Joe Newton - Plato, over 2,000 years ago, said, ‘The duty of education—and take that word out and say, ‘the duty of coaching'-- is to make good people,’ because good people act nobly. That’s my goal. I’m trying to make good people that will act nobly and go on to be doctors and lawyers. That’s the story of coaching. It’s more than running. - MORE

Nicholas Sparks - You sit down and you’ve got six months to write a novel and you want to do it the best you can. It’s very challenging and you’re dealing with tough stuff every day. You learn discipline and perseverance and the value of hard work and you just learn if you keep putting in the time and keep putting in 100% effort, and at the end you have a good shot of something good coming out of it...That’s what you learn from running - MORE

Sanya Richards - I remember when I was in high school and DyeStat was my favorite website. I was on there all the time. I want to tell the youngsters in high school to continue to work hard and keep having fun. If they love track and field they can make a great living out of it and a lot of opportunities can come from their hard work, so never give up. - MORE

Curtis Beach - Last year I knew something was wrong. I was very stressed during my competitions and I didn’t enjoy it. After the year was over, I just evaluated, ‘Okay, what can I change to make myself perform better and enjoy everything?’ In the end, I decided I wasn’t going to put any numbers out there. I wasn’t going to go for a certain decathlon score. - MORE

Joe Hasay - What I’ve learned the most is to have patience. Every time Jordan goes out on the track, not only is she expected to win, she’s expected to break a record. I guess I was naïve. I was like all the rest of the folks who follow track and always want her to set a record when she steps out on the track. I’ve learned over the years that it’s not going to happen. - MORE

Obea Moore - I haven’t run 45 (seconds) in twelve years, so what I can say to other athletes is take advantage of your time. Time is everything and that’s what we try and master in track and field—time. - MORE

Chris Solinsky The harder you work, the more you are going to see the benefits. I had my parents and grandparents on the farm and they worked their butts off every day just so we could get by and that definitely left a lasting impression. If they are going to do that kind of work to make sure that we can have a living...then running seems like kind of a mundane little task, like if I get lazy in it—I have no right to get lazy in it. - MORE

Ed Bowes - Kids in track don’t get the accolades, they don’t get the applause, they don’t get the spectators (of football, baseball, and basketball.) It all has to be done on their own, getting up at five o’clock in the morning to get up to Van Cortlandt by seven on the train. They get such a discipline and camaraderie in doing things together like that. - MORE

Jenny Barringer - I always do what I'm assigned to do for that day. It's so tempting to be the hero of one workout and really smash an interval session, but I've learned that my workouts are designed for a reason and that drawing from the well today means I might be in a hole for the next workout. - MORE

Ryan Hall - My life is 90% mundane, repeating the same schedule every day, and 10% the glory of traveling the world and the excitement of racing, but even then I spend most of my time in hotel rooms all over the world waiting to race, not out exploring the city (but there is some of that post-race).  I love my life.  But it isn't for everyone. - MORE

LaShawn Merritt - It (track and field) is a sport where you can’t point the finger. In any other sport, you can blame someone else if you lose, but because it is an individual sport, you can’t really blame anybody but yourself, so you have to practice. - MORE