Too many people I meet believe that you can sit in a chair and be given motivation. With exercise and fitness, you get it by doing. The mental qualities you need are all linked like a chain. If you give exercise a try and see results, even if it's as simple as feeling good that you get out the door, you'll become motivated to repeat the exercise. Seeing results is inspiring.

You've got to look for tough competition. You've got to want to beat the best.

I'm never going to run this again.

There is something about the ritual of the race - putting on the number, lining up, being timed - that brings out the best in us.

What spurs a person to get more serious is highly individual, but I have found that no matter what a person's level of ability, motivation must come from within, or it will not last.

Every day I spend time on the treadmill. I am walking faster, stronger and harder than I was two months ago.

When I came to New York in 1978, I was a full-time school teacher and track runner, and determined to retire from competitive running. But winning the New York City Marathon kept me running for another decade.