by Lyle Smith (Author)
At the height of the first American Running Boom, on just about any weekend morning of the year in a town nearby, you could find a folding table and a ball-point pen where you could fill out an entry blank, get a number and a few safety pins, affix it to your shirt, toe the line and run a race. Hundreds and thousands of people took joy in running and an ancient sport gained new energy. A small town in New Jersey emerged as something of a magical place in the sport. Dozens of local, state, and national champions claimed their places in the pantheon of American distance running. A junior program fed a high school team of boys and girls that claimed legend status and a young coach connected with those athletes in a way that spawned a career unlike any other. One that would eventually take root in the thin air of the Colorado foothills. BLOOD, SWEAT & SPIKES is one story of one of those runners in that town and the people who made it unique in the history of the sport.