Motivational Quotes
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I run with my head, my heart and my guts, because physically, I don't think I've got a great deal of talent or ability. I started at the bottom and worked up.
Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder
Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.
Tom Fleming
Good things come slow - especially in distance running.
Bill Dellinger, Oregon Coach
To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
Steve Prefontaine
I used to run to school, 10k every day.
Haile Gebrselassie
I just run as hard as I can for 20 miles, and then race.
Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder
Fear is a great motivator.
John Treacy, 1984 Olympic silver medalist
If you feel bad at 10 miles, you’re in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you’re normal. If you don’t feel bad at 26 miles, you’re abnormal.
Rob De Castella, on the marathon
Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting.
Steve McQueen
Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.
Steve Prefontaine
This is what really matters: running. This is where I know where I am.
Steve Jones
A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.
Emil Zatopek
The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals.
Hal Higdon
You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.
Frank Shorter
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammad Ali
The truth is that running hurts.
Unknown
You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone.
Percy Cerutty
If you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.
Oprah Winfrey
If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience another life... run a marathon.
Emil Zatopek
What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open.
Nike
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Albert Einstein
I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
Jesse Owens
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill
There is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.
Bill Bowerman
But if you never try you'll never know,
Coldplay - Fix You
Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge.
Dave Bedford, English distance runner
The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.
Bill Squires
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Stephen Covey
When in doubt, when in fear, be aggressive. Commit yourself and never look back.
Unknown
Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not.
Dr. George Sheehan
I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
Mike Fanelli, club coach
Run hard, be strong, think big!
Percy Cerutty
Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.
Emil Zatopek
Life (and running) is not all about time but about our experiences along the way.
Jen Rhines
Racing is the fun part; it's the reward of all the hard work.
Kara Goucher
It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.
Emil Zatopek
Champions are everwhere; all you need is to train them properly...
Arthur Lydiard
To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain - not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.
Dr. George Sheehan
Winning is not about headlines and hardware [medals]. It’s only about attitude. A winner is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best runner and best person he can be… Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.
Amby Burfoot
Get out there and do what you love!
Kara Goucher
No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences. My times become slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged: each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others.
Dr. George Sheehan
It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse.
Ann Trason
Tough times don't last but tough people do.
A.C. Green
A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
Steve Prefontaine
If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat.
HERSCHEL WALKER
You find out by trial and error what the optimal level of training is. If I found I was training too hard, I would drop it back for a day or two. I didn't run for five days before the sub-four-minute mile.
Sir Roger Bannister
Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers
If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort.
Dave Weinbaum
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
T.S. Eliot
The answer to the big questions in running is the same as the answer to the big questions in life: Do the best with what you've got.
Dr. George Sheehan
We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.
Jesse Owens
Anything is possible, but you have to believe and you have to fight.
Lance Armstrong
The world is divided into two kinds of people: runners and non-runners.
Marc Bloom, The Runner's Bible
Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head.
Joe Henderson
Putting miles in your training log is like putting money in the bank. You begin to draw interest on it immediately.
Hal Higdon
Running is WD40 for the mind...
cyberpenguin
If you want to know what you'll look like in ten years, look in the mirror after you've run a marathon.
Jeff Scaff
The most important day in any running program is rest. Rest days give your muscles time to recover so you can run again. Your muscles build in strength as you rest.
Hal Higdon
If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start.
Stan Jensen
To avoid starting out too fast, you have to "have eyes in your stomach," as we say in Norwegian: a good gut instinct of control.
Grete Waitz
My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.
Bill Rodgers
I'd rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way and lose, than run a conservative race only for a win.
Alberto Salazar
Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running.
Sarah Condor
There is only one runner in this race, and that is me.
George Sheehan
If you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.
Emil Zatopek
Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually [pain] passes and the flow returns. It's part of racing.
Frank Shorter
For me, like so many others, running is the answer. Out on the road it is just you, the pavement, and your will.
John Bingham
Citius, altius, fortius...swifter, higher, stronger.
Olympic Motto
Run easy is an oxymoron.
Pearl Izumi web site
Sport, like all life, is about taking your chances.
Roger Bannister
Keep your dream in front of you. Never let it go regardless of how farfetched it might seem.
Hal Higdon
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
William Faulkner
I can't imagine living and not running.
Paula Radcliffe
This is not about instant gratification. You have to work hard for it, sweat for it, give up sleeping in on Sunday mornings.
Lauren Fessenden
My outlook is that I never want to look back and wonder how fast I could have been.
Doug Mock
If you want to achieve a high goal, you're going to have to take some chances.
Alberto Salazar
Running and ultrarunning is 90% mental, and 10% in my head.
Ultra dude Ray Zahab
There's nothing a man can't do if the spirit's there.
Franz Stampfl
The registration on the car is quite old, but the engine doesn’t have many miles (on being asked whether being 34 years old he was too old to win the NYC marathon...)
British Marathoner Paul Evans
You feel good while you're running and you feel even better when you're finished.
Fred Lebow
When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring how to excel.
Deena Kastor
To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths.
Amby Burfoot
Running gives me confidence.
Steve Prefontaine
If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten.
Sir Roger Bannister
Last is just the slowest winner.
C. Hunter Boyd
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill