Quotes on Inspirational Running

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.

The more I run, the more I want to run, and the more I live a life conditioned and influenced and fashioned by my running. And the more I run, the more certain I am that I am heading for my real goal: to become the person I am.

If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion.

Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself

If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.

Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.

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.

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

When I came to New York in 1978, I was a full-time school teacher and track runner, and determined to retire from competitive running. But winning the New York City Marathon kept me running for another decade.

If you want to tell something to an athlete, say it quickly and give no alternatives. This is a game of winning and losing. It is senseless to explain and explain.

To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality.

There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing

A star can win any game; a team can win every game.

There's no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes.

Sometimes we become so focused on the finish line, that we fail to find joy in the journey.

Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip.

Most people...are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path.