Review
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"Some would like to forget the horror of the 2013 Boston
Marathon. However, many more of us would like to celebrate the
unflinching runners, medical staff, and community of Boston for
the courage and love they showed each other in marathon's time of
greatest need. Hal Higdon's book 4:09:43 is full of inspiring
personal stories that reflect how running's worst day may also
have been its best."
Amby Burfoot
Boston Marathon Champion
Editor at Large, Runner's World
"We realize while reading the marathoners' own words why they
will not be stopped by the bombings that took place. It's simple:
Love is stronger than hate."
Bill Rodgers
Four-Time Boston and NYC Marathon Champion
"Hal Higdon has captured the absolute dichotomy that was the
April 15 Boston Marathon, a very real Tale of Two Cities. It was
the best of times and the worst of times, from the beautiful and
uplifting marathon celebration that Boston is known for to an
absolute day of fear, horror, and mayhem. Told through the
emotional lens and perspective of actual runners and other
witnesses to terror, the heartfelt story of the 117th running is
a complex and sometimes contradictory series of emotions and is
at once gripping, sensitive, and inspiring. Runners worldwide and
all those who love the Boston Marathon will find 4:09:43 a
compelling account of the many emotions of the day as well as a
meaningful tribute to its greatness."
Guy Morse
Former Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association
Organizer of the Boston Marathon, 1985 to 2012
"The Boston bombings broke the hearts of runners everywhere but
only reinforced their spirit. Through the stories of some who
were actually there, Hal Higdon tells how ordinary runners like
us have become indomitable examples to the whole world."
Kathrine Switzer
First woman to officially run the Boston Marathon
Longtime TV commentator on the event
Author of Marathon Woman
"Higdon's account avoids the political sensationalizing of the
events of April 15, 2013. Instead, he tells the story of Boston
through the eyes of dozens of participants, revealing what the
event means to hundreds of thousands of runners and how the
explosions of that day burst into this iconic event and
experience. Read this book if you love Boston."
Jonathan Beverly
Editor in Chief, Running Times
"I was there on April 15, 2013, a hundred yards beyond the finish
line when the bombs changed an annual ritual of personal
achievement into a horror show. But I didn't see everything there
was to see, didn't understand all the stories of bravery and loss
happening on Boylston St that day. No one person could, which is
why this book is so valuable. It's the closest we can come to
having been everywhere on that one terrible, miraculous day."
Peter Sagal
Host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
2013 Boston MMarathon Finisher
"Hal Higdon in 4:09:43 proves that the Boston Marathon consists
of every runner in the race and every spectator along the
course--and when you attack even one, you attack all."
Dave McGillivray
Boston Marathon Race Director
"I can think of no one better equipped than Hal Higdon to tell
this story. It is a story of the special kinship of all of us who
have run that final straightaway down Boylston Street toward the
finish of the Boston Marathon. And it is the story of how those
two explosions were instantly and instinctively felt-from
whatever distance we experienced them-to be an attack on all of
us. This is an amazing story, skillfully woven together by one of
our sport's great chroniclers."
John Parker
Author of Once a Runner
"Hal Higdon uses social media and personal correspondence to
compile a powerful narrative for the tragic 2013 Boston Marathon.
The collection of essays in 4:09:43 is a tribute to a marathon
that Higdon knows deeply."
Roger Robinson
Author of Running in Literature
"He's run Boston 18 times with a PR of 2:21 and best finish of
fifth place. He wrote the definitive history about the race,
Boston: A Century of Running, as well as countless articles. His
training programs have helped thousands of runners qualify for
Boston. Now Hal has called on that long lifetime of experience to
help us understand the events of the day and the bombing's
aftermath. For runners everywhere it is a must-read."
Roy Benson
Author of Heart Rate Training and Precision Running
"Higdon has captured the local color of that eful day - a day
never to forget - in a book never to forget"
The Florida Times-Union
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About the Author
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Hal Higdon has contributed to Runner's World for longer than any
other writer. An article by Hal appeared in that publication's
second issue in 1966. Author of more than 36 books, including
4:09:43, the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide,
and a novel, titled simply Marathon, Higdon has also written
books on many subjects and for various age groups. His children's
book The Horse That Played Center Field was made into an animated
feature by ABC-TV. He ran eight times in the Olympic Trials and
won four world masters championships. One of the founders of the
Road Runners Club of America, Higdon also was a finalist in
NASA's Journalist-in-Space program to ride the space shuttle. The
former training consultant for the Chicago Marathon, he answers
questions online for TrainingPeaks, also providing interactive
training programs.
Higdon became acquainted with the Boston Marathon as a member of
the U.S. Army stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, training with Dean
Thackwray, who would make the U.S. Olympic team in 1956 as a
marathoner. Higdon knew then that he eventually needed to move
upward in distance from his usual track events (including the
3,000-meter steeplechase) to the marathon. He first ran Boston in
1959, then again in 1960, failing to finish both years. “My
mistake,” Higdon realized later, “was trying to win the race, not
finish the race.”
It took five years for Higdon to figure out the training
necessary for success as an elite marathoner, becoming the first
American finisher (5th overall) in 1964. On that journey, he
wrote an article for Sports Illustrated about Boston titled “On
the Run From Dogs and People” (later a book by the same title)
that contributed to the explosion of interest in running in the
1970s that continues to this day.
Higdon also wrote a coffee table book titled Boston: A Century
of Running, published before the 100th running of the Boston
Marathon in 1996. An expanded version of a chapter in that book
featuring the 1982 battle between Alberto Salazar and Dick
Bearsley, titled The Duel, continues as a best-seller among
running books. His most popular running book is Marathon: The
Ultimate Training Guide, with a quarter million copies sold, now
in its fourth edition.
Higdon has run 111 marathons, 18 of them at Boston. He considers
himself more than a running spet, having spent most of his
career as a full-time journalist writing about a variety of
subjects, including business, history, and science, for
publications such as Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping, National
Geographic, and Playboy. Among his more than three dozen
published books are two involving major crimes: The Union vs. Dr.
Mudd (about the Lincoln assassination) and The Crime of the
Century (about the Leopold and Loeb case, featuring attorney
Clarence Darrow). Thus, 4:09:43 offers a natural progression in
his long career.
Higdon continues to run and bike with his wife, Rose, from their
winter and summer homes in Florida and Indiana. They have three
children and nine grandchildren.
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