It is curious how inseparable eating and kindness are with some people.
There is something about the ritual of the race - putting on the number, lining up, being timed - that brings out the best in us.
Another inspiration that has helped me get through has been Lance Armstrong's story. My cancer is not nearly as bad as his, but I believe in staying motivated and keeping as fit as you can.
When I came to New York in 1978, I was a full-time school teacher and track runner, and determined to retire from competitive running. But winning the New York City Marathon kept me running for another decade.
What Fred Lebow went through was an inspiration for me. You have to set goals for yourself.
One day you are happy and laughing and the next you are crying.
I am a private person and that has always been my personality.
You don't get any mixtapes, you know, 'cause I don't like my voice in there. I want to be that, but that's just not me, you know. And I'm very impatient; if I don't do it right, I'll be like, well, 'Ok that's the best I'm gonna do it. ' Because I feel like if you take too much time on something, you lose the motivation for it.
In any case, open-seat presidential elections like 2008 just are different in character from incumbent reelects, and I think that's the most important thing about this election - is that once there's an incumbent running for reelection, most of the debate is about, "Has he [Barack Obama] done a good job?" Most of the judgment is, "Do you want to keep him or do you want to replace him?" Now, the opponent has to also be acceptable and has to make his own case.
As a former Catholic, and as someone who even today is not opposed to being called a Christian, I felt I had every right to use the symbols of the Church and resented being told not to.
I was a good pupil at primary school: in the second class I was writing with no spelling mistakes, and the third and fourth classes were done in a single year.