Author Archive
The best sportswear companies are always hiring thoughtful types, someone once said. Nike wanted my magazine, not me. All other shoe companies lost my number, except Brooks. Brooks had just hired the first woman CEO in running shoe company history. So, already thinking outside the box. With the forthcoming 1996 Olympic Games on American soil,…
I wanted to be a distance god. There. I said it. I would’ve broken out of the lead pack and surged away, thrown down some impossible splits, devastated the elites as I stretched my lead, merciless, alone…almost floating. The field would’ve strung out and withered behind me as I burned and buried the best runners…
I don’t think you can become an outstanding runner unless you get a certain amount of enjoyment out of the suffering. You have to enjoy absorbing it, controlling it, and – ultimately – overcoming it. – Derek Clayton The Honolulu Marathon is like a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. You always know what you are…
Psychologically speaking, what is true requires no protection, and never becomes negative when challenged. On the other hand, what is false almost never stops trying to protect itself, which it does by finding fault with whatever or whoever challenges the false image behind which it always hides. – Guy Finley Don’t know if my vote got…
This book is dedicated to people with disabilities, especially those who deal with chronic pain. And to those who love and care for them. Losing the best thing a lifetime of running had brought and searching the entire county to find it. [An excerpt from a runner’s forthcoming memoir of redline pain, recovery, renewal and…
Behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force is my religion. To that extent, I am in point of fact, religious. – Einstein I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the…
Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires you. – Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls Admittedly, he’d had too much to drink the night before. She was brown and…
Marathon running [in Japan] was seen as a worthy and admirable pursuit, embodying the discipline, effort and commitment the country valued and needed to get back on its feet after the devastation of the war. – Adharanand Finn By Benji Durden The trip to Japan is a marathon event itself. From the west coast it…
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. ― Epicurus Have a question I like to ask. Never stay around for the answer. Don’t give a shit really. The answer is yours. Somebody asked you when you…
You told me once you believed in God. The old man waved his hand. Maybe, he said. I got no reason to think he believes in me. Oh I’d like to see him for a minute if I could. What would you say to him? Well, I think I’d just tell him. I’d say: Wait…