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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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JOAN BENOIT SAMUELSON
(VOICEOVER):

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Victory to me has many
different meanings.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Truthfully, I think
victory is when

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you find fulfillment
and satisfaction that

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can be shared with people who
have inspired you and motivated

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you and nurtured you,
and you can turn around

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and inspire them and others.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Running in my life
as a young person

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gave me a feeling of freedom.

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It also gave me a
feeling of success

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when I set a goal for myself and
was able to achieve that goal.

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When I first started to run,
I ran inside the confines

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of an old abandoned Army post.

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And there wasn't any
vehicular traffic

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allowed in that
area at the time,

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so I would walk from
our house to the fort

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and I would run to
my heart's desire.

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And then I'd walk home because
I was embarrassed to be

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seen running on the roads.

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I grew up in a
family of brothers,

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and I grew up in a
neighborhood full of boys,

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and I always worried a little
bit about my tomboy image.

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And as I grew through
adolescence into teenagehood,

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I wanted to shake that image.

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The same time, I had this
passion to test myself

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and to run and to see
how far I could run

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and how fast I could run.

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And then, one day,
I decided, I don't

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care what anybody thinks
about what I'm doing.

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I only care about what I
like to do and enjoy doing.

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And that was to run and to test
myself and to test my limits.

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When I think back to
the 1984 Olympic games

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and think about
how fortunate I was

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to run in the first ever
Olympic marathon for women,

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I remember lining up
at Santa Monica City

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College in the
parade of athletes,

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and I found myself in
the very last position

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because the US, as
the host nation,

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marched in that last
position, and I,

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being the shortest
member of our delegation,

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was in the caboose position.

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And oftentimes, having grown
up with three brothers,

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my mother would remind me
that last shall come first

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and first shall
come last, because I

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was usually last in getting
where I wanted to be.

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And so that was my mantra
throughout the race.

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And little did I
know that last would

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be come first because I wasn't
the favorite in the race.

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And I remember approaching
the Coliseum in first place

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and realizing that I had
the possibility of winning

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this race because
I couldn't hear

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any other footsteps behind me.

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I asked myself if I was capable
of carrying the mantle that

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would come with the first
Olympic women's marathon

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victory, and I quickly decided
that I would figure it out

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and that I would not change
who I was as a person,

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and that I would give back to
a sport and a community that

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have given so much to me.

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The marathon was really
a metaphor for life.

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Anything can happen
in a marathon that

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derails one athlete or another.

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And there can be
unexpected things happening

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in one's life that will
derail a person's desire

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to follow a certain path.

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Obstacles and bends in the
road and curves and the road

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can present themselves
at any time.

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And that's why I don't look at
marathon courses before I run,

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because if I don't
know what's around

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the next bend in the
road, I tend to run faster

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to see what's around that next
bend, and what I don't know

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won't hurt me.

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You don't have to run
marathons to be a runner.

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You just need to make a
commitment to the sport

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and to yourself.

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Anything can make you
a runner that makes

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you feel like you're a runner.

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By putting one foot
in front of the other,

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the fact of the matter
is that you're doing it.

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I didn't know where I
was going with the sport.

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Whoever thought I'd
be here teaching

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a class as a lifelong runner?

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I just thought about,
how much enjoyment

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am I deriving from
a sport that I love

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and a sport that I'm
very passionate about?

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And it's up to you to discover
how far the journey of running

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is going to take you.

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And I bet you
anything if you follow

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some of the lessons
in my MasterClass,

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that you will have
running as part

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of your life for
a long, long time.

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We can't run anybody
else's race except our own.

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But I can teach you
technique, finding joy

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in running, combating
challenges, setting goals,

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stretching and
strengthening exercises

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that will help you to become
a better runner, and just

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tidbits of information
that I have literally

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found along the road.

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So my hope in this MasterClass
is to make running work for you

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and to meet you where you are.

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Running can be done
anywhere at any time.

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And wherever you
choose to run, I

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hope you find the
same joy and passion

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that I have found in our sport.

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I'm Joan Benoit Samuelson,
and this is my MasterClass.