When there's somebody racing side-by-side, when somebody's right next to me and they're pushing and we're both tired, we're both fatigued, I want to be able to beat them mentally.

I love to work out and really enjoy the outdoors. I like to immerse myself with sport-related activities and spending quality time with people. I find people to be very inspiring, and I get a lot of motivation from listening and interacting with them, sharing stories and similarities - and differences - in our lives, and learning from each other.

If I have given my all and still do not win, I haven't lost. Others might remember winning or losing; I remember the journey.

We all naturally want to become successful... we also want to take shortcuts. And it's easy to do so, but you can never take away the effort of hard work and discipline and sacrifice.

If it wasn't for my sport and my father, I'd probably be a fallen statistic. I'd be dead; I'd be in jail. Luckily, I had a great dad in my life.

U.S. Speedskating has been riddled with problems since when I started my career, and we were always able to look past that. When it came down to performing on the ice, regardless of funding issues, we were always able to make it happen. And that's what it's all about.

My dad always used to tell me that sometimes you have to have a massive storm in order to clear the sky.