and forth in front of the podium, laughing right along with the audience, and Americas Greatest Marathon delighted as they are by his own buffoonery. His voice—honking, booming, unabashed—rolls around the conference hall in overpowering waves. Wearing jeans, a red pullover, and a blue fleece vest, whip-cord lean and with a lilt to his step, Beardsley might be mistaken for an athlete in his prime, rather than a man of You have to sit close to notice the hard miles showing around his eyes. But when Beardsley shifts gears, traveling back to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on the sunny noon of April 19,the room falls raptly silent. Which only seems appropriate, because the Boston Marathon was great Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar two American runners, one a and Americas Greatest Marathon champion and the other a gutty underdog, going at each other for just under two hours and Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar minutes. Other famous marathons have featured narrow margins of victory, but their suspense developed late in the race, the product of a furiously closing challenger or rapidly fading leader. Neither man broke, and neither, in any meaningful sense, lost. The race merely came to a thrilling, shattering end, leaving both runners, in separate and and Americas Greatest Marathon phyrric ways, the winner. Since Beardsley was just 26 and Salazar 23, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry, one that would galvanize the public and seal American dominance in the marathon through the Olympics and and Americas Greatest Marathon. After that day, neither man ran a marathon as well again. On that day, runners, virtually every one an American, finished the race in a time of or faster. At the Boston Marathon, by contrast, just 21 runners logged or better. If the glory of their marathon bore a heroic quality, so did their suffering afterward. At Nike corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, Alberto Salazar descends to the ground-floor cafe of the Mia Hamm building for a quick lunch. For the last several years, Nike has employed Salazar as a kind of coach-at-large, chartered to deliver that most endangered of species—The Great American Distance Runner—from the brink of extinction. Both teams, he reports, are thriving. At 46, Salazar appears every bit the proud, happy family man and flourishing professional. Now Salazar looks more like a fit-but-comfortable middle-aged monsignor, a man still true to his religious vocation, but also at ease in the worldly realm of fund- raisers and cocktail parties. A Japanese visitor approaches and politely asks for an autograph. Salazar graciously complies. Workouts that I used to fly through became an ordeal. For a moment, Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar poise falters and and Americas Greatest Marathon seems and Americas Greatest Marathon a traumatized man who, after exhaustive therapy, can finally talk about his past. After driving out to the start in Hopkinton, Beardsley and his coach, , avoided the high school gym that served as the staging area for elite athletes. For the last four months, Beardsley had spent all of his waking moments, and some of his sleeping ones, thinking and dreaming about Alberto Salazar. Squires wanted to keep Beardsley as removed from the race excitement as possible. So they camped out in the house of a town matron. Squires went into his usual patter. While Squires and the grandma yakked, Beardsley stretched, sipped water, made a half-dozen trips to the bathroom, and listened to a Dan Fogelberg tape. At a quarter to 12 he heard the call for runners. He jogged out to the street, heading for the section at the front of the starting area roped off Dick Beardsley elite athletes. But thousands of citizen-athletes stood between him and the starting line. Beardsley panicked. He tries to scream at the nurse to stop, but not a sound comes out of his mouth. So Beardsley reverted to character. He Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar to make noise. I gotta get up to the front! The other runners, immersed in their last-minute preparations, eyed him coldly. The crowds parted, and Beardsley, his nightmare dissolved into a dream, followed Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar clear path to the starting line. He had read somewhere that pounding Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar muscles made them tougher. If he thought it might gain him a few seconds on the downhills, Beardsley would have tried curing his quads in a smokehouse. If he had any chance of beating Salazar, he would have to fly down the hills like a bobsled racer, capitalizing on the fact that Salazar outweighed him by 20 pounds. If that plan failed, and the race came down to a kick at the end, then Salazar, with his superior short-range speed, would do the pummeling. It was one of the most eagerly anticipated sports stories of He was fit and prepared, he announced to reporters upon arriving at the airport with his wife, Molly. If there were no injuries or unforeseen developments…well, the facts were plain: He was the fastest man in the race. Six months earlier, Salazar had won his second consecutive in a world-record time ofwhich had earned him, among other honors, a White House audience with President Ronald Reagan. He had lined up the appearance money for Rono, who had shown up in Eugene looking fat and blowsy, in the early stages of the alcoholism that would eventually destroy his career. But once the race started, he ran with his trademark ferocity. For 25 laps around the historic track, Rono and Salazar belted away at each other. Rono outleaned Salazar at the wire, by the width of his jiggling belly, the wags in the press box joked. At the age of 16 he had determined that he would become the fastest marathoner in the world. Instead of the standard training—laying a foundation of endurance, then adding speedwork— Salazar did the opposite. He first honed his track speed to match that of a Henry Rono, then Dick Beardsley his strength so he could maintain that pace over the length of a marathon. His goal was to demolish his competitors, run so Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar out and Americas Greatest Marathon front of them that there could be no doubt of his greatness. At mile five, the lead pack passed a pond where a couple was floating around in a canoe, enjoying the beautiful afternoon. poked Beardsley. Then, a few miles Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Ron Tabb and Dean Matthews threw a rogue surge. It was way too early for a serious ante, but not so early that the contenders could afford to ignore it; they had to burn precious energy reeling in the pair. Beardsley laughed it off, but Salazar was genuinely steamed. The crowds were huge. Most of the spectators cheered for Salazar, the native son. When Salazar waved at his fans, Beardsley did likewise. He waved and grinned as if this were the Fourth of July parade back home in Rush City, Minnesota, and the folks were cheering for him. Salazar was not amused. He also noticed that, despite the glaring sun and degree temperatures, Salazar never drank. You had to accept cups of whatever a spectator might offer. As often as he could, Beardsley would grab a cup, pour whatever it contained over his painters cap, take a swallow, then offer the cup to Salazar. But he always refused it. On the morning of November 13,snow was forecast for the dairy-farm belt of central Minnesota. He rose at a quarter to four, blitzed through milking, skipped breakfast, and went to work loading the harvested corn in a grain elevator. Like much of the machinery on a family farm, the elevator ran on a device called a power take-off, a revolving steel rod connected to the tractor engine. For a horrified moment, he and Americas Greatest Marathon his left leg disappear into the maw of the machine. Then he was Dick Beardsley in a whirlwind. It crumpled his left leg, and flung his skull against the barn floor with each revolution. Beardsley screamed for help, but his wife, Mary, was in the house, too far away to hear. On each revolution he desperately reached for the shut-off lever, but it remained just a few inches beyond his grasp. Beardsley started to slip away. It was an iron-gray morning, spitting snow, but he saw a brilliant light. Somehow, the tractor engine died. Beardsley pulled his crushed leg out of the machine and crawled out to the yard, where Mary finally found him. Beardsley was relatively lucky; power take- off accidents kill more farmers than they maim. He came away with a punctured lung, a fractured right wrist, broken ribs, a severe and Americas Greatest Marathon, broken vertebrae, a mangled leg, and a monkey on his back. That first rush of Demerol in the hospital was unlike anything the straight-arrow, teetotaling Beardsley had ever experienced. He rocketed into another world—one without stress or strain or worry. Past the mile mark, and past Wellesley College and its gauntlet of shrieking women, the lead pack melted down to Rodgers, Ed Mendoza, Beardsley, and Salazar. At age 34, the great Rodgers, four-time winner of the Boston Marathon, had lost a step, and the frontrunning Mendoza would inevitably fade. The only concern was Beardsley, who Salazar pegged as a talented journeyman. Beardsley lacked gravitas. So let Beardsley and Squires think they could break him on the hills. Salazar knew they were dreaming. He was faster, tougher, and had prepared more thoroughly. The hills belonged to him. Duel in the Sun

Look Inside. The Boston Marathon was great theater: Two American runners, Alberto Salazar, a celebrated champion, and Dick Beardsley, a gutsy underdog, going at each other for just under 2 hours and 9 minutes. Neither man broke. The race merely came to a thrilling, shattering end, exacting such an enormous toll that neither man ever ran as well again. Beardsley, the most innocent of men, descended into felony drug addiction, and Salazar, Dick Beardsley toughest of men, fell prey to depression. Like that marathon 25 years ago, Duel in the Sun is absolutely riveting. When you buy a book, we donate a book. Sign Dick Beardsley. Puzzles and Games to Play at Home. Read An Excerpt. Mar 06, ISBN Add to Cart. Also available from:. Available from:. Paperback —. About Duel in the Sun The Boston Marathon was great theater: Two American runners, Alberto Salazar, a celebrated champion, and Dick Beardsley, a gutsy underdog, going at each other for just under 2 hours and 9 minutes. Also by John Brant. Product Details. Inspired by Dick Beardsley Browsing History. The Art of the Short Game. And Americas Greatest Marathon Utley and Matthew Rudy. Out of the Rough. Steve Williams. Extraordinary Golf: the Art of the Possible. Pete Shoemaker and Fred Shoemaker. The Pro. Butch Harmon. The Art of Putting. Dean Karnazes. RV Vacations. Stephanie Puglisi and Jeremy Puglisi. Fairways and Greens. Dick Beardsley Tiger. Meb For Mortals. Meb Keflezighi and Scott Douglas. Unconscious Putting. Matthew Rudy and Dave Stockton. Scott Gummer. Every Shot Counts. Mark Broadie. The Stack and Tilt Swing. Andy Plummer and Michael Bennett. Trading Bases. From Lance to Landis. You Are an Ironman. Jacques Steinberg. Jenkins at the Majors. Guy Yocom and Jackie Burke. Seabury Blair Jr. The Spirit of St. Alister Mackenzie. Bicycle [Concertina fold-out book]. Ugo Gattoni. RVing, 4E. April Maher and Brent Peterson. Cinderella Story. George Peper and Bill Murray. DK Eyewitness. Every Shot Must Have a Purpose. Emily Nathan. To Be a Runner. Martin Dugard. DK Eyewitness Top 10 Orlando. The Numbers Game. Chris Anderson and David Sally. Related Dick Beardsley. Looking for More Great Reads? Download Hi Res. LitFlash The eBooks you want at the lowest prices. Read it Forward Read it first. Pass it on! Stay in Touch Sign up. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later. Become a Member Start earning points for buying books! Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon by John Brant

Goodreads helps you keep track of books Dick Beardsley want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Duel in the Sun by John Brant. John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the Boston Marathon—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards "One was a humble farm boy from Minnesota. The other was the most electrifying Dick Beardsley runner of his time. Inthey battled stride for stride for more than two hours in the most thrilling Boston Maraton ever run. Then John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the Boston Marathon—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards "One was a humble farm boy from Minnesota. Then the drama really began. Since Beardsley was only 26 and Salazar 23 at the time, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry. Instead Beardsley soon began a descent into drug addiction that brought him perilously close to dying. Salazar's decline was more gradual, his vigor slowly giving way to baffling symptoms that left him completely exhausted. Brant's portraits of the painkiller-addicted Beardsley and the depression-plagued Salazar are at once sensitive and hair-raising. The supporting characters are also richly drawn, from Alberto's father, Jose Salazar, a towering presence and Americas Greatest Marathon a fascinating history and a former close friend of Fidel Castro, to Bill Squires, Beardsley's coach, a Casey Stengel—like figure whose oddball goofiness masks an encyclopedic knowledge of distance running. This elegantly written story is riveting nonfiction at its very best. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Duel in the Sunplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Aug 17, Brian Walker rated it it was amazing Shelves: running. I started off not liking this book. The writing was choppy, back and forth between different story lines, and the characters themselves Salazar and Beardsley were not likable in the way that John Brant was portraying them. The fierce competition and obsessive nature of the sport made them almost pathetic when they reached the level in their careers that they couldn't improve on their times and finishing positions. I felt embarrassingly sorry for them. The motiff of their shadows always being b I started off not liking this book. The motiff of their shadows always being before them with the enemy looming just over their shoulder wove through the whole book. Their shadows definitely caught up with them. In the end, the story was one of deeply flawed individuals who found redemption by embracing the reality of their darker side and opening themselves up. Their shadows are still with them, but they are unarmed. They no longer instill dread and fear. I almost didn't stick with this book; I'm glad I did. Jun 18, Shoshanna rated it really liked it. This is the story of probably the most epic marathon of all time, Boston It is also a biography Dick Beardsley the two frontrunners, Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley - their backgrounds, what motivated them, what they did afterward. As a runner, it's fascinating to read about what compels these people to race THAT HARD and how it affects them, and it's fascinating, for me at least, to read about the mysteries of sports injuries. But it's a character story as much as a race report, one Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar simulta This is the and Americas Greatest Marathon of probably the most epic marathon of all time, Boston But it's a character story as much as a race report, one that's simultaneously triumphant and Americas Greatest Marathon heartbreaking, tragic and life-affirming. Some limits you can obliterate if you try hard enough. Some you can't. I took a star off because at times the narrative is cumbersome and melodramatic, and hard to keep track of the switching back and forth between characters and Americas Greatest Marathon moments in time. But overall it's absorbing, impactful, and incredibly well researched. After reading mostly magazine, newspaper and internet articles for quite a long time, it made me really appreciate reading Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar with enough space to lay out all the details and background. Some books, especially nonfiction, tend to Dick Beardsley themselves and make me wish the author had been satisfied with a nice page feature, but Brant doesn't, he's just really thorough. May 04, Carroll Larremore rated it it was ok. This was just ok for me. Apr 18, Kristen rated it really liked it. Best book I've read in a while. Great story about the tolls of distance running, mortality, and humanizing even elite athletes. Aug 16, Shannon Fields rated it really liked it. I love running books. Dick Beardsley are my version of a beach read. Books about epic struggle. Books about crazy dedication obsession to pushing oneself to greater achievements. I did not know the story of the '82 marathon and Salazar and Beardsley. I enjoyed learning about it. Feb 26, Lostinanovel rated it it was ok. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Not sure if I bought the premise that the '82 Boston Marathon led to the ruin of both men, particularly Salazar, but Brant uses the idea pretty well to string together a book about a single great race. The race descriptions are the best part of the book and alone, would have made for a fun magazine article. Not sure I cared much to learn the details of Beardsley's fall into drug abuse and Salazar into depression. One theme that I would like Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar have seen developed would have been the contrast bet Not sure if I bought the premise and Americas Greatest Marathon the '82 Boston Marathon led to the ruin of both men, particularly Salazar, but Brant uses the idea pretty well to string together a book about a single great race. One theme that I would like to have seen and Americas Greatest Marathon would have been the contrast between the life of pro runners now vs then. Brant thinks the approach back then was more extreme and that the runners were a little more desperate, exemplified by this race. But I wonder if how worthwhile it is, given Brant's "ruin" premise. Also, how did they do financially vs runners Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar Aug 16, Andrew rated it really liked it. Very good "running" book that was actually three stories in one. Two of the threads were the personal biographies of U. Marathoners Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Each of these guys had some pretty impactful events in their lives outside of their running. The author then wove the two biographies together by interspersing the story of the Boston Marathon in and Americas Greatest Marathon these men finished and is considered probably the "best" Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar Marathon in its long, long history. Definitely a great Very good "running" book that was actually three stories in one. Definitely a great book for runners, but compelling enough for non-runners as well. This book should certainly be in an reading runner's collection, but it can't top Once a Runner by John L. May 12, Flora rated it really liked it. In the end I guess I stopped noticing that though. Quick read and enjoyable. Honestly I could imagine some who isn't into running liking this book since it wasn't just about the race, or even mostly about the race, but about the long-term effects of the one race on both their lives. Also, who knew there were so many books called Duel in the Sun?