By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.

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I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me.

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My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.

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But when you come from a large, wonderful family, there's always a way to achieve your goals.

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I knew that whatever I set my mind to do. I could do.

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I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened.

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Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.

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The potential for greatness lives within us all.

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I know black women in Tennessee who have worked all their lives, from the time they were twelve years old to the day they died. These women don't listen to the women's liberation rhetoric because they know that it's nothing but a bunch of white women who had certain life-styles and who want to change those life-styles.

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Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.

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