Running is real and relatively simple — but it ain't easy. It's a challenge. It takes work. It takes commitment. You have to get out of bed, get out the door, down the street. You have to risk getting cold, wet, or too hot. Maybe whack some over-zealous hound on the snout — or 'Hot Rod Harry' on the hood — every now and again. And, of course, you have to take your very first run.

No matter how hard it was, or how much I didn't want to run that day, I always felt better afterward. Some days, that's all that got me out the door. The best part was at the end of every day, when I had a sharp sense of having accomplished something measurable and definable. I won a little victory every day that nobody could take away from me. I don't have that sense when I don't run.

When you're hurting in the middle of a workout or race, it's easy to hold back or let yourself off the hook from running faster. But regret is the worst feeling to me. You want to challenge yourself. The more you get out of yourself, you start wondering, Maybe I could get even more. It's fun to see what you can get your body to do.

Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running.

To me, the real test of one's character isn't defined by completing the marathon on race day, but rather by having the self-discipline and dedication to commit, sacrifice, and endure the months of training required to complete such an event.

This is where I feel sports supersede all other ventures and why I feel sports are something special. You may spend thirty years trying to prove you're the best writer in the business and you may gain that recognition only after a long and unfair struggle, or you may never gain that recognition since you are quiet and do not publicize yourself. But in running no one can deny you; you train, you receive your opportunity, you achieve and you are immediately granted your reward.

It takes patience to become the best runner you can be. Top athletes realize that running is a long-term sport. It is set up for people who value delayed gratification and who like hard-earned success.

When you are a trail runner, nowhere is your somewhere.

When I'm out on a long run, the only thing that matters is finishing the run. For once, my brain isn't going bleh-bleh-bleh all the time. Everything quiets down, and the only thing going on is pure flow. It's just me and the movement and the motion. That's what I love—just being a barbarian, running through woods.

Running to him was real; the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as a diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free.

It's helpful to remember that good runners are made, not born. After all, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. If you want to become a better runner, the opportunity is there if you take the right steps.