True toughness comes from overcoming personal limits. It's fighting against the internal dialogue in your head that stems from your body wanting to slow you down. It's overcoming the feedback signals from your muscles that say they're flooding with acid, or that your fuel stores are running dangerously low. How each runner experiences these sensations of fatigue is completely individual. No one else knows exactly what you're feeling and at what point you might give in to the pain. Toughness is knowing when you've gone past previous barriers and tangled just an instant longer with your brain as it tries to shut you down.

Somewhere along the line we seem to have confused comfort with happiness. I've now come to believe that quite the opposite is the case.

Running has taught me that adversity is better faced head-on than avoided. The hill in front of you won't go away, but it's easy enough to put it behind you if just press harder for a while. Call it discipline, or call it determination; without it you won't get very far. That lesson isn't taught enough, and too many people never realize that sacrifice is a requirement of life. You either sacrifice today to reach tomorrow's goals, or you give up your dreams in favor of the fleeting comfort that's distracting you.

A marathoner is a marathoner regardless of time. Virtually everyone who tries the marathon has put in training over months, and it is that exercise and that commitment, physical and mental, that gives meaning to the medal, not just the day's effort, be it fast or slow. It's all in conquering the challenge.

The one-percent theory is difficult to prove (and, therefore, not called the one-percent rule), but anecdotal information shows that the theory does seem to hold true. For every element you add to OR improve on in your training, you will improve your race time by 1 percent: Stretching, Allowing Recovery Days, Doing Circuits, Doing Workouts, Using Great Running Technique, Does Strides & Drills, Hydrating Well, Eating the Best Possible Foods, Using Energy Gels, and Getting Enough Sleep. Doing some of these can improve your time by far more than 1 percent, but the idea is that they all add up.

The focused, calm, and vital feeling that occurs with my daily runs is more a constant companion than the intermittent guest of the runner's high. My daily run has been one of my closest friends for over 40 years. It's helped me solve problems, guided me to some great ideas (as well as some ridiculous ones), accompanied me to the heights of ecstasy, and has humbled me on many occasions. It's been there after births and after deaths, after joy and after sorrow. But over my long running career, I can recall only a handful of times that I've gone beyond the more standard 'in the zone' type of feeling and experienced a true runner's high. Those few occasions have left me with blissful elation, experiencing a running rhapsody as though gliding on air with a flowing, effortless, and exultant feeling.

Here's what I know about runners. There is an unspoken but deeply felt bond that connects us to one another. We can go from stranger to trusted confidant in the space of a run or an hour gathered in a crowded auditorium. We can share our most intimate thoughts and know that they are protected by the unspoken code of the road. I know that running not only strengthens our bodies, it often fortifies our hearts and minds, conferring an inner resilience that mirrors our physical capabilities. And I have discovered that very often, courage, empathy, and character can be natural by-products of a running life.

We live in an 'instant' society, with instant fast food, instant diets (to lose the weight gained from the instant food), instant Internet, instant cell phones, pagers, email, and 24-hour news. That outlook sometimes filters down to running. There are, however, no instant results in running. Seeking instant success typically leads to disaster. Better to steadily put in your long runs and look for far-off improvement. In fact, if you did nothing but long runs you would improve and be more likely to stay injury free. Our sport is a patient, long, and drawn-out affair that requires, above all – more than talent, altitude, or a new pair of shoes – determination, dedication, and discipline.

Running is not, as it so often seems, only about what you did in your last race or about how many miles you ran last week. It is, in a much more important way, about community, about appreciating all the miles run by other runners, too.

Every mile I run is my first. Every hour on the roads a new beginning. Every day I put on my running clothes, I am born again. Seeing things as if for the first time, seeing the familiar as unfamiliar, the common as uncommon... There is no other way to run, no other way to live.

Call it discipline, determination or whatever you want… the means to long-term goals is one of running's great life lessons. Running has taught me that adversity is better faced head-on than avoided. The hill in front of you won't go away, but it's easy enough to put it behind you if just press harder for a while. That lesson isn't taught enough, and too many people never realize that sacrifice is a requirement of life. You either sacrifice today to reach tomorrow's goals, or you give up your dreams in favor of the fleeting comfort that's distracting you. Call it discipline, or call it determination; without it you won't get very far.

Winning is not about headlines and hardware. It's only about attitude. A winner is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best runner and best person he can be. Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

Wining isn't about today, it's about tomorrow. A winner never rests on his laurels. It's not good enough to win one race or have one good season. The winner is the person who gets up tomorrow morning & starts all over again, concentrating again on doing his best, whatever that might be.

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.

Runners tend to be dissatisfied - with how fast they are, with how far they are able to go. While it's good to want to improve, you also need to value the runner you are today. While running, think about all the good you are doing in that moment - strengthening muscles, producing endorphins, taking time for yourself. Appreciation for running creates a healthy self-identity, no matter what chaos is in your life.

Running is not just about fitness and competition; it's about changing our lives. Most of us run because it makes us feel significant, powerful, and in control, not just because we want to compete. When people who have never had a sense of accomplishment before suddenly gain it, it transforms every aspect of their lives. They become increasingly fearless. People always realize they can do more when they first do something at all. Confidence grows, and with it, so does vision.

Marathon running is a sport of goodwill. It's the only sport in the world where if a competitor falls, the others around will pick him or her up. It's the only sport in the world open to absolutely everyone, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or any other division you can think of. It's the only occasion when thousands of people assemble, often in a major city like New York or London, for a reason that is totally peaceful, healthy and well-meaning. It's the only sport in the world where no one ever boos anybody.

Set your bar as a hurdle not a ceiling.

If you're having trouble staying motivated, seek an attitude adjustment. Stop thinking of exercise as more of that self-improvement stuff and start thinking of it as rescue: private time, a tranquilizer (and energizer), an antidote for the poisons of modern life. Use exercise that way and you don't have to make yourself do it, you have to ration the dosage.

It's an old cliché, but the secret is 'there is no secret.' It's easy to package articles and say, 'The 8 Best Ways to Your Best 10k,' or 'The 10 Secrets to the Marathon.' But really there's no 8 or 10, it's really hundreds. It's consistency, not just day-in, day-out, but week, month and year-in, year-out consistency and planned rest. That is ultimately the 'secret.'

I just wanted to work hard and make them tired until they didn't have anything for the last mile.