Fifty runnersfrom the world's elite to passionate amateursshare the races they'll never forget in this ';fascinating and fresh look at competitive running' (Jon Sinclair, former USA cross country and 10K champion, RRCA Hall of Famer). Every runner that enters a race has a unique motivation behind competing: racing for the challenge, for the achievement, for the health benefits, or for more personal reasons. But whether they are twenty-mile-a-day elite marathoners or twenty-mile-a-week recreational runners, each of them can invariably point to a singular performance as ';the best race I ever ran.' My Best Race is a collection of those singular performances. In this inspirational collection, fifty runners, from Olympians and world champions, to courageous disabled athletes and middle-of-the-packers, share their personal accounts of what they consider the best race they ever ranand why. Contributors include a top marathoner who sacrifices his place on the Olympic team to pace his friend to the final qualifying spot at the Olympic Trials; ';The Central Park Jogger' who finishes a race she founded to benefit disabled athletes, fourteen years after being left for dead from a brutal attack that gripped the nation; an unheralded high school runner who beats a previously undefeated state championand who goes on to become a two-time Olympian; the woman race organizers tried to physically remove from the male-only Boston Marathon in 1967; and forty-six other runners. ';Such wonderful and inspiring stories by a diverse group of runnersbravo!' Ryan Lamppa, media director of Running USA ';What a fascinating concept!… A very unique and inspiring collection that gives great insight into the minds of runners.' Keith Brantly, member of the 1996 US Olympic marathon team