SAN ANTONIO -- Poised just one pedestrian season away from bumping Walter Payton from the top perch of the career rushing roll-call and claiming the NFL's most coveted record, Barry Sanders high-tailed it in the opposite direction.

The man legions deemed the best pure running back in league history performed one of those jaw-dropping pirouettes days before the start of training camp in 1999, spun out of the hole as he had done so many times during a brilliant career and reversed field.

	Emmitt Smith has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 11 straight seasons.

Sanders danced away from the rushing record as he had danced away from defenders for 10 NFL seasons. In the three years that have ensued, the former Detroit Lions star has never uttered so much as a syllable about his decision, never really publicly rationalized his retirement. He has transformed the media in that period into ham-handed linebackers, grasping at air, attempting futilely to pin him down.

Not so the new heir apparent to Payton's throne, Emmitt Smith, who over the weekend reflected on a mark that should become his hallmark sometime during the first half of this season. Having deftly dodged questions about the record all during the 2001 season because he knew the magical 16,726-yard mark was still beyond his reach, the Dallas Cowboys star began his 13th training camp more than ready to ponder his legacy.

Smith took on questions the way he takes on would-be tacklers, straight up and head on. He left little doubt that he embraces his destiny. Just 540 yards more, the equivalent of 126 carries given his lifetime average, and Smith will become the most prolific runner of all-time.

Maybe not the greatest runner ever, because such a handle is defined by subjectivity that spans several generations, but the one with the biggest numbers. And that is more than enough for Smith, a prideful man whose longevity already is four times the league average at his position, and who comprehends the significance of the record he figures to establish around the sixth or seventh game of this season.

On a few occasions over the weekend, Smith referred to the "opportunity" to break the rushing record. But his dogged pursuit is certainly one of the most compelling stories for the early portion of the season. One of the most durable backs in league history isn't about to break down now, not within a relative arm's length of the prize.

"It's kind of like the heavyweight championship, you know, something that historically has been a title everyone wants to hold," said Smith. "To be known as the leading rusher, well, there's only one. To overtake a player like Payton, a person like he was, that's truly a great honor. It's a humbling thing, really, and sometimes you can't believe it. But when it's right there in your face, when it's within your reach, you can't ignore it, either. There is a time to focus on it and, while winning is still the most important thing, I guess now is the time to do that."

Fact is, Smith took aim at the rushing mark years ago, when as the Cowboys' top choice in the 1990 draft he scribbled out a reminder to himself that he wanted his career to transcend the mundane. Sitting in his apartment in Irving, Texas as a rookie, he recalled his high school coach telling him that a dream doesn't become a goal "until you write it down." So Smith reduced his aspirations to a few sentences.

Years later he had the yellowing note laminated, and he insisted Saturday that it's packed away somewhere in a closet.

This might be a good time to start scouring through the dusty boxes, he acknowledged, because the note means more than ever now. Then again, Smith really doesn't need to be reminded of what he sought out 13 seasons ago to achieve, because the motivation with which he entered the NFL has been a remarkable constant through 185 regular-season appearances and 17 playoff games. For a quarter of a century, Smith has been a running back. He wears the title of the position like a badge of courage.

Which, of course, it is.

When he was 8 years old, Smith decided he wanted to be a quarterback, and he dreamed of lighting up opposition secondaries. The dream was short-lived, however, with peewee coach Eugene Warren telling Smith one day at practice that he was going to be the deep back in the I-formation and would carry the ball virtually every play.

"I said, 'But, coach, I want to be a quarterback,' " Smith recalled. "He said, 'We're gonna toss you the football, hand you the football, and you're gonna run with it.' I said, 'Well, OK,' and it's been that way ever since."

It certainly has. Smith has averaged 316.5 rushes, 1,349 yards and 12.3 touchdowns per NFL season. Four times in a dozen years he has logged more than 350 carries, and he has run for more than 1,400 yards on four occasions. Smith has twice scored more than 20 rushing touchdowns in a season.

Even last year, when his workload was reduced and the Dallas staff began grooming Troy Hambrick as his possible successor, Smith still had 261 carries. That marked the fewest carries since his '90 rookie season, but still, only a dozen backs in the league had more. And at the age of 32, he had a 75-yard touchdown run, tying his personal best for a scoring jaunt.

Said offensive guard Larry Allen, whose pancake blocks the past eight seasons have paved the way for countless thousands of yards: "You still see that 'I want the ball every play' look in his eyes. And he's still (upset) when they take him out of a game. It would be ridiculous to say he's the same back he was 10 years ago. But he's not far from it in a lot of ways."

The Dallas Morning News pointed out that in the past four years, when the Cowboys have compiled a record eight games below .500, Smith nonetheless has rushed for more yards than all but four backs in the NFL. Of an elite group of backs that includes Curtis Martin (New York Jets), Marshall Faulk (St. Louis), Corey Dillon (Cincinnati) and Eddie George (Tennessee), the relentless Smith is third in rushing average, second in scoring.

	“	It's kind of like the heavyweight championship, you know, something that historically has been a title everyone wants to hold. To be known as the leading rusher, well, there's only one. To overtake a player like Payton, a person like he was, that's truly a great honor. ”
		— Emmitt Smith, Cowboys running back

If he is a half-step slower to the hole, or doesn't deke his way past a linebacker nearly as often now, Smith still knows how to bleed every inch out of a carry. He spoke Saturday, with a great degree of reverence, about how Payton carried the ball with "passion" and ran with "vengeance." Since his own running style has been more want-to than winsome, perhaps that is why it is appropriate Smith supplant Payton at the top of the list.

Smith has become close to the Payton family, especially to son Jarrett, and last week he received the Spirit of Sweetness Award from the Payton Family Cancer Foundation. He wept at the presentation ceremony, and he doesn't doubt he'll cry again when he breaks the record, a feat for which Smith wants Payton's wife and children in attendance.

Chances are good that he will break the record on an inside run, one of the counter-type plays or power blasts that have defined his career. Smith has been, for sure, a no-frills back, and it would be appropriate for the mark to fall the same way, with his lowering his shoulder and turning a three-yard run into a five-yard gain.

"That's kind of been the story of his career," said former Cowboys tailback Tony Dorsett, himself a Hall of Fame member. "There haven't been a lot of 50(-yard runs) in his career. But the man has put up a ton of 5's and 6's and, when you do that as often as he has, it's a special thing."

So special that a Dallas organization that can't promise Smith will return in 2003, even if he wants to continue his career beyond this season, has made him the centerpiece of its marketing efforts. In the ticket brochure the team distributed is this reminder: "Destiny lives here! Right here! Right now!" And pictures of Smith, who is now more tied to the Cowboys' past than their future, are prominent.

This is a team that has become a chic playoff pick of the pundits, not because of Smith's presence but because of a solid nucleus of youngsters and a lightning-quick defense. But the Dallas front office, with owner Jerry Jones never shy about taking advantage of the moment, is going to ride the Emmitt Smith story for as long as it retains momentum.

As the Cowboys ran onto the field for their Saturday morning practice this past weekend, there was a buzz among the 7,000-plus fans in the Alamodome. The crowd awaited Smith's arrival. With a sense for the dramatic, a trait he has characteristically saved for crunch time in games, he trotted out last, a minute or two after his teammates. The crowd went wild, and there was the kind of explosion of camera flashes that typically accompanies a huge event.

The big event for Smith is still several weeks away. And while he is mostly prudent with his remarks, he knows it is coming. His inexorable quest, his tireless pursuit of greatness, is about to be validated with numbers it will be difficult to match. And if Smith seems somewhat embarrassed by the attention, those who know him best insist that he privately feels he has earned the moment.

"The humility isn't fake, not at all, because that's Emmitt," said safety Darren Woodson. "But he knows how hard he's worked for this, how many times he's banged helmets to get an extra yard, how many times he played hurt.

"He doesn't talk much about it, but in his heart he knows he deserves it."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.