In the Prologue, author Phil Knight describes his thoughts and feelings as he reflects on a morning run that he took in 1962, at the age of 24. Knight had just returned home to Oregon after seven years away while completing undergraduate studies at the University of Oregon, completing graduate studies at Stanford University, and serving a year in the US Army. As he was running and thinking about his future, Knight realized that he wanted his life to be play, “to feel what athletes feel” (4). This led him to think about what he describes as his “Crazy Idea” and to decide that he should pursue his idea (5). 

In Chapter 1, Knight divulges that his “crazy idea” emanated from a research paper that he wrote in business school at Stanford. In it, he theorizes that with American distribution, Japanese running shoes could come to dominate the market, just as Japanese cameras had done earlier.

Knight becomes obsessed with the notion of traveling to Japan to pitch his idea to a shoe company. He also becomes consumed with a desire to travel the world, but in order to follow these dreams, he needs his father’s approval and money for his trip.