I'm appreciative of things going wrong. At first it sounds crazy, but how boring would life be if you just coasted along without any challenges? Without learning about who you really are through the process of going through the darker times? Without feeling the sense of elation when you reach even a small stepping stone?

Never in my heart did I want to quit, but I did, at the end of 2012, start to wonder when I was getting fractures from running hardly at all; I started thinking, 'Am I asking too much of my body? Is it not going to do this for me anymore?'

Natural ability is important, but you can go far without it if you have the focus, drive, desire and positive attitude.

That's something I never want to do: I never want to think I know it all, because I don't. There's always more people with more advice, and I just want to soak all that up and make my sporting toolbox as full as I can get it.

From Enve Composites to Bluehouse Skis, Utah companies are making breakthrough products for biking, winter sports, water sports and more.

When I'm talking about one of the things that define my career and what is most special to me, stats, they are what they are. The bottom line is you want to impact the place you go and the people you're around, and I hope I've done that in my football career, both on and off the field.

I grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota in a proud Catholic family.

A good mother remembers to serve fruit at breakfast, is always cheerful and never yells, manages not to project her own neuroses and inadequacies onto her children, is an active and beloved community volunteer. She remembers to make play dates, her children's clothes fit, she does art projects with them and enjoys all their games.