Grete Waitz Quotes

I am a private person and that has always been my personality.

To suddenly be a hero on a world basis was hard for me to understand. God gave me a gift. I got the chance to use it. I didn't think I deserved what people were saying. My talent is just more visible than theirs.

Too many people I meet believe that you can sit in a chair and be given motivation. With exercise and fitness, you get it by doing. The mental qualities you need are all linked like a chain. If you give exercise a try and see results, even if it's as simple as feeling good that you get out the door, you'll become motivated to repeat the exercise. Seeing results is inspiring.

What spurs a person to get more serious is highly individual, but I have found that no matter what a person's level of ability, motivation must come from within, or it will not last.

Exercise and sports are greatly affected by what goes into the mind, and the mind is greatly affected by sports and exercise as well. This is true among exercisers at all levels, despite their different goals. A major element in mental training is visualization ... Visualizing a positive outcome can create a pattern of success, as long as you set realistic and specific goals.

The worst injury I ever had was a stress fracture from running.

I'll never do that again!

I don't think I would have been such a good runner if I hadn't enjoyed it.

What Fred Lebow went through was an inspiration for me. You have to set goals for yourself.

Every day I spend time on the treadmill. I am walking faster, stronger and harder than I was two months ago.

I am about to get involved with the biggest cancer hospital in Norway. They are building a fitness center to work with patients. I will be a consultant.

If you are training properly, you should progress steadily. This doesn't necessarily mean a personal best every time you race ... Each training session should be like putting money in the bank. If your training works, you continue to deposit into your 'strength' account ... Too much training has the opposite effect. Rather than build, it tears down. Your body will tell when you have begun to tip the balance. Just be sure to listen to it.

For every finish-line tape a runner breaks
complete with the cheers of the crowd and the clicking of hundreds of cameras
there are the hours of hard and often lonely work that rarely gets talked about.

There is something about the ritual of the race - putting on the number, lining up, being timed - that brings out the best in us.

In terms of fitness and battling through cancer, exercise helps you stay strong physically and mentally.

I work out for my head as much as I do for my body. I'm a thinker. A lot of my ideas come to me more easily when I am running. That is why I like to run in the morning, when there are no distractions ... Now some of my best ideas are born on the run.

You go into the disease as one person and come out of it as a different person. It has changed my perspective on everything. Things that used to upset me no longer do.

Sustained motivation is essential to achieving your potential.