What is the best running quote you've ever heard?

his torian wrote:

Kipling was a well known racist.

I think that is really a matter of debate and it still doesn't change the fact that he ran a 4:30 mile in high school.

Two more regarding the methodical, tenacious training required to succeed as a distance runner:

"What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes."

-- Once A Runner

"Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before."

-- Jacob A. Riis

"What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know. Well there was a secret, and they would never find out because it was a fvcking secret. But it was burpees. Lots of them." -- Twice a runner.

Legendary BBC commentator commenting on David Bedford:

"He's a natural front runner....because he's got no kick."

I'm paraphrasing, since I don't have the exact quote in front of me. I believe this is attributed to Herb Elliott, so if I'm wrong, someone please correct me:

"To run a world record, you have to be arrogant enough to believe you are capable of being the best, and humble enough to actually put in the work to do it"

No brain, no pain.

This is what I remember from the James F. Fixx "Complete Book of Running Training Log" back in the 80s:

"The key to improvement is consistency. More miles per day, more days per week, more years of running. There are no substitutes."

"those who stay will be champions." - bo schembechler, i think

"without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." - don kardong

Some crazy runner guy wrote:

his torian wrote:

Kipling was a well known racist.

I think that is really a matter of debate and it still doesn't change the fact that he ran a 4:30 mile in high school.

Did Kipling really run 4:30? That would have been pretty studly in the 1880s.

Champions are found in every neighbourhood.

- A Lydiard

I might be paraphrasing a bit, but that's the gist of it.

Nucky Thompson wrote:

“I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass.” - David Lee Roth

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass. ~Martin Mull

From Chariots of Fire;

"If you don't run, you can't win."

Said in response to "I don't run to take beatings, I run to win. If I can't win, then I won't run."

giant johnson wrote:

"To give less than the rest is the sacrifice the gift"- Stephen Prefountain

This quote is too well-known to leave scrambled.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

OR you could not suck

Rec Runner x wrote:

"today looks like a good day to die" Pre

I think that was Crazy Horse.

Considering that the best amatuer runners at the time ran about 4:30 for the mile I doubt Kipling did. It was said as a joke in a work of fiction. And yes OAR is a work of fiction, just because some real people are mentioned in it doesn't mean it is factual as some people seem to think.

Track fann wrote:

giant johnson wrote:

"To give less than the rest is the sacrifice the gift"- Stephen Prefountain

This quote is too well-known to leave scrambled.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

Thank you for saving me from having to correct that!

My favorite is....."If you are a distance runner you must have failed at every other sport".

"When you see the finish line and know whether it's a victory or a failure"...

"i run with all my heart, soul and lungs"

"Give me one once of luck and I will run with it"...

"I learn from "failures" and rejoice on "successes"..