If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.

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Triumph over adversity that's what the marathon is all about. Nothing in life can't triumph after that

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Talent is everywhere, it only needs the opportunity.

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When I finished the Boston race in 1967, there were two things I wanted to do. I wanted to become a better athlete because my first marathon was 4:20. In those days, that was considered a jogging time and I knew people were going to tease me. But I was more fascinated with what women could do if they only had the chance.

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When I go to the Boston Marathon now, I have wet shoulders—women fall into my arms crying. They're weeping for joy because running has changed their lives. They feel they can do anything.

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I do forgive people when they get it right, even people who in the past I thought were unforgivable.

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I said that there's going to come a day in our lives when women's running is as popular and as men's. Looking back, I obviously had a great sense of vision. And I was right.

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A lack of forgiveness is a waste of time and it's very enriching to forgive and move on but those are things that come with time.

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Five years after Boston 1967, I went to the Munich Olympics. I realized that major sponsorship could help me create the opportunity. I wrote a big proposal to Avon cosmetics on how creating a global series of women's races could lead to getting women in the Olympic marathon. People thought I was smoking poppy at the time. The longest event in the Olympic Games was 800m.

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All you need is the courage to believe in yourself and put one foot in front of the other.

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