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There is nothing to be intimidated about - it's just another long run where a few more people show up and they happen to wear numbers.
Sep 30, 2025
How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races? All my life people have been telling me, 'You're too small Pre', 'You're not fast enough Pre', 'Give up your foolish dream Steve'. But they forgot something, I HAVE TO WIN.
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.
The pride in finishing a marathon is much greater than all the pain endured during the marathon.
There are as many reasons for running as there are days in a year.... But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child.
We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves
The real competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit
No negative thoughts cross my mind on race day. When I look into their eyes, I know I'm going to beat them.
You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.
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.
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.
The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.
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.
The marathon's about being in contention over the last 10K. That's when it's about what you have in your core. You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness out of yourself, and it really comes down to what's left inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things about the marathon.
You shall become the person you are.
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.
Onions make me sad. A lot of people don't realize that.
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.
Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about them, I just do them. The decision has already been made.
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.
The marathon can humble you.
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.
A lot of people don't realize that about 98 percent of the running I put in is anything but glamorous: 2 percent joyful participation, 98 percent dedication! It's a tough formula. Getting out in the forest in the biting cold and the flattening heat, and putting in kilometer after kilometer.
Those who say that I will lose and am finished will have to run over my body to beat me.
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.
If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.
Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance-you can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet.
I run to see who has the most guts.
Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'.
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.
Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.
There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.
Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.
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.
I've always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners.
To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind.
My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.
A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.
Just put one foot in front of the other.
There's no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes.
There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing
There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.
Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.