Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not.

Have you ever felt worse after a run?

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.

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

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.

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

The answer to the big questions in running is the same as the answer to the big questions in life: Do the best with what you've got.