Boston Marathon by Tom Derderian

The book subtitled "History of the World's premier running event" is one amazing effort at archiving the evolution of what is arguably the world's premier running event.

There are so many things that I learnt for the first time from the book that is impossible to put them all down in one place w/o reproducing a lot of the book here. The author, no slouch himself, having run a 2:19 at Boston, has taken great pains at documenting the history of the event, year by year, while producing a decade-wise general summary of the world at that point in time.

It is fairly startling to know that Boston wasn't always the elite event of choice for most runners and also that they had so many problems common to events with less heritage. And it is almost incredible to know that the BAA almost lost control of the event at some point in time.

Wonderful book. Must read for any Boston marathon adherent such as myself. Enough lessons on racing strategy, heartbreak and running spirit in general.

It is quite a long book and very detailed and took more than a week to complete for me, at nearly 600 pages. I am thinking I should get a copy for myself now!