Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
— Jules Renard
Authentic Marathon Motivational quotations
Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.
Go in any direction..seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
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.
Just put one foot in front of the other.
I always tell beginning runners: Train your brain first.
It's much more important than your heart or legs.
I always loved running.... It was something you could do by yourself and under your own power.
Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'.
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.
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.
Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.
Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have Nature, and that is much better.
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.
You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.
I don't train. I just run my 3-15 miles a day.
It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.
Running hills breaks up your rhythm and forces your muscles to adapt to new stresses. The result? You become stronger.
The real competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit
Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.
Every runner has a specific motivation and inspiration for running a marathon.
This year, all 36,000 of us will 'run together' to demonstrate the spirit of the marathon. We will still have our individual motivations, but we will be unified under the Boston Strong umbrella.
Marathoning is a metaphor for life, so there are a lot of parallels you can draw. I tell people to follow your dream, follow your heart, follow your passion, run your own race and believe in yourself. I think anybody who wants to succeed has to have passion. My love for this sport, you can't instill it in someone else.
We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves
Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be.
In golf, as in life, you get out of it what you put into it.
The challenge and the energy running requires may be a selfish one, but it actually motivates me to be stronger in my relationships.
If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble.
If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal.
I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known.
If it hurts, make it hurt more.
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 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want - Why? Because (a) you'll burn all the calories you consume, (b) you deserve it, and (c) you'll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.
Hills are speedwork in disguise.
Motivation remains key to the marathon: the motivation to begin;
the motivation to continue; the motivation never to quit.
But it's the wrestler who can put the fatigue out of his mind and break through the "wall," like a marathon runner after 18 or 20 miles, who will survive. The key to that survival is in hard workouts that develop mental confidence to the point where you won't submit to fatigue and pain descending upon you.
The freedom of cross country is so primitive. It's woman vs. nature.