Keep these running quotes in mind when you need a little motivation or inspiration to keep running. And post one on the fridge, your mirror, or your computer for a reminder of why you run.
"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
"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." -Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner
"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, New York City Marathon co-founder
"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." -Oprah Winfrey
"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." -PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian
"Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself." -John Bingham, running speaker and writer
"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, Canadian marathon runner
"Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'." -Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner
"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 jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." -Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." -John Bingham
"You also need to look back, not just at the people who are running behind you but especially at those who don't run and never will... those who run but don't race...those who started training for a race but didn't carry through...those who got to the starting line but didn't in the finish line...those who once raced better than you but no longer run at all. You're still here. Take pride in wherever you finish. Look at all the people you've outlasted." - Joe Henderson
"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right." -Henry Ford
"Running should be a lifelong activity. Approach it patiently and intelligently, and it will reward you for a long, long time." -Michael Sargent
"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." -William Faulkner
"Keep varying the program. Your body will tell you what to do." - Joan Benoit Samuelson
"Every day is a good day when you run." -Kevin Nelson
"Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it's hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run." -Monte Davis
"I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards."
-Alberto Salazar, three-time winner of the NYC marathon
"What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the days gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate." -John Bingham, running writer and speaker
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars." -Les Brown
"There is an itch in runners." -Arnold Hano
"Everyone who has run knows that its most important value is in removing tension and allowing a release from whatever other cares the day may bring." -Jimmy Carter
"The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank." -George Sheehan
"When it's pouring rain and you're bowling along through the wet, there's satisfaction in knowing you're out there and the others aren't." -Peter Snell
"Spend at least some of your training time, and other parts of your day, concentrating on what you are doing in training and visualizing your success." -Grete Waitz
"Watching the world's best compete fires you up to achieve your own feats of greatness. When it comes to running, participation and spectating go hand in hand." -Kara Goucher
"Anybody can be a runner. We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It's the easiest sport." --Bill Rodgers
"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body." -Lynn Jennings
"No one ever drowned in sweat." -Author Unknown
"We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport." -Alberto Salazar
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." -Bill Bowerman
"If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it." -Priscilla Welch
"To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths." - Amby Burfoot
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali
"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." -Edward Stanley
"It is better, I think, to begin easily and get your running to be smooth and relaxed and then to go faster and faster." - Henry Rono
"Many people shy away from hills. They make it easy on themselves, but that limits their improvement. The more you repeat something, the stronger you get." - Joe Catalano
"Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow." - Henry David Thoreau
"Play not only keeps us young but also maintains our perspective about the relative seriousness of things. Running is play, for even if we try hard to do well at it, it is a relief from everyday cares." - Jim Fixx
"If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion." - Robert Pirsig
"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
"To know you are one with what you are doing, to know that you are a complete athlete, begins with believing you are a runner." -- George Sheehan
"I often hear someone say I'm not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner." -Bart Yasso
"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
"A course never quite looks the same way twice. The combinations of weather, season, light, feelings and thoughts that you find there are ever-changing." --Joe Henderson
"Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best." --Michael Johnson
"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
"Running is not, as it so often seems, only about what you did in your last race or about how many miles you ran last week. It is, in a much more important way, about community, about appreciating all the miles run by other runners, too." --Richard O'Brien
"I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it." --Steve Prefontaine
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