Twenty-four Years to Boston by Jim Brennan (review)

Jim Brennan is an enthusiastic, passionate, beer-drinking, motorcycle-riding road runner, who found his way from blue-collar construction work at the Philadelphia Naval Yard to an executive position in the defense industry through the calming, introspective, goal-setting byproducts of his desire to run in the Boston Marathon.

Jim’s “healthy obsession” to running shaped his lifestyle and “pervaded every aspect of [his] being” (54). He found that distance running emitted endorphins that helped him think and improve relationships with family and friends (57), that “running is a solitary endeavor and inherently conducive to introspection.” It allowed him to solve the dilemmas he encountered with family, job, or life (82).

In terms of physical training, he writes that “the 25K taught me that [a] one-size training program doesn’t fit all” (82). It often leads to overtraining, rather than strengthening the body (85): “It also taught me there is more to life than running” (89). “I’d set out to find purpose in running … [and] realized I’d been looking in the wrong places.” Instead, “I was searching for that elusive meaning of life, and only needed to look within, find my voice and compose my message (96).”

Jim Brennan’s twenty-four-year journey to run in the Boston Marathon is an inspirational story with important messages for all those who run on local trails and streets and who strive to run a marathon.