4:09:43: Boston 2013 Through the Eyes of the Runners

Some would like to forget the horror of the 2013 Boston Marathon. However, many more of us would like to celebrate the unflinching runners, medical staff, and community of Boston for the courage and love they showed each other in marathon's time of greatest need. Hal Higdon's book 4:09:43 is full of inspiring personal stories that reflect how running's worst day may also have been its best.

Amby Burfoot

Boston Marathon Champion

Editor at Large, Runner's World

We realize while reading the marathoners' own words why they will not be stopped by the bombings that took place. It's simple: Love is stronger than hate.

Bill Rodgers

Four-Time Boston and NYC Marathon Champion

Hal Higdon has captured the absolute dichotomy that was the April 15 Boston Marathon, a very real Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times and the worst of times, from the beautiful and uplifting marathon celebration that Boston is known for to an absolute day of fear, horror, and mayhem. Told through the emotional lens and perspective of actual runners and other witnesses to terror, the heartfelt story of the 117th running is a complex and sometimes contradictory series of emotions and is at once gripping, sensitive, and inspiring. Runners worldwide and all those who love the Boston Marathon will find 4:09:43 a compelling account of the many emotions of the day as well as a meaningful tribute to its greatness.

Guy Morse

Former Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association

Organizer of the Boston Marathon, 1985 to 2012

The Boston bombings broke the hearts of runners everywhere but only reinforced their spirit. Through the stories of some who were actually there, Hal Higdon tells how ordinary runners like us have become indomitable examples to the whole world.

Kathrine Switzer

First woman to officially run the Boston Marathon

Longtime TV commentator on the event

Author of Marathon Woman

Higdon's account avoids the political sensationalizing of the events of April 15, 2013. Instead, he tells the story of Boston through the eyes of dozens of participants, revealing what the event means to hundreds of thousands of runners and how the explosions of that day burst into this iconic event and experience. Read this book if you love Boston.

Jonathan Beverly

Editor in Chief, Running Times

I was there on April 15, 2013, a hundred yards beyond the finish line when the bombs changed an annual ritual of personal achievement into a horror show. But I didn't see everything there was to see, didn't understand all the stories of bravery and loss happening on Boylston St that day. No one person could, which is why this book is so valuable. It's the closest we can come to having been everywhere on that one terrible, miraculous day.

Peter Sagal

Host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me

2013 Boston MMarathon Finisher

Hal Higdon in 4:09:43 proves that the Boston Marathon consists of every runner in the race and every spectator along the course--and when you attack even one, you attack all.

Dave McGillivray

Boston Marathon Race Director

I can think of no one better equipped than Hal Higdon to tell this story. It is a story of the special kinship of all of us who have run that final straightaway down Boylston Street toward the finish of the Boston Marathon. And it is the story of how those two explosions were instantly and instinctively felt-from whatever distance we experienced them-to be an attack on all of us. This is an amazing story, skillfully woven together by one of our sport's great chroniclers.

John Parker

Author of Once a Runner

Hal Higdon uses social media and personal correspondence to compile a powerful narrative for the tragic 2013 Boston Marathon. The collection of essays in 4:09:43 is a tribute to a marathon that Higdon knows deeply.

Roger Robinson

Author of Running in Literature

He's run Boston 18 times with a PR of 2:21 and best finish of fifth place. He wrote the definitive history about the race, Boston: A Century of Running, as well as countless articles. His training programs have helped thousands of runners qualify for Boston. Now Hal has called on that long lifetime of experience to help us understand the events of the day and the bombing's aftermath. For runners everywhere it is a must-read.

Roy Benson

Author of Heart Rate Training and Precision Running

Higdon has captured the local color of that fateful day - a day never to forget - in a book never to forget

The Florida Times-Union