The Blue Ridge Marathon guest-of-honor this year is Dick Beardsley – who has the third fastest time ever for an American born marathoner … he ran a 3 mile “shakeout” this morning with local runners who will take part in the Blue Ridge full or half marathon (or the Star 10K) tomorrow … Beardsley is a former Olympian best known for his epic battle with Alberto Salazar at the 1982 Boston Marathon … memorialized in the book, “A Duel in the Sun.” He talks about those infamous hills in the Roanoke race and about motivation with WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
