The more I run, the more I want to run, and the more I live a life conditioned and influenced and fashioned by my running. And the more I run, the more certain I am that I am heading for my real goal: to become the person I am.

I have found my hero and he is me.

The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely.

To make your life a work of art, you must have the material to work with. The race, any race, is just such an experience.

Because until we write it down, we don't know what is actually at the root of our lives.

If you want to find the answers to the Big Questions about your soul, you'd best begin with the Little Answers about your body.

The desire to run comes from deep within us — from the unconscious, the intuitive, the instinctive. And that desire becomes a passion when the runner learns to race. Then, the race becomes all — the lovemaking of the runner.