The Longest Race

audio cd, 1 pages

Published March 14, 2023 by Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-7971-5248-6

(2 reviews)

In “one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation” (Kate Fagan, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.

Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.

Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach had done. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules and created what Kara …

In “one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation” (Kate Fagan, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.

Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.

Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach had done. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules and created what Kara experienced as a culture of abuse, the extent of which she reveals in her book for the first time. Meanwhile, Nike stood by Alberto for years and proved itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices.

The Longest Race is an unforgettable story that is “as interesting as it is important” (Molly Huddle, two-time Olympian) and also a crucial call to action. Kara became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level. The Longest Race will leave you “motivated, empowered, and ready to take on the world” (Allyson Felix, Olympic gold medalist) as it reveals how Kara broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running.

1 edition

Hank G (BookWyrm) reviewed The Longest Race by Kara Goucher

Good Writing on a Tough Topic

5 stars

There is a certain amount of unhealthy balance and toxicity that these ultra-high performance environments and scenarios create for people. There will always be making enormous sacrifices of everything from long term health, relationship with friends and family, et cetera to make sure you get one of the handful of spots in the world every 2-4 years. Reading about how strenuous those environments were, even with supportive minded coaches can make me a bit tense. What is discussed here is the incredibly toxic, rules skirting if not outright breaking, psychological abuse, and even sexual assault on athletes by people in power at the Nike Oregon Program.

There is more to this book than just that. The author and her co-writer wove a very conversational/blogpost style covering everything from early childhood through to personal experiences well past her time in the Oregon program. It was a very open discussion about her …

There is a certain amount of unhealthy balance and toxicity that these ultra-high performance environments and scenarios create for people. There will always be making enormous sacrifices of everything from long term health, relationship with friends and family, et cetera to make sure you get one of the handful of spots in the world every 2-4 years. Reading about how strenuous those environments were, even with supportive minded coaches can make me a bit tense. What is discussed here is the incredibly toxic, rules skirting if not outright breaking, psychological abuse, and even sexual assault on athletes by people in power at the Nike Oregon Program.

There is more to this book than just that. The author and her co-writer wove a very conversational/blogpost style covering everything from early childhood through to personal experiences well past her time in the Oregon program. It was a very open discussion about her personal highs and lows throughout her entire life up to that point. You really get into the mind of an Olympic athlete. It is a shame that so much of it documents truly horrific behavior by Nike staff at the behest of program director/trainer Alberto Salazar and people he brought into the program.

Heather

rated it

June 17, 2023

Lists