A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York [Hardcover]

Liz Robbins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2008

"A Race Like No Other" is a narrative based on the November 4, 2007 race, but it is timeless in its themes. Acclaimed "New York Times" sportswriter Liz Robbins captures the enormity of the New York City Marathon through the prism of five representative athletes and the experiences that brought them to the starting line: one male and one female professional runner from overseas, both of whom have won this race previously; a recovering alcoholic and mother of three who was in jail last Marathon Sunday; a cancer survivor running for charity to follow a growing trend; and, a first-timer who wants to check a marathon off the list of life goals.Woven into the narrative will be supporting characters: fixtures like 65-year-old Tucker Andersen, who has run the five-borough race every year since 1976, and John Codiglia, police chief of the 10th precinct, who entertains runners with his bullhorn as he stands on Central Park South near the finish. Flashes of history will amplify the present and provide insight into the neighborhoods and the people who have made the race into the phenomenon it is today: the race's charismatic founder, Fred Lebow; Grete Waitz, the Norwegian-born runner who won it a record nine times; Vic Navarra, a retired firefighter who has directed the start in Staten Island for three decades and is dying of cancer; and, Mary Wittenberg, the chief executive of the New York Road Runners Association, who has vaulted the organisation to international prominence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

New York Times sportswriter Robbins captures the world's ultimate marathon, the New York City race. Set during the 2007 marathon, the narrative follows several runners: male and female professional runners with more at stake than prize money (a recovering alcoholic trying to mend her family; a cancer survivor running his first marathon; a 67-year-old grandmother on her 12th New York marathon) as they make their way through the city's five boroughs. Robbins's journalist's eye is thorough as she intersperses stories of wheelchair athletes, volunteers, spectators and even the city workers who paint the course markers. Those who've read Fred Lebow's Inside the World of Big-Time Marathoning or Ron Rubin's book on the New York City marathon, Anything for a T-shirt, will appreciate the varied voices here. Using each mile to structure the 26.2 chapters, Robbins allows readers to experience the event without ever putting on a pair of running shoes. (Oct. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* 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. “It’s like a Cecil B. DeMille movie because it’s on such a huge, epic scale,” said one former winner. 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 a 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. --Alan Moores

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061373133
• ISBN-13: 978-0061373138
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #691,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Marathons

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EVERYONE'S A WINNER, October 11, 2008

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York (Hardcover)

I loved this book! Liz Robbins' narrative chronicles the 2007 NYC Marathon with fact and anecdote filled chapters for each mile as the runners travel through all five boroughs of NYC and over the finish line; she does indeed manages to transport you inside the race and capture the sprit of the event that makes it A RACE LIKE NO OTHER. Perhaps it will even inspire some of the many readers that this book deserves who believe that the challenge of completing a marathon is too daunting to change minds and undertake the training required to attempt running one. It certainly will delight those who have participated and inform the millions who as spectators have cheered on the runners along the course or watched it on television in their living rooms.

Before I proceed further with my enthusiastic review, I do need to offer a disclaimer. At the suggestion of the race organizers, I was one of the myriad of individuals who the author interviewed during her extensive research for this book. I am an individual who had no exhibited no previous athletic aptitude before starting to exercise after passing my thirtieth birthday during the 1970's. But my current reputation as a 65 year old streaker intrigued her, and she chronicles part of my journey as I complete this event for the 32nd consecutive year. Thus, my story is one of the many of those of us who revel in our chance to become athletes for a day. In fact, as you will learn if you read the book, she somehow managed to locate me as I was running up First Avenue in the middle of the pack long after she had observed the winners crossing the finish line in Central Park and, after being introduced to a friend who I made during the race, the three of us ran together for approximately a mile as she joined the race again to discover more stories among the anonymous throng which would still be on the course for hours. I believe that my knowledge of the race enables me to appreciate even more the excellent job that the author has done, but I felt it appropriate to inform the readers of this review of what some might view as a source of potential favorable bias.

Robbins skillfully weaves into her manuscript the duel between Gete Wami and Paula Radcliffe which of course captivated even the casual observers of the race, while also managing to humanize them through the inclusion of a wealth of interesting information about aspects of their lives as diverse as their training routines, previous competitive encounters, early family experiences, and the fact that they are united by the bond that both women have returned to the sport at the highest competitive level after bearing a child. The stories of the leading competitors among the men are covered in an equally interesting manner, with many fascinating insights provided. Similarly, readers will appreciate the coverage of celebrities such as Lance Armstrong and Katie Holmes.

The many anecdotes about Fred Lebow which Liz Robbins inserts throughout the book together form a wonderful picture of the individual whose passion for the sport and ceaseless promotion of the marathon helped transform it from a race for elite runners who circled Central Park slightly more than four times to the spectacle which reinforced the running explosion which was just beginning in the mid-1970's. But for me, by far the most interesting aspect of the book was how she managed to meld the interesting stories of many individual runners into a mosaic that captured the essence of the experience. Included among these stories are many of the Achilles Club runners, whose members' disabilities cover a wide spectrum which range from the blind runners tethered loosely to their guides to amputees with artificial limbs and several cancer survivors, for whom completing the marathon is a way to celebrate their triumph over the disease. Many of them will spend several more hours on the course than the main field and thus start the race early, as a consequence as the race proceeds many of us runners have the opportunity to share in their inspirational achievements as we run by them and cheer them on in their pursuit of their dreams. Thus, I finally learned that it is 55 year old Bill Reilly whom I see every year along the course determinedly pushing his wheelchair backwards with his feet for 26.2 miles despite his severe cerebral palsy. And that Zoe Koplowitz who I also pass has completed her 20th NYC Marathon the next morning despite her diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Perhaps the most moving of all was the tale of Donald Arthur, a heart transplant victim who started walking to strengthen his new heart and three years later in 1999 completed the marathon together with the brother of his transplant donor (a victim of gunfire in the Bronx) and who then are both embraced by the victim's mother after they cross the finish line. In 2007 Arthur has recovered from a subsequent bout of cancer and is completing his tenth marathon that year. The joy in the streets, the agony and the ecstasy are all captured in this book.

Robbins also does justice to the other crucial elements of the race, the almost countless volunteers, the musicians whose performance adds to the celebratory atmosphere, the millions of supportive spectators (some of whom cheer the runners through the final three miles along Central park for as long as six hours), the unique and memorable landmarks along the race course, such as the towering Verranzano-Narrows Bridge, the Williamsburg Bank clock tower (a landmark visible for several miles along Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue), and the distinct neighborhoods which the runners traverse. We learn the background stories about the Bishop Laughlin High School Band and the Emmanuel Baptist Church choir, whose music only five blocks apart inspires the runners as they run down Lafayette Avenue with five miles still to go before leaving Brooklyn and reaching the halfway point as they cross the Pulaski Bridge and enter Queens.


In summary, if you like inspirational and feel good stories, read this book. If you want to learn more about the NYC marathon, read this book. If you want the unique experience of reading a book which fittingly ends with chapter 26.2, then read this book. We can't all hope to compete at an elite level or duplicate such feats of endurance as Dean Karnazes' running 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days and finishing with the NYC event , but this book captures how the NYC marathon undoubtedly deserves the credit for establishing the tradition of every runner being a winner over their own pain, and feeling deserving of the medal placed around his or her neck at its conclusion in the knowledge that on that day they had done their best as they were cheered on by the millions of spectators who line the route. When Liz Robbins explained the idea for her book while first interviewing me, I was both excited by the concept but fearful of the challenge which she had before her to accurately capture all the facets of the event. Now, I am delighted that she has succeeded, and hope that her book will achieve the readership which it deserves and in the process create even more appreciation for the unique nature of the event. Indeed every year its essence is the same, yet every year the details are different, new friends are made and different sights and sounds assault three runners' sense which are heightened by the inevitable surge of endorphins, which is why I will enjoy it as much this year as what I expected in 1976 would be not only my first but my only run through the streets of NYC, a Bicentennial celebration which not only linked the residents of the city's diverse neighborhoods but changed the face of marathoning. I highly recommend this book; as a reader you will share in the joy in the streets on that special day, and experience the palpable inspiration which results when everyone is a winner and the triumph of the human spirit is so clearly on display. .

Tucker Andersen

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History, story telling and marathon guidebook all in one!, November 12, 2008

By 

Thomas Howard (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York (Hardcover)

I just returned home from running the NY Marathon. I am so glad that I read this book just before running. It is outstanding. I saw several of the various characters in the book, especially the accordian player in Queens, and felt like I knew him.

I would recommend this book to anyone, runner and non-runner alike. Hugely readable and very informative.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Running the NYCM?, September 13, 2010

By 

J. Cummings - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York (Hardcover)

This book is a must have for the person running the NYCM for the first time. Details on the races beginniing, the brdiges history, the people behind the scenes, and much much more. Reading the book helps to invision your marathon day! The sites, the sounds, and the embrace of diversity.