Why race? The need to be tested, perhaps; the need to take risks; and the chance to be number one.

We who run...are different from those who merely study us. We are out there experiencing what they are trying to put into words.

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

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.

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.

Fitness is just a stage you pass through on the way to becoming a racer.

We may think there is willpower involved, but more likely... change is due to want power. Wanting the new addiction more than the old one. Wanting the new me in preference to the person I am now.