Blood, Sweat & Spikes

Running the Wetmore Way

a memoir by Lyle Smith

Black and white photo of children running in a race, with a girl in the front and others behind her. Overlaid with yellow text reading "Blood, Sweat & Spikes: Running the Wetmore Way" and "a memoir by Lyle Smith."

About the book.

At the height of the first American Running Boom, on just about any weekend morning of the year in a town nearby, you could find a folding table and a ball-point pen where you could fill out an entry blank, get a number and a few safety pins, affix it to your shirt, toe the line and run a race. Hundreds and thousands of people took joy in running and an ancient sport gained new energy. A small town in New Jersey emerged as something of a magical place in the sport. Dozens of local, state, and national champions claimed their places in the pantheon of American distance running. A junior program fed a high school team of boys and girls that claimed legend status and a young coach connected with those athletes in a way that spawned a career unlike any other. One that would eventually take root in the thin air of the Colorado foothills. BLOOD, SWEAT & SPIKES is one story of one of those runners in that town and the people who made it unique in the history of the sport.

Available from Zolly House Press in Hardcover ($24.95) and Paperback ($18.95).

Read a short excerpt here >>>

Watch the Official Book Trailer here >>>

Email us questions or comments >>

ORDER YOUR AUTOGRAPHED COPY HERE:

Blood, Sweat & Spikes

from $18.95

Autographed?:

Format:

Or, order your copy from Amazon, B&N, or Audible:

For larger quantities and International shipping, please contact us for details.

A man walking outdoors on a cloudy day with a partly cloudy sky, wearing glasses on his head, a dark coat, and jeans, with a background of open land, distant mountains, and a few trees.

Brad Hudson, Elite Marathon Coach, Author of “Run Faster.”

“We chase happiness in grace, pleasure and more importantly, what the Greeks called “arete." Excellence. To get good at something molds us into better human beings not quite chasing windmills, but a pursuit to be better at distance running. But it really could be anything. Lyle Smith, with “Blood sweat and spikes,” has shown us a peek of a world once lived before the internet and social media. A time and place and story that should be told.”

A black and white photo of a young boy running on a track during a race, with a woman and children nearby at a sports event.

The Long Red Line

Looking back on the history and characters that made Bernardsville, NJ, a distance-running dynasty.

A male track athlete in a white and red uniform running on a track at a sports field, with people and tents in the background.

Yellow fabric with black text reading "Mine Mt. Road Dept." and a simple line drawing of two people working, indicating association with a road department.

Old worn blue book titled "Running the Llydiard Way" by Arthur Llydiard with Garth Gilmour, displaying six photographs of a man and a woman jogging outdoors on grass.

Three teenagers in athletic wear, two seated and one standing, on a bench outdoors in a park or sports field during daytime. One girl in a maroon tracksuit, another girl in a maroon and yellow jacket with matching pants, and a boy in a maroon jacket with white stripes on sleeves and pants.

Two men having a casual conversation near a chain-link fence at a sports track, one in a white suit with a hat, and the other in a gray shirt and dark pants.

A group of young students, dressed in red athletic uniforms with white stripes, is posing for a team photo outdoors next to a tree. Some of them are holding trophies, indicating they participated in a sports event or competition.

Two female athletes finish a race on a track, with one crossing the finish line ahead of the other.

Get the newsletter.

We send occasional information of interest to our readers. Don’t worry, we never sell our lists.