Overcoming the difficulties of an ultramarathon reminds me that I can overcome the difficulties of life

For me, it's about optimizing health. It's about lifestyle and longevity. Then you think about what vegetarian diets can do for the mass population, in terms of lower consumption of resources. When you look at the numbers, it's pretty staggering.

We can live as we were meant to live - simply, joyously, of and on the earth. We can live with all our effort and with pure happiness.

Nature's arena has a way of humbling and energizing us.

You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn't that big a deal.

As powerful as our legs are, as magnificent as our lungs and arms and muscles are, nothing matters more than the mind.

But the longer and further I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind- a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.