Best Quotes About Running and the Marathon

"Phidippides died after 26 miles. But he ran 140 miles twice just days before. Overtraining got him, not the marathon." -- Kevin Strehlo

"If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."  -- Emil Zatopek

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second."  -- William James

"Run soft, run strong, run balanced, run fast, run less and run repaired."  -- Roy Wallack

"Ah just felt like runnin."  -- Forrest Gump

"Life is short... running makes it seem longer."  -- Baron Hansen

"Getting out of shape is much easier than getting into shape."  -- Joe Kelly

"The nearest McDonald's to our home was almost 26 miles away, so I was keenly aware of the distance." -- Joe Donavan on training for a marathon

"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

"Sprinting is sex, distance is love" -- Anon 

“The marathon can humble you.”  -- Bill Rodger

"80 percent of success is just showing up."   -- Woody Allen

“I loved the freedom of running, the fresh air and feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me”  -- Wilma Rudolph

"A brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, but if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes." -- Don Kardong

"If he raced his pregnant wife he'd finish third."  -- Tommy Lasorda

"Hills are speedwork in disguise."  -- Frank Shorter

"Never throw away the instructions to your running watch."  -- Joe Kelly

"I pulled a hamstring during the New York City Marathon. An hour into the race, I jumped off the couch..."  -- David Letterman

"Do. Or don't do. There is no 'try'" -- Master Yoda

"The longer the race, the shorter the champ." -- Manciata

STEVE PREFONTAINE

"What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?" 
-- 13-year-old Steve Prefontaine, before becoming a runner.

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts."
-- Steve Prefontaine

SAGE ADVICE

"My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy."
--John Bryant

"I'm never going to run this again." 
-- Grete Waitz after winning her first of nine New York City marathons

"Long slow distance makes long slow runners."
-- Jim Bush

"No pain, no gain."
-- Athletic proverb

"It helps me sleep at night." 
-- President George W. Bush on running

"Do you think I'd be stupid enough to go running with someone I was foolin' with?" -- Bill Clinton

"Do you want me to answer that?" -- Monica Lewinsky 

"I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street." -- Neil Armstrong

ON RUNNING BACKWARDS

"Hey dude, let's run the normal way now." Tommy Lee to Mick Jagger.

"No bloody way, backwards makes for a better workout."Mick Jagger to Tommy Lee.

ON TRACK VS. CROSS COUNTRY

"I love running cross country.  On a track, I feel like a hamster." 
-- Robin Williams

"Veronica and I are trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. It might be a soft j. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild."
-- Ron Burgundy in Anchorman

"It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse."
-- Ann Trason

"You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit." 
-- Lance Armstrong's line in Dodgeball

"Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about them, I just do them.  The decision has already been made."
-- Patti Sue Plumer

"You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot." 
-- Don Kardong

"We bust ours, to kick yours." 
-- High school team motto

“The Lord works in strange ways. Take Phil Pinchuck. The man keeled over with an aneurysm, he’s now a hamster. All day, running at the stupid wheel. For years he was a Yale professor. My point is he’s gotten to like the wheel. He pedals and pedals, running nowhere, but he smiles.”
-- Moe Silvermann, Woody Allen character.

"Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." -- George Sheehan

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." 
-- T.S. Eliot. 

"Few people realize what an accomplished ultra-runner T.S. Eliot was. Of course, he used a pseudonym (J Alfred Phidippedes)."
-- Chris Twiggs"

"Hitting the wall will, over time, and with decent punches, strengthen your knuckles. " 
--Jay Coe, Contender

"I live a healthy lifestyle and feel great. I can run a marathon, you know."
-- Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy, Vampire Slayer)

"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." 
-- Jules Renard

"Running in place on a Wii Fit is more biomechanically similar to running than, er, not running."  
-- Marathoning Matters


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