Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York

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Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York Pub. Date: 10/7/2008 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

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Overview

When 39,195 competitors thunder over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to begin the thirty-eighth running of the famed New York City Marathon, they experience one of the most exhilarating moments in sports. But as they cross five towering bridges and five distinct boroughs, carried 26.2 miles by the cheers of two million fans and by their own indomitable wills, grueling challenges await them.

New York Times sportswriter Liz Robbins brings race day to life in this gripping saga of the 2007 Marathon, weaving the unforgettable stories of runners into a vibrant mile-by-mile portrait of the world's largest marathon.

The professionals pound out the suspense in two thrilling races. Paula Radcliffe, the women's world record holder from Great Britain, returns with new resolve after having given birth nine months earlier; Gete Wami, her longtime rival from Ethiopia, tries to win her second marathon in just five weeks; and Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka desperately hopes for her third straight New York title.

If the women's race plays out like a mesmerizing chess game, then the men's race quickly turns into a high-speed car chase. South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala, eager to recapture glory at age 35, surges to lead the pack as Kenya's Martin Lel and Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri stay within striking range.

While the professionals offer insight into the intense, often painful experience of being an elite athlete, the amateurs provide timeless stories of courage and obsession that typify today's marathoner: Harrie Bakst, a cancer survivor at 22, who is a first-timer; Pam Rickard, a 45-year-old mother of three from Virginia, who is a recovering alcoholic; and 65-year-old Tucker Andersen, who has run the race every year since 1976.

Enlivening the history of the New York City Marathon with stories of such legends as the late Fred Lebow, the race's charismatic founder, and nine-time champion Grete Waitz, A Race Like No Other provides a curbside seat to the drama of the first Sunday in November. Feel the anxiety at the start in Staten Island. Listen to gospel choirs in Brooklyn and the accordion in Queens. Bask in the delirious sound tunnel of Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hit The Wall in the Bronx. And overcome agony in the last hilly miles before arriving in Central Park—exhausted yet exhilarated—at the finish line.

Liz Robbins

Editorial Reviews

Best Health Magazine

“This book brings the race alive, detailing the running of the 2007 Marathon through the stories of the runners themselves...You won’t stop reading ‘til they’ve crossed the finish line.”

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From The Critics

“Robbins, who covers sports for the New York Times, offers a vivid, winning portrait of the New York City Marathon, now the largest in the world with nearly 40,000 participants. Taking the 2007 race mile by mile, Robbins profiles each of the principal elite runners, including their training regimens and personal stories; describes each mile’s particular features; limns a large cast of supporting characters, from an aid-station volunteer to a gospel choir that performs inspirational music for the marathoners on the eighth mile; and gives an good overview of how the event is organized. Along the way, Robbins conveys an intimate sense of the physical demands the race places on the body, all the while building suspense-though we know the winners-that’s the equal of a good action movie. A quality piece of journalism from start to finish.””

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061373138
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 10/7/2008
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

A sportswriter for seventeen years—the last nine at the New York Times—Liz Robbins has covered marathons, the Olympics, tennis, and the NBA. She lives in New York City and frequents the running trails of Central Park.

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A Race Like No Other

26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York

By Liz Robbins
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008

Liz Robbins
All right reserved.

ISBN: 9780061373138

Chapter One

Huddled Masses

The Start, Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island

One hundred and forty buses line Midtown Manhattan in the hazy darkness before dawn, idling for a mass evacuation to Staten Island.

As streams of sleepy runners shuffle through the unblinking glare of headlights, they follow instructions spit from the megaphones of men and women wearing orange jackets. This apocalyptic activity might seem unusual—even for New York—were it not the first Sunday in November.

The thirty-eighth running of the New York City Marathon will start in five hours, and Pam Rickard is anxious, holding her husband Tom's hand as she prepares to board her bus. Tom has faithfully accompanied his wife of 21 years from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The caravan awaits her. When they approach the door to one of the buses, a man lowers his megaphone and looks at Tom.

"This is where you kiss her good-bye," he says sternly. "You're not going any farther."

A lump catches in Pam's throat. She heard those exact words in September 2006 when she walked into the Roanoke County jail to complete her 90-day sentence for driving under the influence ofalcohol, the punishment for her third offense in two years.

Fourteen months later, she is going to run her eighth marathon. It is her first in New York and the first since she became sober. Pam is 45 years old, a 5-foot-6 mother of three daughters with wavy black hair and a perfectly toned runner's body. But the faint wrinkles around her eyes reveal the hard living she fought so long to hide and the new life she is fighting even harder to maintain. Her jaw is taut in determination.

Last year on this very Sunday, she was collecting trash by the side of Virginia Route 581, wearing an orange jumpsuit and hoping no one would recognize her. Today, she wears an orange bib with the number F5079 and revels in her anonymity.

When Pam learned she had won a number from the New York City Marathon lottery back in June, she was humbled by the odds she had beaten. Of the 43,989 U.S. residents who had applied, she was one of 8,157 accepted. She does not want to forsake her second chance.

In New York Harbor, the patron of second chances stands guard, welcoming the world to her shores. As the sun rises in ribbons of rose, gold and orange, marathoners peering out of buses or ferry windows easily spot the Statue of Liberty and her torch, forever lit. A mile away, on the northern tip of Staten Island, the masses of runners are beginning to huddle.

They emerge from an alphabet of origins, from Andorra to Venezuela and from Lake Michigan to Zoo Lake. New York may have been the destination for millions over the centuries, but the city represents only the beginning of a newcomer's journey. Simply arriving is not enough; achieving here is what matters. The soaring skyscrapers, majestic bridges and millions of people lining expansive (and expensive) avenues demand an effort of an equally epic scale.

Today will be no Sunday morning jog.

"Good morning! Welcome to Staten Island! Have a great race!" Mike Poirier shouts from his lawn chair on the concrete stoop of his small Bay Street house. Somnambulant figures step from the shuttle buses that had collected them at the Staten Island Ferry terminal and traipse past him.

When Poirier bought his house nine years ago, the real estate agent neglected to tell him that the biggest event in the city's calendar would pass by his front door every November. Unshaven and wearing his U.S. Army Retired baseball cap, Poirier happily sips the coffee his wife hands him and shouts out the same greetings to waves of runners.

Poirier's house is just outside the grounds of Fort Wadsworth, which sits at the base of the soaring Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The fort is one of the longest operating military defense strongholds in the country, protecting New York Harbor for nearly 200 years. Officially completed in 1865, it originally housed troops from the Army and then from the Navy until 1994, when the Coast Guard moved into the barracks. Men went off to World War II after training at Fort Wadsworth, and Nike missiles were stocked in hidden batteries throughout its grounds during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, the fort will host people going off to a different kind of battle.

For the better part of five hours, the grounds will turn into a self-sustaining village of approximately 50,000 people—an intricately planned operational marvel populated not only by the runners, but also volunteers, New York Road Runners staff, members of the media, entertainers and law enforcement officials from national and local agencies responsible for the safety and security of the event.

A New York Police Department patrol car escorts the bus that carries Harrie Bakst and his older brother, Rich, from Manhattan to Staten Island. They are part of the caravan of 12 buses carrying Fred's Team members, all running for the charity founded by Fred Lebow, the late founder of the New York City Marathon. Lebow established this team with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1991, when he was being treated at the hospital for brain cancer. When Harrie was younger, he never thought he would run a marathon, much less be treated for cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

Harrie is 22 on race day, but he has always seemed to be an older soul, possessing a seriousness offset by his optimism. Cancer recently inscribed a story on his neck, leaving a violet, 4-inch scar just below the right side of his jaw.

Continues...

Excerpted from A Race Like No Other by Liz Robbins Copyright © 2008 by Liz Robbins. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Posted December 13, 2009

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Virtually running the New York City Marathon

The author provided a very lively description on the New York City Marathon, not only details of the route but also the communities and the spectators/supporters along the route. Besides, Liz also built in few stories in within the book, including the stories of elite runners, runners trying to achieve new life through this marathon and some characters who contributed in their own ways to the Marathon. This made the book very interesting to read and also very motivating to the participants to the New York City Marathon.

I read the book during my preparation to my first NYC Marathon this year, and it made me more appreciative of the race and enjoyed my race.
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Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York

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Overview

All Available Formats + Editions

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More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Liz Robbins

Editorial Reviews

Best Health Magazine

From The Critics

Product Details

Meet the Author

Read an Excerpt

Rating Distribution

Virtually running the New York City Marathon