Running Quotes

I'm a total quote junkie.  I'll admit it.  I have them in journals, scribbled onto notebook covers, and on post-it notes all over my desk and bulletin board.  I started collecting my favorite inspirational running quotes and mantras a few years ago, and have them written in the back of my training log notebook.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start.
John Bingham

One who wants to do something will find a way; one who doesn't will find an excuse.
Confucius

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...
Those who started training for a race but didn't carry through...
Those who got to the starting line but didn't get to 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.
Joe Henderson

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than the unsuccessful man with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated failures.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

So many people crossing the finish line of a marathon look as happy as when I won.  They have tears in their eyes.  This sport is full of winners.
Gary Muhrcke

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

Games require skill.  Running requires endurance, character, pride, physical strength, and mental toughness.  Running is a test, not a game.  A test of faith belief, will, and trust in oneself.  So hard core that it needs a category all to itself to define the pain.  When game players criticize, it's because they aren't willing to understand, not because they're stronger.  Running is more than a sport; it's a lifestyle.  If you have to ask us why we run, you'll never understand, so just accept.
Jessica Propst

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

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

Whatever.  There are no tricks.  Run because you have to.  Run because you love it.  Run because you want to be fast.  Run because you want to be skinny.  Run to find some quiet time.  Run to sweat.  Run to eat.  Run to hear your heart pound in your ears.  Run because you're a runner.  Run because you gotta keep the streak.  Run because you don't know why the hell you're running.  Run because you fought with your partner.  Run because your job is shitty.  Run because you got no money.  Run for the sunrise.  Run for a race.  Run because it's impossible.  Run because it's easy.  Run instead of doing laundry.  Run instead of watching TV.  Run because no one else understands.  Run because the cool kids are doing it.  Run because you're tired of talking.  Run for numbers.  Run for feel.  Run to prove something.  Run because it fucking hurts.  Or don't run.  If you got something better to do.
Jeff Edmonds


Run by my side; live in my heartbeat; 
give strength to my steps.
As the cold surrounds me, as the wind pushes me,
I know you surround me.
As the sun warms me, as the rain cleanses me,
I know you are touching me, challenging me, loving me.
And so I give you this run.
Thank you for matching my stride.
Runner's Prayer


A man must love the thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame or money, but practices it without any hope of doing it well.
G.K. Chesterton

That's the thing about running.  Your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success.  They are moments in time where running allows you to see how wonderful your life is.
Kara Goucher

Put aside all excuses and remember this: YOU are capable.
Zig Zigler

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

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit.  We are all the same in this notion:  the potential for greatness lives within each of us.
Wilma Rudolph

If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks.  I've had them; everybody's had them.  But obstacles don't have to stop you.  If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up.  Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan

If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
Vince Lombardi

Ask yourself, 'Can I give more?'  The answer is usually, 'Yes.'
Paul Tergat

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right.
Henry Ford

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
Muhammed Ali

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

We will go to the moon.  We will go to the moon and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.
John F. Kennedy

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or short coming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those who knew neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

I have learned that there is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving.  It's not about speed.  And gold medals.  It's about refusing to be stopped.  you might find that one particular direction proves difficult, but there are many directions on a compass.  Infinite, in fact.  As long as you keep searching, you'll find your winning way.
Amby Burfoot

Hope is not blind optimism.  It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.  It's not sitting on the sidelines or shrinking from a fight.  Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, work for it, and fight for it.
Barack Obama

In the long run, men only hit what they aim at.  Therefore, they had better aim at something high.
Thoreau

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

Human beings are made of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage.
George Patton

Champions aren't made in the gym.  Champions are made from something they have deep inside them--a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammed Ali

Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goal.
Henry Ford

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Theodore Roosevelt

Sweat cleanses from the inside.  It comes from places a shower will never reach.
George Sheehan

 You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough.  You can be anything you want to be, if only you hold that desire with singleness of purpose.
Abraham Lincoln

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
Muhammed Ali

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

One cannot consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.
Helen Keller

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

It eluded us then, but that's no matter.  Tomorrow we will run faster...Stretch out our arms farther.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Never give in.  Never give in.  Never give in.  Never, never, never.
Winston Churchill

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

Pain is temporary.  It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place.  If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
Lance Armstrong

...Divide the race into thirds.  Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
Mike Fanelli

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...It is not age, it is not diet.  It is the will to succeed.
Jacqueline Gareau

In the beginning, it's hard to understand that the race is not against others, but against that little voice in your head that tells you when to quit.

Somethings don't always work out the way you plan.  The main thing is to keep trying, do better next time, and deal with disappointment if it comes.
Yogi Berra

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.
Zig Ziglar

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.
Coco Chanel

Don't wait until everything is just right.  It will never be perfect.  There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions.  So what.  Get started now.  With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.
Mark Victor

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
Thomas Edison

Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.  They will mount on wings as eagles.  They will run and not stumble.  They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40

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