Staying the Course

A Runner's Toughest Race

Dick Beardsley and Maureen Anderson

What people are saying...

"Dick Beardsley was a rival of mine in the '80s but, more important, a friend and perhaps our sport's best known 'good guy'--everyone in the running community liked Dick. Staying the Course makes it clear why he is universally admired by runners: he showed his heart in his marathons but his willpower and courage when he overcame drug addiction."

Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of both the New York and Boston marathons

"Dick Beardsley has long been one of my heroes as a runner. But his life story presents a side of Dick that proves he's an expert at staying the course, whether it's a race for a medal or a race for his life. This book is a marathon read--you won't be able to put it down."

Harvey Mackay, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

"One worthy entry in this year's list of running books is Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race, by Dick Beardsley of Detroit Lakes, MN, with Minnesota radio journalist Maureen Anderson. The book is a breezy read, told in the rapid-fire gee-whiz style Beardsley is known for. Pages go by faster than Salazar went by Beardsley when the Minnesota favorite got a charley horse just over half a mile from the Boston finish line."

Bruce Brothers, Sports Columnist, St. Paul Pioneer Press

"Once I started, I couldn't put it down. You've certainly been through a lot. But you've overcome even more. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, from start to finish. I just couldn't wait to see what happened next. It was very well-written and easy to read. I felt like I was right there with you. I intend to share your book with my husband and my running buddies. It is definitely an inspiration. Put me on the list to receive the sequel when it comes out."

Karen Van Rite, New Berlin, Wisconsin

Dick Beardsley is one of the most positive people I've ever met. So much so that a psychologist once charged him with faking it. In his new book, Staying the Course, Dick writes that she "didn't think I was taking this [counseling] seriously... 'I think this is just an act for you,' she said. 'You act like you're so happy all the time.' She thought it was just an act. But it's who I am, addict or no. Later she realized it."
oooooAnyone less sunny than Dick might not have faced all that he did, and come out of it alive and sane. The book (which he wrote with Maureen Anderson for the University of Minnesota Press) tells of Dick at his best as a runner, at his worst as a person and now better than ever before because of what he has survived.
oooooHis stories are familiar to me, but Staying the Course fills in details he can't tell in an hour's talk. To his co-author's and editors' great credit, they let Dick write as he talks. You can "hear" him in the book as the first half covers his glory days and the last half his gory days. The second part is more gripping, and in the end more inspiring as his worst times lead again to some of his best.

Excerpts from "A Better Beardsley" by Joe Henderson--who's been running, and writing about the sport, for more than forty years. See more at www.joehenderson.com/archive/275.html. The column is also reprinted by Runner's World Online.

What a great book! I sat down last night and got up only three times before I finished it. It was a fast read because it was so good!! Thank you for a wonderful night!

Deanna Nelson, Detroit Lakes, MN

This is the most interesting book I have read in a long time. I could not stop reading it. Dick's appeal must go far beyond an audience of runners. I hope we will hear more from him as his extraordinary life continues to unfold.

Tom Hoy Sr, Wayzata, MN

I am an 18-year-old student at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, and a member of its cross-country and track and field teams. I wanted to thank you for writing your book for two reasons. The first is that you have inspired me to run each day like it could be my last, and to never take for granted how lucky I am to have such a gift. The second and most important reason that your book has touched me is because my father is an alcoholic. His story is so much like yours that I felt like I was reading his autobiography. My Dad is also a runner and he loves it with all his heart. It's his escape. If it weren't for him I wouldn't even be a runner. The difference between your story and his is that he hasn't been able to reach sobriety. Your book hit me so hard that I'm going to go out and buy it for my Dad in hopes that he will be touched in the same way I was, and that he too will soon be on the road to treatment and sobriety.

Justin Dosch, Bloomsburg, PA

What a story! I always have thought running was boring. Dick had me running right beside him. I know I crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon with him. That's a real tribute to the writing. At the end of the story I was rooting for him--feeling the pain of his addiction, his triumph in recovery and his graciousness in speaking about all of it. It really is a page turner and a great read.

Ellen Kensinger, Detroit Lakes, MN

Read some reader reviews at Amazon.com.

April 15th, 2002, marked the 106th running of the Boston Marathon and the 20th anniversary of the greatest race ever contested on the course: the battle between Dick Beardsley and Alberto Salazar. Many (including Dick Beardsley) believe that these two men gave so much of themselves to this race that they never ran the same again.
oooooStaying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race describes this history-making event, along with the long and colorful running career of Dick Beardsley. The book immediately sucks the reader in. It is lively, funny and real. It is written in the first person so the reader feels like they're having a conversation with Dick. The book just oozes with his fast-paced, positive, yet completely obsessive-compulsive personality.
oooooIt's not all about running, either. Beardsley actually had a very serious addiction to painkillers for many, many years, and the last third of the book is dedicated to his struggle and recovery. It is brutally honest and downright frightening. At the height of his addiction, he was taking up to ninety Percocet a day! It is amazing he lived to tell this story.
oooooI highly recommend this book for runners and nonrunners alike.

Excerpts from a review by Kathaleen Recker in the monthly newsletter of the Mesa-Monument Striders running club in Grand Junction, CO.

To give you an idea how much I enjoyed your book, I started it with all the pre-Super Bowl stuff going on and I did not put it down until I was finished. I missed the Super Bowl! The book was awesome and inspiring. Thank you.

Lawrence Haugen, Tomahawk, WI

I am a 1992 U.S. Olympian in skiing from Stillwater, MN. When I was twelve years old I won a kids' race in Hudson, WI. Dick Beardsley, my childhood hero, presented me with my medal. It was a thrill of my childhood. I started reading this book on Wednesday night at nine o'clock and finished it Thursday morning at four o'clock. I never put it down. Remarkable story. I just loved it! Thursday was a long day at work. I read maybe a book a year. This was extremely rare for me.

Bryan Sanders, River Falls, WI

Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race is published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Cover photo: Joey McLeister. Used with permission from the Duluth News Tribune.