About this item
4:09:43, takes its title from the time into the 2013 Boston Marathon when two bombs exploded and is a compilation of accounts provided by those taking part. It focuses on the accounts of 75 runners, collected through social media: blogs posted online, stories offered on Facebook and e-mails sent to the author. The book presents these stories, condensing and integrating them into a smooth-flowing narrative that begins with runners boarding the buses at Boston Common, continues with the wait at the Athletes' Village in Hopkinton and flows through eight separate towns. The story does not end until the 23,000 participants encounter the terror on Boylston Street. "These are not 75 separate stories," says the author. "This is one story told as it might have been by a single runner with 75 pairs of eyes."
About the Author
HAL HIGDON has contributed to Runner's World for longer than any other writer. An article by Hal appeared in that publication's second issue in 1966. Author of more than 36 books, including the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide (Rodale, 2011) , 4:09:43: Boston 2013 Through the Eyes of the Runners (Human Kinetics, 2014) , and RunFast (Rodale, 2000) . Higdon has also written books on many subjects and for various age groups. His children's book The Horse That Played Center Field was made into an animated feature by ABC TV.He ran eight times in the Olympic Trials and won four World Masters Championships. One of the founders of the Road Runners Club of America, Higdon was a finalist in NASA's Journalist-in-Space program to ride the space shuttle. He has served as training consultant for the Chicago Marathon and Chicago Area Runners Association and also answers questions on Facebook, offering interactive training programs through TrainingPeaks and apps through Bluefin. At the annual meeting of the American Society of Journalists and Authors in 2003, Higdon received the Career Achievement Award, the highest honor given to writer members.Higdon became acquainted with the Boston Marathon as a member of the U.S. Army stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, training with Dean Thackwray, who would make the U.S. Olympic team in 1956. Higdon knew then that he eventually needed to shift his focus from his usual track events (including the 3,000-meter steeplechase) to the marathon. He first ran Boston in 1959, then again in 1960, failing to finish both years. "My mistake," Higdon realized later, "was trying to win the race, not finish the race."It took five years for Higdon to figure out the training necessary for success as an elite marathoner, becoming the first American finisher (fifth overall) in 1964. The previous year, he wrote an article for Sports Illustrated about Boston titled "On the Run From Dogs and People" (later a book by the same title) that contributed to the explosion of interest in running in the 1970s that continues to this day.Higdon also wrote a coffee table book titled Boston: A Century of Running, published before the 100th running of the Boston Marathon in 1996. An expanded version of a chapter in that book featuring the 1982 battle between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley, titled The Duel, continues as a best-seller among running books.Higdon has run 111 marathons, 18 of them at Boston. He considers himself more than a running specialist, having spent most of his career as a full-time journalist writing about a variety of subjects, including business, history, and science, for publications such as Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, and Playboy. Among his more than three dozen published books are two involving major crimes: The Union vs. Dr. Mudd (about the Lincoln assassination) and The Crime of the Century (about the Leopold and Loeb case, featurin
