Pete Pfitzinger was the top American finisher in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic marathons. With a personal best of 2:11:43, Pfitzinger is a two-time winner of the San Francisco Marathon and placed third in the 1987 New York City Marathon. He was ranked the top American marathoner in 1984 by Track & Field News, and he is a member of the Road Runners Club of America’s Hall of Fame. He was a senior writer for Running Times from 1997 to 2007, in which his popular column, “The Pfitzinger Lab Report,” appeared. Pfitzinger has over 30 years of experience coaching marathon runners to achieve their goals. He is also the coauthor of Faster Road Racing.

Scott Douglas is a is a contributing writer for Runner’s World and Outside. He is the author or coauthor of several well-known running books, including Personal Best Running, Running Is My Therapy, and the New York Times bestsellers Meb for Mortals and 26 Marathons. Scott has run more than 130,000 miles since starting as a teen. He lives in North Yarmouth, Maine.