Get 3 months for $0.99 a month

LIMITED TIME OFFER
The Longest Race cover art

The Longest Race

Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Amazon Prime member exclusive: get any 2 titles with your free trial. Terms apply.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Longest Race

Written by: Kara Goucher, Mary Pilon, Mary Pilon - introduction
Narrated by: Kara Goucher
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.99

Buy Now for $24.99

About this listen

 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In “one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation” (Kate Fagan, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.

Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.

Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach had done. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules and created what Kara experienced as a culture of abuse, the extent of which she reveals in her book for the first time. Meanwhile, Nike stood by Alberto for years and proved itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices.

The Longest Race is an unforgettable story that is “as interesting as it is important” (Molly Huddle, two-time Olympian) and also a crucial call to action. Kara became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level. The Longest Race will leave you “motivated, empowered, and ready to take on the world” (Allyson Felix, Olympic gold medalist) as it reveals how Kara broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running. Abuse Relationships Running & Jogging Sports

What the critics say

"At first, Goucher’s voice is joyful as recounts how she came to be a top runner and was chosen to participate in the Oregon Project. Then you hear her angst and frustration as it all goes wrong. Goucher audibly works through her horror as Salazar assaulted her on a plane and during a massage, her disbelief as she attempted to explain it all away, and, finally, her reckoning with the abuse she was experiencing. It’s a plainspoken, authentic performance of an important sports exposé."
All stars
Most Relevant
As a running enthusiast, I was a fan of you both (you and Adam) for years. As a woman, I applaud you. Mad respect.

Thank you Kara

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A brutally honest and painful memoir that taps into hope, dreams, loss, injury, shocking abuse, and the beauty of a run.
Kara had me in tears at a number of points.
It also lays bare a broken system and a wildly corrupt company, with a hope that things can change; my swooshes have been gone a long time, but a renewed call for a boycott is in order!

Heartbreaking, inspiring, redemptive, triumphant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I actually cried as Kara was wrapping up her story for this book. With honesty, humility and vulnerability she paid homage to the blessings in her life as she bravely exposed the ugly underbelly of elite sports. Bravely opening up, she dove into the big money, big company sponsorships' (in her case, Nike) power over athletes, mental & sexual abuse, doping (cheating), sexism, as well as the extreme highs and lows of competition. I had absolutely no idea. Wishing you the best, Kara: exposing the ugly truths and abuses has cost you dearly. May you and your family find peace in the clarity you have gifted to the world.

Heartbreakingly Honest

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you, thank you Kara for telling your story. I can’t even imagine the pain and heartache you had to go through to get to the point where you could bravely share your horrific experience with the N!ke Oregon Project. Sharing your story will hopefully give other athletes who have experienced similar abuses courage to come forward. I am just dumbfounded that after the USA gymnastics case and hearing your story that more isn’t done to protect vulnerable athletes from the power hungry, profit driven and success at all costs mentality. History seems to keep repeating itself and when will it stop. I was a young and impressionable track and field athlete in the mid to late 80’s and I remember training at York University in Toronto Ontario Canada where our t & f greats were training under the coach Charlie Francais! Ben Johnston the worlds fastest man at the time and Angela Bailey trained there and I would watch them in awe…. Even at the young age of 15-16 I watched promising young athletes transform before my eyes when they came to train with Charlie aka Chemical Charlie. Beautiful and feminine runner Francie Gareau went from being a fit looking but undoubtably feminine athlete to looking like masculine and like she was a body builder in less than a year. Even in all my naïveté I could tell than this was not clean sport. I was crushed when it was discovered that our Canadian golden boy Ben Johnston had tested positive for using banned substances.
It is inspiring to hear Kara’s story and know that there are many athletes who have integrity and want to compete cleanly and honestly. N!ke shoes have never really worked for me and I am glad. I was disgusted by the company before reading Kara’s book and the way they treated athletes but reading her story solidifies this. It has also amplified my love for the female run company @oiselle
More needs to be done to protect young, vulnerable and promising athletes from corporate greed and unethical coaches/doctors. Athletes should be provided with thorough safe sport training and be taught how to identify grooming behavior. Athletes under the age of 18 should have their parents take this training too. There needs to be a better system for athletes to report abuses in sport as well. Kara thank you for sharing, you are a brave, courageous and inspiring woman!!!!

Kara’s Brave, Vulnerable telling of her experience is a Gold Medal in my humble opinion!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story we all need to hear about how the system failed Kara, protected her attackers and did nothing to help her or any women in the Oregon project. Kara, thank you for your courage, and I’m sorry so many people failed you.

Kara Goucher book review

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews