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Dick Beardsley is referred to as a "running legend" in the U.S. But perhaps the most amazing thing about him is his climb back to health after becoming addicted to pain medication for more than four years.

Dick is best known for his incredible race in the 1982 Boston Marathon. That race, on a very hot day, was dubbed the "Duel in the Sun" as he battled world record holder Alberto Salazar down to the finish line. Both broke the American record: Salazar won in a record time of 2:08:51, Beardsley's time was 2:08:53! He was at the height of his professional running career.

Then tragedy struck in November 1989. While using an auger to lift corn into a bin on his Minnesota farm, Dick became entangled in the machine; it began to literally tear him apart. Not expected to live or walk-much less ever run again-he managed to survive.

But that was just the first of a series of events that would forever change his life. During the next few years, Dick was involved in a severe car accident, later he was hit by a truck while running, later still, he rolled his vehicle in a snowstorm, and finally while hiking one day, the ground gave out and he fell off a cliff! Each time he ended up in the hospital and had multiple surgeries to try and put him back together.

Due to all the large amount of pain medication he was taking, he became addicted-and that's when his life really started to spiral out of control. It has been a long road back, but today Dick has 11 years of sobriety and has completely turned his life around.

He loves running now more than ever. He is a competitive Masters runner, who completes marathons across the U.S. in less than three hours!

In 2002, he authored a book called "Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race."

Dick is a captivating motivational and inspirational speaker who visits schools, corporations, and races in cities around the world.

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Stacey brings over 15 years of event planning, sports marketing and race management experience to her role as President of Conley Sports, Inc. Stacey has worked as the Associate Race Director of the AT&T Austin Marathon and the Austin Marathon Foundation since 2002. Previously she worked as an event planner for Motorola, Inc. and as a personal concierge. She is the founder and executive director of the Marathons of Texas, Inc. a cooperative marketing company linking the AT&T Austin Marathon with the Dallas White Rock Marathon and the Chevron Houston Marathon to promote Texas as a destination for runners throughout the United States. She serves on the board of the Central Texas Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Stacey earned a bachelors degree from the Florida State University.

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I was born in Valentine, Nebraska and raised on a farm in south central South Dakota. After attending Todd County High I graduated from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife & Fisheries Biology. While in my mid-twenties I moved to Connecticut as a Regional Sales Manager for The Coleman Company and with this job was able to travel throughout New England. On my first visit I fell in love with Boston and decided that it was where I wanted to live.

Two years later I accepted a job as the National Sales Manager for a small company in a Boston suburb. In 1985 I joined New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc., based in Boston, as the Eastern Regional Sales Manager. Four years later I was promoted to General Manager of New Balance Canada and my wife and I were transferred to Ontario on my 3-year work permit. I took on the then daunting task of resurrecting our dormant brand within the Canadian marketplace. We returned to Boston in 1992 and over the next 12 years I had the privilege of leading our brand's reemergence within Canada. Our original beleaguered staff of 15 people evolved into a cohesive 70-member team and we increased our revenue 15 fold, going from .0 Million to .0 Million in annual net sales. It was the "collective ride of our professional lives", as New Balance grew from the 13th largest athletic footwear company in Canada to the strong #2 brand it is today.

In 2003, Jim Davis, CEO of New Balance, asked me to lead the newly created NBx Task Force. In this role I chaired regular meetings with Jim and a small group of Sr. Executives to review all aspects of our running specialty business. I was promoted to the position of Elite Business Manager and continue to champion our brand's success within this strategically important class of trade.

Now married for 20 years, my wife Ivette and I are the proud parents of two children; our son is a high school sophomore and our daughter is in 3rd grade. We enjoy nurturing our children into community citizenship and savor watching them play basketball, baseball and soccer. We live in a rural community on the Northshore of Boston and over the years have been involved in our schools, church and various community activities. I have actively run and biked (road) since the mid-1970's and when time allows enjoy kayaking, boogie-boarding in the ocean surf, hiking and vacationing with my family.

It is interesting how Dick's and my paths have crossed. We are both from the northern plains, we both attended SDSU, we have a long association with New Balance and Boston holds a special place in both of our hearts. I am humbled to now be associated with Dick and honored to serve as a director of his inspirational foundation.

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Greg is a resident of Fargo, North Dakota where he serves as Corporate Legal Council for State Bank & Trust. He is a licensed attorney and a certified public accountant.

Greg has run 24 marathons and is a partner with Dick in the Dick Beardsley Running Company in Fargo, ND, a store which focuses on runners and walkers of all abilities. Greg met Dick while attending the Dick Beardsley Marathon Training Camp in Waubun, MN, which he has attended 5 times.

Greg is married to Stephanie and they have 3 girls, Ellie, Addison and Olivia. In his spare time, Greg likes to run and hang out with his 4 girls.

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William is an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology. He is responsible for the operations of the NASA Herschel Science Center in support of the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope. Herschel is very large telescope in space beyond the orbit of the Earth’s moon. It is optimized to detect infrared radiation from newborn starts and galaxies. Bill also regularly runs and races long distances, having done numerous marathons and ultra distance runs. The numbers on a clock do not drive him; for Bill running is a metaphor of life – one he wishes to experience to the fullest. In spite of a badly herniated lumbar disk, Bill completed the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon course in August 2010. In 2011, he will be doing it again, this time in support of The Dick Beardsley Foundation.

Bill is married to Deborah Levine, also an astrophysicist. They share their lives in Tujunga, California with three cats, two birds, and a horse. When Bill is not supporting the study of the cosmos and running, he likes to work on his hot rod Mustang.

Janet Cain, Ph.D., has been a clinical psychologist since 1980.  She is in private practice with Dr. Corby Kessler, a chronic pain specialist.  Janet graduated Phi Beta Kappa Magna Cum Laude from Drew University in 1973.  She obtained her M.A. in Psychology from Montclair State University and her Ph.D.,  from Case Western Reserve in 1977.  Janet did extensive research/testing for 8 years as a part of a neonatal follow up program affiliated with University Hospitals Cleveland.  She was named New Cleveland Woman of the Year in 1985.

In 1985 Janet won the Rome Marathon. She started running in 1975 as a stress reliever during her Ph.D. program and continued as a part of the Avon marathon series.  Janet recently completed her 14th Boston Marathon and 55th marathon, placing 10th in her age division, (60-64). Other running highlights include USATF Marathon Champion in 2009, and numerous overall and age group championships. She is the past secretary/treasurer of the running psychologists, a division of the American Psychological Society.  She runs for the Impala’s, an elite women's running team in San Francisco.  Dr Cain had a serious injury in 1987 which required 13 surgeries to repair and required a 6 year break from running.

She has been married for 17 years to Dr. David Cain. They live in Sonoma, CA with their 4 rescue cats.