Two Hours The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon

“Essential reading for every runner” (Men’s Fitness), Two Hours is about the world’s greatest distance runners and one of the most courageous and gifted athletes of the modern era as he attempts to beat the marathon world record.

Two hours to cover twenty-six miles and 385 yards. It is running’s Everest, a feat once seen as impossible for the human body. Running a sub-two hour marathon will require an exceptional combination of speed, mental strength, and endurance. The pioneer will have to endure more, live braver, plan better, and be luckier than anyone who has run before. So who will it be?

“Capturing the lives, training routines, and proud ancestry of these amazing runners, not to mention the pitfalls and dangers they face before and after they achieve fame…journalist Ed Caesar proves himself an engaging storyteller with a book whose time has come” (Publishers Weekly). In his “zippy, engaging book” (Financial Times), Caesar takes us into the world of elite marathoners: some of the greatest runners on earth. Through the stories of these rich characters, in particular Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai, Caesar traces the history of the marathon as well as the science, physiology, and psychology involved in running so fast for so long. And he shows us why this most democratic of races retains its brutal, enthralling appeal—and why we are drawn to test ourselves to the limit.

Two Hours is a book about a beautiful sport few people understand. It takes us from big-money races in the United States and Europe to remote villages in Kenya. It’s about talent, heroism, and refusing to accept defeat. “As becomes clear not long after its starting gun, it transcends the search for a two-hour marathon” (The Washington Post). This is a book about running that is about much more than running. It is a human drama like no other.

Ed Caesar is an author and a contributing writer to The New Yorker. Before joining The New Yorker, Caesar wrote stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Outside, The Smithsonian Magazine, Esquire, The Sunday Times (London), British GQ, and The Independent. He has reported from a wide range of countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Russia, and Iran. He has won a number of awards for his journalism, including the 2014 Journalist of the Year from the Foreign Press Association of London. His first book, Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon, was awarded a Cross Sports Book of the Year award.