I would still recommend the book in spite of the draggy parts. Where I got impatient with the detail, someone else might be fascinated. My impression was that the author did a tremendous amount of research and just included everything she found. Personally, I don't care about his method for training for the Olympics, or who got drunk on what kind of alcohol during a train ride. But YMMV.

I saw the movie, but haven't read the book. This one was interesting enough that I'd be willing to read Seabiscuit, too.