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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Well, in running,
the physical component

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is certainly a big one,
but the mental component

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is also very important.

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And some people will say it's
90% mental and 10% physical.

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I think that's going
a little bit too far.

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But I certainly think
my mental abilities

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as an athlete have helped me
tremendously over the years,

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not only in
competition, but also

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in coming back from injuries
or frustrating periods

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during my career.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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The most important
thing to me as a runner

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and as an individual living a
full life is to find a balance.

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And if you're going
to find a balance,

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you have to follow what
I call the runner's

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triad or the athlete's
triad or the triad for life,

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and that is finding a
balance between your mind

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and your body and your spirit.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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I think being out in nature
really builds my spirituality.

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I think when you're
out on a morning run,

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and nobody's out there with
you, and you hear the birds,

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and you see the sun rising, or
you see the changing landscapes

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during the changing
seasons, to me,

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there's nothing
more spiritual when

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you realize you're part of that
unit of-- of nature and being.

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And that is definitely
a spiritual component

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of what it is that I'm
doing in my life day

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after day after day.

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Your mind can be
your biggest asset.

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It also can be a
thorn in your side.

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There have been many times when
I haven't felt like myself,

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and that's sort of
a dilemma for me.

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I don't know whether
I should train harder

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or whether I should
take days off, you know.

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And that's something you
really have to think about.

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And for me, that's the
mental aspect of the triad.

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And sometimes, it's hard to tell
what the best thing to do is.

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I think there is a difference
between thinking and believing.

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Because when I encountered
the issues with my knee

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before the Olympic trials
in '84, what kept me going

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was the fact that I truly
believed that nobody out

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there was training
any harder than I was.

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And I have to
confess that I really

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fed off of the hard
and diligent training.

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It wasn't something that I was
concerned about because I truly

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loved what I was doing.

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I think the importance of
mental toughness in sport

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or in anything that
you're trying to achieve

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is helping in the
ability to overcome

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challenges and hardships.

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Everybody encounters
obstacles or challenges

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in whatever it is
they're trying to pursue

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in their respective careers.

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And I think the
mind and the head

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can be a very important
and necessary part

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of that road to success.

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I think runners more than any
other athletes know their body

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intimately, and
they're constantly

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aware of what's going on
because it's pure sport.

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I mean, you don't depend
on any other equipment

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except your own physical
and mental body.

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Just check in with yourself.

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Nobody knows your body any
better than you yourself.

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And I think it's just through
living through a workout

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or living through a day that you
know when things are balanced

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and when things
are not balanced.

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And I think it's up
to you to tune in

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on what it is that you think
is awry or not balanced or not

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working for you
in a way that you

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would like it to work for you.

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And it's at that
point you say, I'm

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going to make a tweak
here or tweak there.

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And maybe for a runner, it's
running fewer miles a week,

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or maybe it's running
more miles a week.

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Or maybe it's
running faster miles,

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or maybe it's doing more
strengthening or stretching.

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But only the individual
runner can figure that out.

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Nobody can get inside
the runner's body

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except the runner.

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The whole concept of
balance is something

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that develops over time.

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I think we all
operate at our best

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when we're balanced in
what it is that we're

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trying to pursue or achieve.

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So keep what works, and let go.

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In running, there's
a lot of letting go.

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I am not your geeky runner.

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I am one who feels it,
literally feels it in my bones

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and in my muscles
and in my heart.

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And I know what works for me.

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And I grab on to it, and I
run with it, so to speak.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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I think your mind
can get in your way

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when you start to
think negatively,

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when you have self-doubt,
and those are the things

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that you want to erase from
your screen, so to speak.

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You need to remain positive.

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You need to believe in yourself.

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You need to think that
you can do something.

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You need to have faith
in your preparation

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to get to that point
where you currently stand,

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and you need to look forward.

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And oftentimes,
I'll tell myself,

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you just have to hang in there.

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You have to get to
this point in the race.

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So in 1985, in Chicago when
I set the American record,

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Ingrid Christensen
was in the race,

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and she was favored
slightly above me leading up

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to that race.

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And we were running stride
for stride neck and neck.

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And I was putting
out more than I

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had wanted to in the
early stages of the race.

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And I just kept telling myself,
you've got to get to 10 miles.

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And if you get to 10
miles, and you're still

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feeling like this
is a real effort,

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then you can drop off the pace
and hope that she'll come back.

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But I got to 10 miles, and
she broke at that point.

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And I kept going forward.

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And at that point, I led,
but I knew that Ingrid

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was right behind me.

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But I've never looked
back in a race,

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and I've never
dropped out of a race.

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And that holds true to this day.

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And I think mentally,
that's really hard to do.

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It's really hard to
talk yourself out

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of dropping out of a race.

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And it's really hard
not to look back.

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But if I look back, I'd be
running somebody else's race

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because I'd be worried
about what they were

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doing and feeling, and so that's
what's kept me looking forward.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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You have to know your pain.

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You have to know your body.

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And you have to know
when to cut it short

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or cut it off or take a day off.

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And that looks, you know,
different in every runner.

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I mean, every runner has a
different pain tolerance.

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And every runner has ability
to accept pain where it is

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or where they think it
might go during a run.

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I mean, if you're feeling a
cramp or a pull or a tightness,

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if you push through
too hard, you

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may wind up with a
bigger injury that

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forces you to take time off
that you didn't foresee as you

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prepare for a particular event
or that forces you to take time

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off that you really don't
want to take time off

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with at that point
in your training.

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I think it's a
really important tool

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to have as a runner
when it comes

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to putting your mind
somewhere else when

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you're enduring pain or
feeling pain or fatigue.

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And just to take your mind
outside the physical body

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is something that
I think runners

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are pretty good about doing
because I think runners endure

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a lot of pain.

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I mean, you know, it
comes with the sport.

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It comes with the territory.

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It comes with the
desire to improve.

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And so, you know,
the adage no pain,

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no gain goes in two
directions, but there's a pain

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that you need to recognize
as well that needs rest.

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And that's very hard
for runners to discern.

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Sometimes, runners don't
want to go there because they

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don't want to take time off.

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Well, pain manifests
itself in different runners

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and different athletes
in different ways.

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And sometimes, it's a pain
that's brought on by fatigue.

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And sometimes, it's a pain
brought on by overuse.

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And sometimes, it's a pain
that exists just because you're

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having a tough day or a tough
period in your training.

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When you're taking
stock of what it

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is that you're
trying to accomplish,

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and you don't want
to overcommit,

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or you feel that you
need to take time off,

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if your body is telling
you to take time off,

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you need to take time off.

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You know, sometimes
I've had to tell myself,

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you can't keep running
feeling like this.

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And I sort of feel
when I cut a run short

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that I'm throwing in
the towel, and how am I

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going to get back to another
run and deal with pain that

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may be similar or different and
continue to persevere and push

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through?

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So you know,
whenever I'm thinking

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of cutting a run short, I take
a real, honest assessment of how

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I really am feeling and
how I think I'm feeling.

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Mentally, it's hard
to accept the fact

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that you're cutting it short.

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But in the long
run, you're going

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to be better off for doing so.

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Runners think that they
can keep pushing through.

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And sometimes, it
makes a runner.

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And sometimes, it
breaks a runner.

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And only you can sense what
you honestly need to do.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]