Running Track Quotes

No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes.

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.

The real competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit

People called me "Slim" and "Daddy Long Legs." My best friend Martine named me Daddy Long Legs after she saw me running track. She was making fun of me!

The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.

You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.

The real purpose of running isn't to win a race, it's to test the limits of the human heart.

In golf, as in life, you get out of it what you put into it.

It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.

Good things come slow, especially in distance running.

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

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.

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.

Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.

You must see yourself run the race over and over, time and time again. You must put yourself in critical positions and see how you would react in those positions before the race so when and if they do happen, the feedback is automatic.

Cross Country: No half times, no time outs, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport.

It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.

I've come to the possible conclusion that being a comedic writer/director is like running track. You do it for a certain amount of time and then you have to stop. Or you at least have to accept that you're not going to be at the top of your game. And that's OK.

The mile has a classic symmetry....It's a play in four acts.

The gun goes off and everthing changes... the world changes... and nothing else really matters.

Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about.

If you can't win, make the one ahead of you break the record.

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run

American naturalist John Burroughs put it, “A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.

Running is so natural to me. When I was running track, people used to ask me, "When are you gonna start running hard?" The wind hits me in the face, and I feel so smooth - Man, I love to run!

Don't bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.

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.

Don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great.

I run to see who has the most guts.

Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'.

One chance is all you need.

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.

My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus.

Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

I've always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

Run like hell and get the agony over with.

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.

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.

There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Attitude determines how well you do it.

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.