Beyond Running: The Road as Mentor by Peter Whitis

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The road is a good teacher. Like a zen master or psychoanalyst, it teaches you to become your own teacher. The road is long, it goes everywhere; it will teach you many things if you are patient and willing to learn.

Whitis, a retired physician, was one of the early long distance runners - long before running shoes and Gatorade.  In fact, he did his first Boston Marathon wearing a pair of Keds.  He was a charter member of the American Medical Joggers Association, wrote several medical articles and for years wrote a popular weekly newspaper column on the heath and spiritual benefits of running.  He has run multiple marathons, including Boston twice and the original Marathon, Greece.  In 1985, he was honored by Phyicians for Social Responsibilities with their Midwest Award; the same year they received the Nobel Peace Prizee.  In 1988, he was one of thirty American peace activists chosen to visit the Soviet Union and meet Secretary-General Gorbachev.  He and his with Marty have four sons, one of whom is an Ironman competitor.  In 2007, Whitis places first in his age group in Galena, Illinois duathalon.  His book Beyond Running: The Road As Mentor describes the odyssey of his life as a running, gaining the prize of self-knowledge and evolving as a social activist.