Suffering is an extraordinary teacher.

But it is nice to know that you have other races lined up, because sometimes you can get so focused on your next marathon that it can become kind of unhealthy in some ways. So it's nice to have something else to slap you in the face and say, all right, there is life after the Olympics.

I couldn't be more excited to return to the ING New York City Marathon.

I don't really study the guys that I'm racing against.

I am thankful that there are different seasons in life and training. I have learned to embrace each season realizing how important it is to allow the body, mind and spirit to fully cycle through each. My current season of marathon training is my favorite. I love the simple life of training and going after a goal with everything I have.

It's kind of nice in some ways having an Olympic Trials where I finished second. You can kind of go in more under the radar facing a 2:03 guy and facing a lot of dudes who are faster than I am, whereas, before Beijing, I had one of the top 10 times in the field, or something like that.

I may not drink an electrolyte beverage during the race. If I am running in an hour, I won't need one. But if you're running an hour-and-a-half to two hours or more, maybe you need a little bit of the electrolytes.