Excerpts from Timothy Noakes' "Lore of Running" Introduction (arguably the best runner's resource)

Writing about how rowing led him to running:

"Rowing first introduced me to my need for self-inflicted pain--the special nauseating deep-seated pain that accompanies repetitive interval training and racing. At first, I merely followed this need intuitively. Only later would I begin to suspect that it is the continual exposure to, and mastery of, that discomfort that is an essential ingredient to personal growth."

"I have come to accept that, in common with a good number of other runners, I share the emotional and personality traits that William Sheldon (1945) ascribed to those whom he called ectomorphs and whose body builds resemble those of champion distance runners. Do not for a moment, think that I am suggesting that you might mistake my generously endowed frame for that of a champion runner. Not so! Rather, I share some of the personality characteristics that Sheldon attributed to that physical group: a love of privacy, an overwhelming desire for solitude, and an inability to relax or talk in company; an overconcern with physical health; typical patterns of mental behavior that include daydreaming, absentmindedness, procrastination, and an inability to make decisions. According to Sheldon, the ectomorph's eternal quest is to understand the riddles of life."

"'Even if the day ever dawns in which it will not be needed for fighting the old heavy battles against nature, muscular vigor will still always be needed to furnish the background of sanity, serenity, and cheerfulness to life, to give moral elasticity to our disposition, to round off the wiry edge of our fretfulness and make us good humored and easy of approach. William James (1892)'"

"I suggest that to achieve real success in running, as in any worthwhile activity, there must always be the fear of failure: a very real fear that the day will come when we will fail, regardless of how hard we have prepared. It is that very insecurity that keeps our carefully nurtured self-confidence from becoming arrogance. And it is also in our inevitable failures that the seeds of real personal growth are sown and eventually blossom."

"The real competitions are those in which we test ourselves in company with others. Peter Pollock, who achieved immortality in cricket, had to run the Comrades Marathon before he could write: "You have not lived in the world of competitive sport until you have fought a battle that is not against an opponent, but against yourself."

1. Running can teach you who you are and, equally important, who you are not

2. Running can make you newly aware of your body and of your responsibility to look after it

3. Running can give you the confidence to achieve physical and academic targets, yet it can teach you a heightened degree of self-criticism and self-expectation

4. Running can teach you the humility to realize your limitations and to accept them with pride, without envy of those who might have physical or intellectual gifts that you lack

5. Running can teach you about honesty

6. Running can be used for relaxation and creativity

7. Running can teach us about our spiritual component--the need to keep moving forward