The distance runner is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in his divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace unique; the everyday eternal.

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.

There are those of us who are always about to live. We are waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down / until, until, until. It always seems as if there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living.

People begin running for any number of motives, but we stick to it for one basic reason-to find out who we really are.

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.

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.

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