Excerpts from Never Give Up: Ted Jaleta's Inspiring Story.... 

Chapter 1 - Education is Freedom:
For the first few years of Ted's life, his days were carefree. He enjoyed running barefoot on the narrow mountain paths near his family's home, playing with his older sisters and brother, and sleeping in the main house on a wooden cot or an animal-skin rug on the floor. He visited his mother's family, who lived in the same community, and particularly loved the scenery surrounding his home. Evergreen, bamboo, juniper, acacia, olive and fig trees were everywhere. The scent of fragrant eucalyptus trees and giant lobelia flowers filled his nostrils during the summer. There were bees' nests to explore and wild blueberries, strawberries and plums to taste. It was a great place to play as a child.

Chapter 4 - Bruised But Not Beaten:
"Every evening, they took some of the detainees for interrogation," Ted recalls. "Some came back tortured. Some were injured and, because of the torture, were almost crippled. Some never came back." While recalling the faces of his fellow prisoners and the pain they endured, Ted pauses in thought. He is still reluctant to talk about the most painful moments of his own life. He would rather focus on the positive things about Ethiopia, a land that he loved as a child and still loves today. These events occurred in the past and are, thankfully, over. But after many years of keeping the memories to himself, he has decided others might be able to learn a positive message about hope and overcoming adversity from these negative actions. So he swallows hard, steels himself, and continues.

Chapter 9 - Building Momentum:
Darren Burrows started training full-time with Ted in the fall of 1987. He recalls how difficult it was to keep up with the 33-year-old's running schedule. "Ted made sure the runs we were doing on Sunday mornings were at about 8 o'clock. We would go out for 27 kilometres. He was very disciplined with getting in all his workouts, which was tough for me, a guy 17 years old." The two men not only attended university at the same time but also trained together and raced against each other in events all over Canada until 1998 when Burrows moved to Calgary. "I basically have the notoriety of losing to Ted for 10 years straight on the road, getting second place," laughs Burrows. "I could beat him no problem in 1500 to 5000 metres on the track. I couldn't beat him at anything after 5000. I came close a few times, but he always had enough to hold me off."

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