It's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.

So if there is a purpose to the suffering that is cancer, I think it must be this: it's meant to improve us.

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell.

My mom was such a strong character. I don't want to say she was like a man, but she was tough.

Marathons are hard because of the physical pain, the pounding on the muscles, joints, tendons.

Two things scare me. The first is getting hurt. But that's not nearly as scary as the second, which is losing.

Evan Handler is a man who’s looked into the abyss and laughed. His book, It’s Only Temporary, made me laugh along with him. He covers love, lust, showbiz, triumph, and despair – and he manages to be both funny and inspiring about all of it. It’s an important book that I think can help to spread goodness around the world. Something we desperately need.