The Longest Race

Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team

Kara Goucher, Mary Pilon

• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781982179151
• eBook ISBN: 9781982179168
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• Author’s Note
• Preface
• Chapter One: Patty and Mirko
• Chapter Two: Dreams of Jennings
• Chapter Three: Changes
• Chapter Four: Boulder
• Chapter Five: What Next
• Chapter Six: Love and Injuries
• Chapter Seven: Valhalla
• Chapter Eight: Welcome to “the Nike Family”
• Chapter Nine: Pushing the Edge
• Chapter Ten: Pros and Cons
• Chapter Eleven: Jetting
• Chapter Twelve: Rieti
• Chapter Thirteen: Heart
• Chapter Fourteen: Rules
• Chapter Fifteen: Flip the Switch
• Chapter Sixteen: Unstoppable
• Chapter Seventeen: Great Expectations
• Chapter Eighteen: Trials
• Chapter Nineteen: Beijing
• Chapter Twenty: “Queens Girl”
• Chapter Twenty-One: Trapped
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Heartbreak Hill
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Multiple Attempts
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Nine Months
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Survival Mode
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Muzzled
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: From the Sidelines
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: Proof
• Chapter Twenty-Nine: Confrontation
• Chapter Thirty: The Fight for Two Spots
• Chapter Thirty-One: The FBI, London, Randos
• Chapter Thirty-Two: Bombs
• Chapter Thirty-Three: Return of the Buffaloes
• Chapter Thirty-Four: Going Public
• Chapter Thirty-Five: The Haunted Place
• Chapter Thirty-Six: Under Oath
• Chapter Thirty-Seven: Just Keep Going
• Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Call for Change
• Resources
• A Note on Sources
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Copyright