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.

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.

I will not last forever. But I am damn well going to know I have been here.

Running makes you an athlete in all areas of life...trained in the basics, prepared for whatever comes, ready to fill each hour and deal with the decisive moment.

On the roads, I can see truth revealed whole without thought or reason. There I experience the sudden understanding that comes unasked, unbidden. I simply rest, rest within myself, rest within the pure rhythm of my running. And I wait.

To know you are one with what you are doing, to know that you are a complete athlete, begins with believing you are a runner.

Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from places a shower will never reach.