When a good day comes along, when you feel full of vim and vigor, take advantage of it and run. Don't think twice. Don't look for cosmic explanations. When extra energy surges through you like an electrical current, just go with it. Take advantage of it, and run. And after you run, you'll find you have even more.

You woke up this morning with a plan of how your day would go, and that plan included running. But everything that has happened since has conspired to knock you out of your plan and stop you from running. Stick to the plan, and run. True, it may be a fight. True, you will have to hustle. But make no mistake: today you're making a stand; you're fighting like hell. You're not giving in; you're not caving. The plan includes running, and you're sticking with it.

Many people think that you must always be at the beginning in order to begin. That's not true at all. You can make a fresh start even if you're almost at the end. Today may seem the most ordinary of days. But it really isn't. Today is when you make a new beginning in running, whether you're the rankest beginner, the oldest and craggiest veteran in the business, or somewhere in between. It's always possible to start afresh.

You can learn from everything you do, including and especially running. If others make jokes about your running, let them. There's nothing you can do about that. You can, however, control your own self-criticism, or at least be aware of it. Running is a way to help yourself and to achieve the things you want. That's hardly trivial. Running clears the mind the way a summer storm blows the smog and haze from the sky. And with a clear mind and strong heart, what isn't possible in this life?

Nobody can tell you how to set a personal best. But here's how NOT to: run with the idea of setting one. You cannot order up a personal best as if it were a turkey on rye. It's not a conscious act. A personal best is a kind of gift bestowed upon you. You're not sure where it came from or how. It's very hard to achieve a personal best after you've run for a while and brought your times down. It takes training and hard work. But remarkably, those who achieve personal bests all say the same thing: how easy it felt. They weren't straining, they weren't pushing; it just seemed to come to them. If you run with the idea that you're just going to enjoy yourself, that you're going to relax and have a good time, that whatever happens, happens - well, those are the days when personal bests occur.

Running is a 'no B.S.' sport. You earn the success you achieve. There's no way to fake it. You must do the work, put in the time. There is no other way.

Running is a thing worth doing not because of the future rewards it bestows, but because of how it feeds our bodies and minds and souls in the present.

Runners are not elitists in general. They welcome all manner of persons to their sport. But they are elitist in this respect: they see only one way to run, and that is the long way. The long way means putting in the time. It means spending an inordinate amount of your waking hours alone or with other similarly afflicted souls, pounding the pavement. It means coping with a variety of aches and pains and small physical indignities to achieve a greater sense of health and well-being. There is only one way to happiness in running, and that is the long way. There are no shortcuts. Take the long way to happiness in running, and you'll be sure to find it.

Runners are not elitists in general. They welcome all manner of persons to their sport. But they are elitist in this respect: they see only one way to run, and that is the long way. The long way means putting in the time. It means spending an inordinate amount of your waking hours alone or with other similarly afflicted souls, pounding the pavement. It means coping with a variety of aches and pains and small physical indignities to achieve a greater sense of health and well-being. There is only one way to happiness in running, and that is the long way. There are no shortcuts. Take the long way to happiness in running, and you'll be sure to find it.

Runners are like any other dream seekers. They have their sights set on a high and lofty goal, and they want to achieve it. Sometimes you get discouraged, though, because the dream seems so far away and so impossibly hard to achieve... But if you're discouraged, it may be because you're looking too far ahead. You need to quit judging yourself by where you're going and the fact that you haven't yet achieved it. Instead, look at how far you've come and appreciate what it's taken to get there. Progress is being made. It may seem slow and incremental at times, but you are gaining ground. Refuse to be discouraged by your seeming lack of progress. That's only your perception in the moment; that's not necessarily the reality. You can get better. You will get better. You are getting better. And you will get to the top of that mountain.

You may start the day feeling rotten. But that doesn't mean you have to end the day that way. You can put out the effort and feel better because of it. Forget inspiration. All you need is effort. Your effort will create good works. Your good works will make you feel better. Feeling better will help you create more good works, and so it goes.

Feelings change. Meanwhile, let your effort be constant and unflagging. It's impossible to summon up inspiration every day. But you can almost always summon up the effort, and the effort will in itself motivate you. Effort is a product of will. Some days you are just going to have to slog away. If you make the effort, inspiration will follow, and if it doesn't, well, at least you will have done the work, made the effort - and you can be proud of that.

Work breeds inspiration. The more you work, the more effort you put forth, the more inspired you will be.