Kings of the Road: How Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar Made Running Go Boom

Cameron Stracher

Apr 2013 · Sold by HMH

About this ebook

A “lively, informative history” of distance running’s 1970s heyday—including the famous Falmouth Road Race—written “with a true fan’s contagious enthusiasm” (Newsweek).

It was 1978. Jimmy Carter was president; gas prices were soaring; and Americans were hunkering down to weather the economic crisis. But Jim Fixx’s The Complete Book of Running was a bestseller. Frank Shorter’s gold medal in the 1972 Olympic marathon had put distance running on the minds of many Americans. The odd activity of “jogging” became “running,” and America was in love.
 
That summer, a junior from the University of Oregon named Alberto Salazar went up against Shorter and Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers at the Falmouth Road Race. Though he lost to Rodgers’s record-setting 32:21, the competition set the stage for an epic rivalry among the three greats. Each pushed the others to succeed and, in turn, inspired a nation of couch potatoes to put down the remote and lace up their sneakers.
 
“[A] lively, informative history.” — Newsweek/The Daily Beast
 
“Essential reading for runners both competitive and casual.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Kings of the Road is about marathon legends. It’s about running Fast. It’s about Will. It’s about the Real. It’s about drama of the finest kind.” —Bernd Heinrich, author of Why We Run and Racing the Antelope
 
“A rollicking, informed account of . . . how distance running helped define a generation.” —John Brant, author of Duel in the Sun and coauthor with Alberto Salazar of 14 Minutes

Ratings and reviews

I've read more than my share of books on running and elite runners. Although I find them all interesting and entertaining I'll rank this one as probably one of the best. I found it hard to put down. Go Boston Billy!

About the author

Cameron Stracher is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the author of The Laws of Return, Double Billing, and Dinner with Dad, as well as YA dystopian thriller The Water Wars. Stracher is also a media lawyer who has written for the New York Times; the New York Times Magazine; the Wall Street Journal; the American Lawyer, where he is a contributing editor; and many other publications. He lives in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife and two children and is a dedicated runner.