Two Books, One Story

Apr 11, 2026

It’s been a good week for reading about running — yesterday I finished my advance copy of Martin Dugard’s new book The Long Run in the morning, and got my copy of Raziq Rauf’s new book This is Running in the afternoon. Now I’m going to finish the trifecta (my three Rs: reading, ‘riting, and running) with a book review.

Though “appreciation” might be a better term, because I loved both of these books, and I’m mainly just going to tell you why you might, too.

The short answer is that they’re a perfect pair: The Long Run explains how we got here, and This is Running explores where that “here” actually is, and what it looks like. Together they can help you orient yourself as a runner in time, space, and society. Even better, they’ll leave you feeling good about this thing we do, and more optimistic (perhaps even joyful) about the world we live in.

The Long Run

The Long Run: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and the Decade That Made the Marathon Cool
by Martin Dugard (available next week)

My first marathon train-up in 1998 marked the start of my running “career”. I ran fourteen marathons (one per year) from then until I found my way to ultras in 2012. That’s half of my running life, and the foundational part of it. But the second half has been all trail and ultras, and apparently I’d forgotten how central the marathon was to my identity as a runner.

This book brought it all rushing back, and it was intense.

That word — marathon — carries so much weight, means so much more than its technical definition. As an aspiration, a peak accomplishment, or a foundation for more, we have no more universal symbol of human potential than the marathon. The Long Run tells the story of how this came to be true.

It does this with gripping narratives of pivotal moments. Take the story of September 10, 1972, the last day of the Munich Olympics. The blow-by-blow of that afternoon, back and forth between Frank Shorter out on the marathon course that starts and ends on the track of the Olympiastadion, and Steve Prefontaine racing the 5,000 meter on that same track, at the same time, is riveting. You’ve likely heard the stories individually and know how they end, but to have them intertwined in real time this way feels new and intense.

That’s how the entire book works. I knew the names and I’ve heard most of the stories before — they’re the legends that fed me as I grew into the marathon (doled out month by month in the pages of “Marathon & Beyond”). But I only knew them individually, in a piecemeal way. Here, it’s all in context, as a coherent story that connects ancient Greece with today in a contingent series of unlikely events involving distinctive personalities. It makes the mythos of the marathon feel inevitable, while also making it clear that it was not.

This is Running

This is Running: A Celebration of the World of Running, Exploring the Culture, History, Brands, Races and People Behind It
by Raziq Rauf

The first thing you’ll notice about This is Running is that it’s a joy to hold in your hands. The quality of materials, the artistry of the layouts and design, even its heft and solidity — they make it a beautiful physical thing.

The chapters are comprehensive and celebratory, with an extensive collection of profiles and interviews touching nearly every aspect of running today. Races and running genres, tech and fashion, running culture in its many forms, the rise of women in running, the future of the sport... it’s all here, told with the insight of an insider and interviews with an array of experts.

And the photos (I count 81 of them) carry so much emotional power. Jasmine at the yellow gate, Courtney in the UTMB finish chute — how could your heart not skip and your throat not catch? If not those, keep turning the pages, because they’re all here — Kilian and Kipchoge, Usain Bolt and Pre, Ted Corbitt and Laz, the Rarámuri, Bridgerunners, and Run Dem Crew. And hundreds of people you’ve never met, but still know deeply — fast, slow, pregnant, smiling or suffering (often both), all engaged in this most human of activities.

Put it all together and you have exactly what the subtitle promises: a celebration. But also a wide-ranging orientation to a global cultural phenomenon, in a format you’ll be proud to have on your table.

Both of them, actually…