Sometimes I think I just can't do this anymore. I can't run one more mile, take one more step. I feel like my legs are made of stone and my feet hurt so much they might explode out of my running shoes.

This normally happens towards the end of a run, when I know I have more miles to go and am no longer comfortable running. I've never been a competitive runner, so for me, to feel comfortable when I run is key.

But not always. Sometimes I hide in my comfort and forget to challenge myself. I enjoy a challenge almost as much as I enjoy comfort. Yet there are times when the challenge seems overwhelming. I can't make it up the hill, or around the park one last lap.

Then I start to think about all the other people in the park. Some of them are going through the same thing--struggling just to make it a few more yards. I start to think about the people who can't even make it to the park, those who can't run or literally can't take another step.

I think about an inspiring picture I took from last year's NYC marathon of a man hauling it down 4th Avenue in Brooklyn who had no limbs. He was kicking butt and having the time of his life. And he was working very, very hard. He'd worked so hard just to get to the marathon--I can't even imagine what it must have been like the first time he got on one of those machines and got going just using his arms.

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An 8-year-old girl in China has recently completed a 3550-km (2200-mi) run from Hainan to Beijing, accompanied by her father on a bicycle alongside the little super-athlete. This might seem like an amazing feat but it's just another day for Zhang Huimin, who wakes up at 2:30AM most mornings to run the equivalent of one-and-a-half marathons -- 64 km, or 40 miles in total. The latest run was in an attempt to get noticed by the Olympics -- the girl wants to compete in the 2016 Olympics, when she will be 17.

Many people around the world are calling this child abuse -- what do you think? Her father, who is separated from her disapproving mother, says that Zhang Huimin likes running, and he denies that he is forcing her to run. Still, I think this amount of running is inhumane and unhealthy.

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