“According to the brain-centered model of exercise performance, a runner achieves his race goal when his brain calculates that achieving the race goal is possible without catastrophic self-harm.”

“Life is a Sisyphean race, run ever faster toward a finish line that is merely the start of the next race”

“A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal that is worth achieving.”

“It seemed to Alabama that, reaching her goal, she would drive the devils that had driven her - that, in proving herself, she would achieve that peace which she imagined went only in surety of one’s self - that she would be able, through the medium of the dance, to command her emotions, to summon love or pity or happiness at will, having provided a channel through which they might flow. She drove herself mercilessly, and the summer dragged on.”

“Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.”

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”