A Lifetime Of Training For Just Ten

People Say That It Was Degrading For An Olympic Champion To Run Against A Horse, But What Was I Supposed To Do? I Had Four Gold Medals, But You Can't Eat Four Gold Medals. There Was No Television, No Big Advertising, No Endorsements Then. Not For A Black Man, Anyway.

Well, I Couldn't Play An Instrument. I'd Just Stand Up Front And Announce The Numbers. They Had Me Sing A Little, But That Was A Horrible Mistake. I Can't Carry A Tune In A Bucket. We Played Black Theaters And Nightclubs All Over Hell. One-nighters. Apollo Theater In Harlem And The Earle Theater In Philly - That Was Big Time For Blacks.

It Dawned On Me With Blinding Brightness. I Realized: I Had Jumped Into Another Rare Kind Of Stratosphere - One That Only A Handful Of People In Every Generation Are Lucky Enough To Know.

Running Is Real. It’s All Joy And Woe, Hard As Diamond. It Makes You Weary Beyond Comprehension, But It Also Makes You Free.

The Only Victory That Counts Is The One Over Yourself.