Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead. |
I don't attach the importance to it as a lot of other people do, |
I leapt at the tape like a man taking his last spring to save himself from the chasm that threatens to engulf him. |
If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten. |
It has been a life-long pursuit for me, ... Running is an affair of youth. It helps you through adolescence and, for me of course, at a certain point it opened doors. I met people, and traveled. Of course it can make life more exciting and fulfilling. |
The earth seemed to move with me. I found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never knew existed. |
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful will win. |
The mile has all the elements of drama. |
We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable. |