If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it
- Rudyard Kipling
“Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.”
- Oprah Winfrey
“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.”
- Steve Prefontaine
“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
“Sometimes a slight pace change is all you need to snap out of a mental or physical funk.”
- Mark Plaatjies
“The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy … It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.”
- Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ
“If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.”
- Emil Zatopek
“It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.” – Emil Zatopek
“Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?” – Peter Maher
“Running is the classical road to self-consciousness, self-awareness and self-reliance. Independence is the outstanding characteristic of the runner. He learns the harsh reality of his physical and mental limitations when he runs. He learns that personal commitment, sacrifice and determination are his only means to betterment. Runners only get promoted through self-conquest.” – Noel Carroll
“Training is principally an act of faith.” – Franz Stampfl
“There is a time to run and there is a time to rest. It is the true test of the runner to get them both right.” – Noel Carroll
“Train little, hard and often.” – Jim Peters
“The idea that the harder you work the better you’re going to be is just garbage. The greatest improvement is made by the man who works most intelligently.” – Bill Bowerman
“The difference between my world record and many world-class runners is mental fortitude. I ran believing in mind over matter.” – Derek Clayton
“In the marathon … the contest is not so much between runner and runner, but, in the tradition of the classic drama, between man and the gods. The gods in this instance being represented by distance, heat and time.” – John Hopkins
“It is horrible, yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame.” – Arthur Conan Doyle
“The music of the marathon is a powerful martial strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one’s own person, utterly and completely” – George Sheehan
“In every race there is a crucial moment when the body wants to quit. Then it needs imagination and mental tenacity to survive the crisis. Otherwise, the penalty is defeat.” – Derek Ibbotson
“I like the marathon because it’s one race where you can find out who’s really the toughest. On the track, sometimes a guy can just pull away, and you want to stay with him but you don’t have the leg speed. The marathon is slow enough that anyone can stay with you if he wants if he has the will. The marathon is ultimately a test of will.” – Alberto Salazar
“You don’t run 26 miles at 5 minutes a mile on good looks and a secret recipe.” – Frank Shorter
“The athlete with a sound body is at risk of finding himself considered abnormal because his body is adapted to physical activity rather than inactivity.” – Michael Sacks
“The less serious running of any description which an athlete indulges in before eighteen, the better for his future prospects.” – Alfred Shrubb
“Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.” – Dr. George Sheehan
“I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I’m not frightened by anyone’s reputation.” – Ian Thompson
“Jogging through the forest is pleasant, as is relaxing by the fire with a glass of gentle Bordeaux and discussing one’s travels. Racing is another matter. The frontrunner’s mind is filled with an anguished fearfulness, a panic, which drives into pain.” – Kenny Moore
“Fear is the strongest driving force in competition. Not fear of one’s opponent, but of the skill and high standard which he represents; fear, too, of not acquitting oneself well. In the achievement of greater performances, of beating formidable rivals, the athlete defeats fear and conquers himself.” – Frank Stampfl
“To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who’s never run it is like trying to explain colour to someone who was born blind.” – Jerome Drayton
“Learn to run when feeling the pain: then push harder.” – William Sigei
Pain is temporary, pride is forever!
“A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.” – Steve Prefontaine
“Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, it’s working.” – Brian Tackett
“Good things come slow – especially in distance running.” – Bill Dellinger
“Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'” – Peter Maher
“Mind is everything: muscle – pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.” – Paavo Nurmi
“Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.” – Roger Bannister
“I am both proud of and embarrassed by that run. What kind of geek goes out and runs in a cloudburst just before midnight on his honeymoon? Me, I guess. But probably many others, too. You know who you are.” – Mark Will-Weber
“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves … The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or hump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.” – Roger Bannister
“The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.” – Bill Squires
“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding.” – Steve Prefontaine
“The marathon is like a bullfight. There are two ways to kill a bull, for instance. There is the easy way, for one. But all the great matadors end up either dead or mauled because for them killing the bull is not nearly as important as how they kill the bull. They always approach the bull at the greatest risk to themselves, and I admire that. In the marathon, likewise, there are two ways to win. There’s the easy way if all you care about is winning. You hang back and risk nothing. Then kick and try to nip the leaders at the end. Or you can push, challenge the others, make it an exciting race, risking everything. Maybe you lose, but as for me, I’d rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way and lose, then run a conservative, easy race only for a win.” – Alberto Salazar
“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.”- Juma Ikangaa
“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” – Fred Lebow
“I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” – Alberto Salazar
“Running is real and relatively simple … but it ain’t easy.” – Mark Will-Weber
“The will to win is worthless, without the will to prepare.” – Pat Civitano
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” – Jesse Owens
“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable
“It’s rude to count people as you pass them. Out loud.” – Adidas ad
“Cross Country – A practical use for golf courses.” – Anonymous
“Some people don’t have the guts for distance racing. The polite term for them is sprinters.”- Anonymous
“I run because it’s so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can’t. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you’re capable of so much more than you thought.” – Arthur Blank
“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” – John Bingham
“Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau
(list compiled by Quintus van Rensburg)
