Tom Foreman > Quotes

“Wolf [Blitzer] is a wonderful man, generous and professional. He always has a good word for any and all colleagues, and he keeps up with our varied interests as if they were Middle East peace negotiations. He also has an endearing and amusing tendency to greet nearly everyone by his or her full name.

'What are you talking about, Tom Foreman?' Wolf said.

'Running. You run pretty often, don't you, Wolf?'

'Five miles a day on the treadmill.'

'We should go running together.'

'How far do you run?'

'I've done two marathons and two half marathons so far this year.'

'This year?'

'This year.'

'You're a wild man, Tom Foreman.”
― Tom Foreman, My Year of Running Dangerously: A Dad, a Daughter, and a Ridiculous Plan

“Whether something is uncomfortable or unpleasant has no bearing on whether it should be done. The decision and commitment must be made, if not heedless of the pain, then at least with recognition that sometimes good things require bad days.”
― Tom Foreman, My Year of Running Dangerously: A Dad, a Daughter, and a Ridiculous Plan

“How many miles today?' became the endless query, whether from Linda, who wanted to discuss household affairs, or from Ali, who might want homework help, or from Ronnie, who sometimes would venture to join me on shorter sections when her internship gave her time. The daily answer went steadily up: 20 miles, 23, 25, and more. I would launch in the early morning, backtiming everything to allow for feeding the dog, getting ready for work, doing my job, and coming home to eat, sleep, and do it all again the next day. The math was formidable. Consider that on particularly good days I might rip along at 6 to 7 miles an hour, or as I like to think of it, somewhat less than half the speed of the marathon world-record holder. At that rate, a 20-mile run takes well over three hours. It was like making time to watch Gone with the Wind each morning before breakfast.”
― Tom Foreman, My Year of Running Dangerously: A Dad, a Daughter, and a Ridiculous Plan

“I was fascinated by stories of blisters that bled through shoes, men and women who grew delirious with effort and tumbled into abandoned mines, and athletes immersing themselves in tubs of ice to lower their off-the-chart core temperatures. But it was runner porn: something to titillate my imagination and to minimize on the computer screen if anyone strolled by. Fifty Shades of Blisters.”
― Tom Foreman, My Year of Running Dangerously: A Dad, a Daughter, and a Ridiculous Plan

“It had occurred to me that running might hold an answer. If we jointly conquered this challenge, perhaps it would help define our new, more adult connection, drawing us closer in a different way. But I knew all too well that such grand plans can also end in failure. And what then? This experience could push us painfully, awfully, permanently farther apart. I considered this against the backdrop of one glaring realization that occurs to any man with a house full of daughters: Men and women largely approach sports differently.”
― Tom Foreman, My Year of Running Dangerously: A Dad, a Daughter, and a Ridiculous Plan