It’s2008. Jim Axel­rod — once among the most watched cor­re­spon­dents on net­worknews — is cov­er­ing the race for the Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial nomination.He’s forty-five years old and thir­ty pounds over­weight. He’s drink­ing­too much, sleep­ing too lit­tle, and scarce­ly see­ing his fam­i­ly. He’s just­fig­ured out that the indus­try that pulled him up the cor­po­rate lad­deris implod­ing as he’s reach­ing for its final rungs. Then, out of the­blue, Jim dis­cov­ers his late father’s decades-old New York Marathon­fin­ish times. At forty-six, Bob Axel­rod ran a 3:29:58. With every­thin­gelse going on in his life, Jim sets a defin­ing chal­lenge: ​“Can I beat­h­im?”

Sobe­gins a deeply felt, often hilar­i­ous, quixot­ic effort to run the 2009New York Marathon. Along the way, Jim con­fronts his list­ing mar­riage, aca­reer upset by the tele­vi­sion news indus­try’s seis­mic changes,excruciatingly painful shin splints, and the worst-timed kid­ney stonepos­si­ble. Loom­ing over it all is the shad­ow of a lov­ing father, whore­peat­ed­ly lost his way in life but still has a les­son to impart.