Great read on the beach while in Ixtapa... Many gems in this book. Excellent book to develop your mental edge. Here are a few:


“There was something strangely appealing about this balls-to-the wall training technique, and I came to respect, enven enjoy, the practice of pushing my body to the brink of collapse. The theory was simple: Whoever was willing to run the hardest, train the longest, and suffer the most would earn the spoils of victory.”


“Coach kicked some dirt around with his foot and said: ‘If it felt good, you didn’t push hard enough. It’s supposed to hurt like hell.’ (…) If it comes easy, if it doesn’t require extraordinary effort, you’re not pushing hard enough.”


“Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.”


“Every runner has an awakening. We know the place, the time, and the reason we accepted running into our life. After half a lifetime, I’ve been reborn. Most runners are ble to keep a rational perspective on the devotion, and practice responsibility. I couldn’t, and I became a fanatic.”


“Outside magazine once called the Western States the ‘toughest endurance event in the world.’ To compete it, your mental resolve must be indomitable. You’ve got to bundle up self-doubt abd fear and stuff them in your shoe, cutting loose your rational mind as your body is pushed to inconceivable levels of endurance. To complete the Western States, you must transform yourself in a human machine.”


“(…) It became clear to me that the Wester States Endurance Run would be primarily about one thing: not giving up. It really didn’t matter how long it took to get the job done; what mattered was getting it done. This was an exploration into the possibilities of self. Being a champion meant not quitting, no matter how tough the situation became, and no matter how badly the odds seemed stacked against you.”


“Covering the last bit of distance into Foresthill, I found myself in a defensive, survival-like mode, stressing about my cramping thighs and dehydration, worrying about what the trail might throw at me next. The elements were beating me into submission. How was I possibly going to hold it together for the last 38 miles?


Fear, I thought to myself, just another four-letter word; but now as great as an adversary as aby mountain left before me. From here on in, the battle with be within.”


“Pain is the body’s way of ridding itself of weakness.”


“Son,” he said resolutely, “if you can’t run, then walk. And if you can’t walk, then crawl. Do what you have to do. Just keep moving forward and never, ever give up.”


“Running is a solo sport, but it was no longer about me anymore; I became irrelevant. My struggles were not about a single runner trying to finish this unfathomable challenge, but about the greater ability of human being to persevere against insurmountable odds.”


“Running has taught me that the pursuit of a passion matters more than the passion itself. Immerse yourself in something deeply and with heartfelt intensity – continually improve, never give up – this is fulfillment, this is success.”


If anyone would like to read this book, my copy is looking for a new home... :-)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lucie Piché-Cantin,

My brother gave me back the copy I loaned him the other night. I had a few sections tabbed:

"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. Dostoyevsky had it right: 'suffering is the sole origin of concsiousness.' Never are my senses more engauged then when the pain sets in. There is magic in the misery. Just ask any runner."

"...This 199-mile run was the ultimate test. The proving field.
Or was it the killing field? 'The natural situation for man may well be at war,' Emerson wrote. Did I run because I needed to be at war with something? Or with myself? The highest form of competition is self-competition, and I was proving to be the cruelest of opponents, ruthlessly demanding more of myself, relentlessly doing battle with the road, with my own body, with my mind."

"Running has taught me that the persuit of a passion matters more than the passion itself. Immerse yourself in something deeply and with heartfelt intensity--continiually improve, never give up--this is fulfillment, this is success."

Is definately an amazing book. It really does make you want to just get up and go for a long run out into the night. I felt so energized after every chapter.