Watching the world’s best compete fires you up to achieve your own feats of greatness. When it comes to running, participation and spectating go hand in hand.

As badly as I want a medal, I know there is a lot of luck involved in that. I want to put myself in position to be in the top three, give it my all and hope luck comes my way.

I have a power word that I use-when I qualified for the Olympics in 2008, it was fighter. That way when I’m in the race and I get to those dark moments, I can think of the word and it evokes that emotion for me.

You can’t do in a race what you haven’t prepared for.

I try to think about positive things – how great my form is, how my arms are swinging, my breathing, how loud people are cheering. My sports psychologist taught me there are a million things telling you you can’t keep going, but if you find the things that say you can, you’re golden.

After we put my son to bed, my husband and I curl up and watch a movie or TV. That’s when I finally put up my feet and have my glass of wine and a brownie.

Get out there and do what you love!

The journey isn’t always perfect, but always worth taking.

It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you’re going. If you’re putting on your shoes and going out for a run, you are a runner, you are in that club.

One skill that separates good from almost-good runners is an ability to concentrate for an entire race, whether it is a mile or a marathon.