Lance Armstrong

The man doesn't sit still. His wife knows why, too.

She met him when he was a pale-yellow version of himself, half gone from chemo and scared to die. "I got to know Lance when he was standing on the edge between life and death," Kristin says. "It was awesome to be part of. I felt like he showed me the view from that cliff. That bonds two people. And if you get to come back down from that edge, it changes your life. You never want to miss out on anything fun or beautiful or scary again."

So he does his Texas Tornado thing. He motocrosses Baja with Lyle Lovett. He drives like he's racing Steve McQueen. He wakes the kids up to play. He puts Luke in one of those little trailers behind his bike. (O.K., Luke, we're going to take this downhill at about 70 miles per hour! Hang on!) He pounds out a hand-cramping number of letters to cancer patients and learns to surf in Hawaii. Anything to prove he'll never waste that second chance.

Source: Reilly, Rick. Sports Illustrated, December 16, 2002, p. 52.