Having run in more than six hundred races over the span of fifty-five years, Ed Ayres is a legendary distance runner-and this book is his urgent exploration of the connection between individual endurance and a sustainable society. The Longest Race begins at the starting line of the 2001 JFK 50 Mile-the nation's oldest and largest ultramarathon and, like other such races, it's an epic test of human limits and aspiration. At age sixty, his sights set on breaking the age-division record; Ayres embarks on a course over the rocky ridge of the Appalachian Trail, along the headwind-buffeted towpath of the Potomac River, and past momentous Civil War sites such as Harpers Ferry and Antietam. But even as Ayres focuses on an endurance runner's familiar concerns-starting strong and setting the right pace, controlling his breathing, overcoming fatigue, and staying mindful of the course ahead-he finds himself as preoccupied with the future of our planet as with the finish line. A veteran journalist and environmental editor, Ayres reveals how the skills and mindset necessary to complete an ultramarathon are also essential for grappling anew with the imperative to endure-not only as individuals, but as a society-and not just for fifty miles, but over the real long haul, in a unique meditation that ought to be required reading even for people who have never run a step.
