"A goal is just an awesome way to force growth on yourself."
- Deena Kastor
Personal Growth
"Marathons are extraordinarily difficult, but if you’ve got the training under your belt, and if you can run smart, the races take care of themselves. When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring how to excel."
- Deena Kastor
Motivation
"As athletes, we have ups and downs. Unfortunately, you can't pick the days they come on."
- Deena Kastor
Resilience
"The beauty of running is its simplicity; the beauty of runners is that we all have a similar drive to improve. We are either trying to run a personal best, or toeing the line for the first time, which will snowball into a future of trying to run personal bests."
- Deena Kastor
Growth
"I told Coach, ‘You know, I realize we’ve been working hard for this, but the medal almost doesn’t matter anymore because I feel like you all have elevated me in such a way that I never could have duplicated that.’ The reinforcement of the journey is so valuable, not just the prize or medal hanging around your neck. And we had such a special time pursuing that together."
- Deena Kastor
Achievement
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
- Leonardo DaVinci
Inspiration
"Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives."
- Socrates
Inspiration
"The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air."
- Wilbur Wright
Inspiration
"Sometimes, flying feels too God-like to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see."
- Charles A. Lindbergh
Inspiration
"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Inspiration