Free Republic

Once upon a time, Americans recognized the unpleasant fact that, as Sherman said, "war is hell," and they acted accordingly, accepting the pain and the losses as the price that had to be paid for victory. Americans understood it during the Revolutionary War, when it took six long years of losing battle after battle to achieve victory. Facing the mightiest army on the face of the earth, lacking the most rudimentary tools of war, even going shoeless in the winter snow, often hungry, they endured – and by enduring they triumphed. We don't have to go that far back to...

Endurance running is in east Africans' genes 10:15 29 November 04 The long-distance running prowess of Ethiopia’s elite male athletes is partly dictated by their genes. Researchers have established that such athletes are more likely to have certain variants of four Y chromosome genes compared with other Ethiopians. No one knows what the genes do, or how influential they are, but they are the first to be linked to east Africans’ outstanding ability for endurance events. Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes have run 37 of the 40 fastest times recorded over 10,000 metres. Alongside dedication and training, there is no doubt...

<p>As the sun heads for the horizon on a warm, breezy evening at Beals Point, five women in running shorts focus on the challenge of a lifetime.</p> <p>The bond they've built in nearly six months of training together has been strengthened by a coach fighting cancer, an encounter with a bear during a run, and the tears and laughter that come with sacrificing so much to chase a dream.</p>