Florence Griffith Joyner Quotes

If you want to run as fast as the men, you've got to train like the men.

When you first get a hill in sight, look at the top of it only once. Then imagine yourself at the bottom of the other side.

You were born to run. Maybe not that fast, maybe not that far, maybe not as efficiently as others. But to get up and move, to fire up that entire energy-producing, oxygen-delivering, bone-strengthening process we call running.

A muscle is like a car. If you want it to run well early in the morning, you have to warm it up.

I couldn't wait until I grew up. I used to look at my mom's stockings and put them on with her high heels and mess with my hair.

I have been running since I was 7. I was trying to restructure the way my body was made instead of trying to master the way I ran. I would get so frustrated with my starts in practices that I would just cry. When I ran, I wouldn't even try to get out of the blocks, I would just run.

I don't always have the best eating habits. I like butter and ice cream. There are days when I should work out and I don't. But it's never too late to change old habits.

I've always overworked in the weight room. I love working with weights. I knew they'd give me the strength I needed.

Conventional is not for me. I like things that are uniquely Flo. I like being different.

The main reason I wanted to be successful was to get out of the ghetto. My parents helped direct my path.

Injuries made me a believer in cross-training.

I don't look at myself as being famous. I look at myself as an athlete. If the money is there, I'd be happy, but I have to be happy within myself first.

I don't do drugs. I never have taken any drugs. I don't believe in them.

I believe in the impossible because no one else does.

I was always doing something physical. My brothers and I used to have handstand contests. We'd walk around the projects on our hands and see who could get the farthest. I was always playing football with them, basketball or racing in the street.

People don't pay much attention to you when you are second best. I wanted to see what it felt like to be number one.

I love working with kids, talking with them and listening to them. I always encourage kids to reach beyond their dreams. Don't try to be like me. Be better than me.

I used to be teased for the way I wore my hair at school. I used to do things like wear a different-colored sock on each leg.