The Longest Race

A Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, and the Case for Human Endurance

De: Ed Ayres

Narrado por: Richard Waterhouse

First and foremost a book about running, The Longest Race takes listeners alongside ultramarathoner Ed Ayres as he prepares for, runs, and finishes the JFK 50-mile race at a then record-breaking time for his age division - 60 and older. But for Ayres, this race was about more than just running, and the book also encompasses his musings and epiphanies along the way about possibilities for human achievement and the creation of a sustainable civilization.

Looking back over a lifetime of more than 50 years of long-distance running, Ayres realizes that his running has taught him important lessons about endurance, patience, and foresight. These qualities, also hallmarks of being human, likely helped humans to survive and thrive in the evolutionary race - and, Ayres posits, they are qualities absolutely necessary to building a sustainable society.

Grounding each step of his argument are vivid details from this particular race and other moments across his long running career. These experiences take us far beyond the sport, into new perspectives on our origins as future - and what it means to be a part of the human race. In the end, Ayres suggests, if we can recapture the running prowess and overall physical fitness of our "wild" ancient distance-hunting ancestors, we will also be equipped to keep our bodies, our society, and the entire world running long into the future.

©2012 Ed Ayres (P)2012 AudioGO

Required reading for JFK50 miler participants!

This has everything I love about running memoirs - a runner's personal journey through the sport, an incredibly detailed historical and course account of a specific goal race, and general tips on training and nutrition. I am planning to run this race later this year, and Ayres' segment-by-segment recall of the course was so descriptive that I could visualize it. This book specifically focused on Ayres' running of the 2001 race and the tone felt after 9/11. It seems especially relevant today, now 20 years later, as our country yet again processes major social, health, and cultural tragedies from 2020. This was a fun read - I will pick it up again before I run the race myself!

Running Info and Liberal Propaganda

What did you like best about The Longest Race? What did you like least?

This book did have some good moments and interesting running information. However, the book was overall a little boring and contained a lot of liberal politicizing. I also didn't like the way the author keeps subtly attacking Born to Run and barefoot running.

Not what I expected

Maybe it was how this book was narrated, but I just couldn’t get into it. It felt very choppy—going from the run and then discussing aspects of the human condition and change and historical events that (maybe) predicted or (maybe) were the result of the changes the author described. The connections and conclusions seemed forced at times.

Interesting, relaxing listen of a runners mindset and a glimpse into the sport

Views on environment, climate change, running as a lifestyle and possibly the most popular sport, running as a natural part of human evolutionary hostory. Clears away the fad of high tech electronics for training.

Brilliant use of comparative metaphor with climate change

I was not expecting this book to be as deep as it is. This is a awesome use of ultra running as a metaphor for our exploration of natural resources and the toll that takes on our bodies and planet.

Just ok. I didnt love it but I didn't hate it

This book was very average I would give it a 7 out of 10. it's very hard to even describe how the story goes. It's almost like a late aged man's reflection on the world in life.

An author who seemed full of himself.

There were interesting sections but most of the "scientific" points were total speculation. Too much use of the word " probably". All of his points MAY be correct but this book should not be taken as 100% factual. If you know the author, his story may be interesting. Otherwise, it came off as boastful.

Someone has unrealistic expectations

I found this audiobook as a suggestion and thought it may be a good listen. The writer is clearly intelligent and there is a story here to be shared.
What lost me was the exhaustive amount of comparisons and, at times, disconnected relations of his view of the workings of the world. I thought there would be some emphasis’ on running, which there is at times, but it’s not until the 9th chapter or so does the author confess he really doesn’t remember the JFK50 in any detail. I mean if it’s the entire back drop of the book and you take us through a dizzying myriad of stories about humanity why not lead with that.
I was astonished to hear that he really only remembers about 2-5 minutes of the overall run but added all this color and detail about other runners of the day.
It lost all credibility and I skipped over the middle sections of chapters.
So either I had or he had unrealistic expectations about what this book was really about.

really informative

loved it, found his story very informative and interesting.
i like he combined it with real world problems are environment is facing

interesting mix of environmentalism and running

I found it to be moderately good listen. the story of him running is pretty interesting, but there is a bunch of "filler" concerning global warming and ecological destruction that, while interesting to hear about a few times, tends to compete for the main plotline of the book. Maybe that was his intended angle, but if so, the book is slightly mis-labelled, in my opinion.