I run each day to preserve the self I attained the day before and to secure the self yet to be.

The true runner is a very fortunate person. He has found something in him that is just perfect.

To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain - not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.

Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember.

No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences.

No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences. My times become slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged: each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others.

There are as many reasons for running as there are days in a year.... But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child.