September/October 2010

Cover of current issue

Table of Contents

Departments

Editorial

Rumors and Accusations

On the Road

StrOde to Joy

Race Profile

Charlotte’s Thunder Road Marathon

Tree-shaded neighborhoods and rolling hills aplenty.

Joe’s Journal

Megamarathoners

Features

Musings From Marathon

How the marathon ignited the women’s running revolution and in the process changed world thinking about women.

Pheidippides and the Battle of Marathon: FAQ

Who won? Who ran? Who collapsed and died?

Three Legends Conspire

Several ancient Greek legends and a 19th-century Greek peasant inspire a unique athletic event: the marathon. And then export it to Boston.

Running My Life

The challenge of running from sea to shining sea. Part 2 of 3.

Continued...

Shalane Flanagan: The Runners’ Daughter

Be careful to pick your parents well.

On November 7, 2010, Shalane Flanagan will line up at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island for her first attempt at a marathon. The last time a female American distance runner with Flanagan’s credentials made a similar move up in distance was almost exactly nine years ago when Deena (Drossin) Kastor also debuted at the New York City Marathon.

Flanagan, as was Kastor that winter, is a national champion many times over in cross-country, on the track, and on the roads, and she is the American record holder in distances ranging in length from the 3,000 meters to the 10,000 meters. But the 29-year-old Flanagan has one thing on her resume that even the great Kastor didn’t have prior to her first marathon: a bronze medal in international track competition, which she earned in the 10,000 meters at the Beijing Olympic Games.

And unlike Kastor, who was once admittedly leery of ever participating in a 26.2-mile footrace, Flanagan’s move up has never really been in doubt. While, yes, Flanagan admits that the prospect of racing that far is daunting, she takes comfort in the fact that both of her parents have already paved the road for her. In fact, given her lineage, it seems almost to have been predestined that Shalane Flanagan would one day become an elite-level marathoner.

Continued... | Other Editor’s Choices

M&B Bonus Features

New! You can listen to stories thanks to podcasts from Endurance Planet.

Race Review Summary. In every issue, we thoroughly review a marathon. In addition to a full-length feature about every aspect of the race, the event is also scored on 10 key areas of success. Here are the results from all the races we’ve reviewed in Marathon & Beyond since 1997.

Book Reviews. M&B editor Rich Benyo shares his opinions about books likely to be of interest to fans of this magazine.

We have an eNewsletter, Marathon & Beyond Extra. We want to share some of the extra “goodies” that we can’t include in Marathon & Beyond. Sign up here!

Illinois Marathon Photo Spread. The inaugural Illinois Marathon was a huge success.