Author: Stephen Lane
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493077600
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 293
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Book Description
On the morning of August 5, 1984, four of the greatest marathoners of all time lined up for one of the most important and long-awaited races in history. By then, they had dominated their competition for at least five years, upending a century’s worth of preconceived notions of what marathoners could do. By decade’s end, they had lowered the world record a total of 13 minutes, won 27 major marathon titles, and swept every Olympic and World Championship held in the 1980s. And, in their careers, only once did all four—American Joan Benoit, Norwegians Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen, and Portugal’s Rosa Mota—square off in the same race: at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, in the first-ever Women’s Olympic Marathon. Such was their talent that Benoit, the world record holder, entered the race as the underdog. She’d had knee surgery in April, and no one, least of all Benoit herself, was certain she could hold up for 26 miles against her three rivals. Waitz, the former world record holder, was the favorite—she had destroyed the field at the 1983 World Championships and had never lost a marathon she had finished. Kristiansen, who had beaten Waitz twice in the summer of 1984 (albeit at shorter distances), was considered the fastest woman in the race: she held world records at 5,000m and 10,000m, and would break Benoit’s marathon record in 1985. Mota had beaten Kristiansen at the 1982 European marathon championships, and was already earning a reputation for raising her level in the biggest races. This is their story, and the story of the first women’s Olympic Marathon.
Author: Ellen Caughey
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
ISBN: 1683224892
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 143
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Book Description
An Olympic run wasn’t his most important race. Eric Liddell was born to run. From childhood, his physical abilities brought honor and fame—culminating in a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics. But it was another run that really mattered: the race of life mentioned in Hebrews 12 (“. . .and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. . . .”). Eric Liddell’s commitment to God was so strong that he once skipped an Olympic qualifier because it was held on Sunday. His scrupulous faith was chronicled decades later in the movie Chariots of Fire. At the height of his fame, Eric traded track shoes for hiking boots, taking the gospel message to the vast land of China. His life there was cut short, but the shadow he cast was long—with millions still finding challenge from his faithful example.
Author: David George Surdam
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496209702
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
The National Football League has long reigned as America's favorite professional sports league. In its early days, however, it was anything but a dominant sports industry, barely surviving World War II. Its rise began after the war, and the 1950s was a pivotal decade for the league. Run to Glory and Profits tells the economic story of how in one decade the NFL transformed from having a modest following in the Northeast to surpassing baseball as this country's most popular sport. To break from the margins of the sports landscape, pro football brought innovation, action, skill, and episodic suspense on "any given Sunday." These factors in turn drove attendance and rising revenues. Team owners were quick to embrace television as a new medium to put the league in front of a national audience. Based on primary documents, David George Surdam provides an economic analysis in telling the business story behind the NFL's rise to popularity. Did the league's vaunted competitive balance in the decade result from its more generous revenue sharing and its reverse-order draft? How did the league combat rival leagues, such as the All-America Football Conference and the American Football League? Although strife between owners and players developed quickly, pro-football fans stayed loyal because the product itself remained so good.
Author: Michael Connelly
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493054813
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Book Description
26 MILES TO BOSTON slips squarely into the running shoes and minds of the athletes as they traverse the 26-mile, 385-yard course of America's most venerated long-distance race. From suburban Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the center of metropolitan Boston, here are the mile-by-mile sights and sounds experienced by the runners. Interwoven throughout is the colorful history of the men and women of manifold skills who have competed in this preeminent event over the span of more than a century. Profusely illustrated with photographs and maps, 26 MILES TO BOSTON is a book for anyone who's ever wondered what it might be like to run the Boston Marathon.
Author: Sam McManis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493041533
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 279
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Book Description
The runners from Eisenhower High School have every justification to fail. They’re from low income families, many of whom are migrant workers. With little time to devote to their passion, they give everything they have to their quest for the Washington State High School Cross Country Championship. Running to Glory is a celebration of grit, perseverance, and the American Dream. It follows the cross country team from Eisenhower High in Yakima, Washington, through a tumultuous and challenging season with excitement, suspense and pathos. Despite enormous economic disadvantages, the Eisenhower runners compete with affluent schools in the Seattle-Tacoma area, where parent involvement is strong and funds are readily available. Their coach Phil English knows how his runners feel. He grew up poor in rural Ireland in the 1960s during The Troubles and emigrated to the U.S. for a college track scholarship. Over 37 years coaching in Yakima, Coach English won 11 state titles, and sent more than 100 kids to college with scholarships for running. Author Sam McManis crafts a compelling narrative, which follows the team from summer workouts in the blistering sun to the state championship meet in the bitter cold. Readers will discover how these young men and women overcome their environment or succumb to it—on the course and in the classroom.
Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 030738604X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 482
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Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A "gripping book about this extraordinary man who lived passionately and died unnecessarily" (USA Today) in post-9/11 Afghanistan, from the bestselling author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air. In 2002, Pat Tillman walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army and became an icon of American patriotism. When he was killed in Afghanistan two years later, a legend was born. But the real Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated than the public knew. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers. Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s family and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush used Tillman’s name to promote his administration’ s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible. Drawing on Tillman’s journals and letters and countless interviews with those who knew him and extensive research in Afghanistan, Jon Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war. This edition has been updated to reflect new developments and includes new material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Author: Paul Levesque
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1609943392
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 2486
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Book Description
Many people set out to achieve a dream-starting a business or learning to play the piano or publishing a book-but they don't succeed, and the dream fizzles away. In many cases, these people have lots of skills and expertise, such as deep knowledge of the business or career they are interested in, so why don't they succeed? Paul Levesque and Art McNeil have discovered that making a dream come true requires cultivating skills of a higher order-macroskills-that inevitably spell the difference between success and failure no matter what the specifics of a person's dreams are. These are the skills Dreamcrafting outlines in detail.
Author: Mitchell Cobb
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059544928X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231
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Book Description
Clayton Howard has stopped experiencing life. A troubled childhood has left him "going through the motions". One day, he happens upon a terrible accident and he's the first to discover the youngest victim. Immediately after, Clayton's dreams lead him to the location of buried wealth. Clayton's life changes instantly as he becomes rich beyond his wildest expectations. While he considers himself extremely lucky at first, he begins to realize that the opportunity to experience life's real treasures are threatened by his greed.
Author: Naomi Clark
Publisher: QueeredFiction Press
ISBN: 1920441123
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
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Book Description
Ayla Hammond has come home. After years as a lone wolf in a self-imposed exile she's rejoining the pack and trying to mend fences with her parents. She's convinced them to accept her girlfriend, but can a lone wolf change her ways? As if homecoming wasn't hard enough, Ayla also can't help getting involved in a missing person case. With pressure to solve the case mounting from the pack alphas, Ayla is starting to question where her loyalties lie - and if a return to the pack she left behind is really what she wants.
Author: Lizzy Hawker
Publisher: Aurum
ISBN: 1781314675
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 285
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Book Description
From a school girl running the streets of London to a world record-breaking athlete racing on mountains and toughest races, long-distance runner Lizzy Hawker is an inspiration to anyone who would like to see how far they can go, running or not. This is the complete story of Lizzy’s journey, uncovering the physical, mental and emotional challenges that runners go through at the edge of human endurance. Scared witless and surrounded by a sea of people, Lizzy Hawker stands in the church square at the centre of Chamonix on a late August evening, waiting for the start of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. The mountains towering over the pack of runners promise a grueling 8,600 metres of ascent and descent over 158 kilometres of challenging terrain that will test the feet, legs, heart and mind. These nervous moments before the race signal not just the beginning of nearly twenty-seven hours of effort that saw Lizzy finish as first woman, but the start of the career of one of Britain’s most successful endurance athletes. She went on to become the 100km Women’s World Champion, win the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc an unprecedented five times, hold the world record for 24 hours road running and become the first woman to stand on the overall winners’ podium at Spartathlon. Lizzy’s remarkable spirit was recognised in 2013 when she was a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
