Marathon Runners Quotes

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. ~ Emil Zatopek

I thought about running a marathon a long time ago, but I'm just not a runner. ~ Shannon Miller

The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. Every jogger can't dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon. ~ Fred Lebow

Marathon runners, by default, must have resilient minds. ~ Ed Caesar

Most people who do a lot of exercise, particularly in the form of competitive athletics, have unneurotic, extraverted, optimistic personalities to begin with. (Marathon runners are exceptions to this.) ~ Robert M. Sapolsky

If I run I lose so much weight, which I need because you're limited on weight when you are a tall driver. And have you seen marathon runners? They're quite skinny. ~ Jenson Button

She eyed his gorgeous body, and raised a brow. "Doing a little flaunting of your own this morning, huh?"
"In deference to your delicate sensibilities, I pulled on jeans. Isn't that enough?"
Enough for what, her peace of mind? Ha. Being around Trace, especially with him like this, half-naked, sent her heart racing like a marathon runner's. "Maybe it would be," Priss admitted, "if you don't look so good."
The compliment sent his right eyebrow arching high.
"Oh, come on, Trace. You know what you look like." She visually devoured him again, more blatantly this time, and noticed a rise behind the fly of his jeans. For her?
Well-well-well. Flattering. ~ Lori Foster

The mile has all the elements of a drama. ~ Roger Bannister

Analysis is a glittering opportunity for training: it is just here that capacity for work, perseverence and stamina are cultivated, and these qualities are, in truth, as necessary to a chess player as a marathon runner. ~ Lev Polugaevsky

If I waited to be in the mood to write, I'd barely have a chapbook of material to my name. Who would ever be in the mood to write? Do marathon runners get in the mood to run? Do teachers wake up with the urge to lecture? I don't know, but I doubt it. My guess is that it's the very act that is generative. The doing of the thing that makes possible the desire for it. ~ Dani Shapiro

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. ~ Robert De Castella

I want to do a movie on sports - like a movie on a racer or a marathon runner - as I feel I'll fit that bill perfectly. ~ Bipasha Basu

My thoughts and prayers go out to the thousands of marathon runners, onlookers, city officials and others affected by this senseless tragedy. ~ Ed Markey

What I think a lot of great marathon runners do is envision crossing that finish line. Visualization is critical. But for me, I set a lot of little goals along the way to get my mind off that overwhelming goal of 26.2 miles. I know I've got to get to 5, and 12, and 16, and then I celebrate those little victories along the way. ~ Bill Rancic

The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals. ~ Hal Higdon

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time. ~ Haile Gebrselassie

To maintain success, stamina is more important than talent. You have to learn to be a marathon runner. ~ Joan Rivers

I used to carbo load. But then I ran my first marathon, actually on a whim. All I could think of was that I needed protein. I remember going to the grocery store and buying one of those roasted chickens. I remember downing a bunch of that and, yes, I had some carbs, but that's what I felt I needed. ~ Summer Sanders

This wasn't just an attack against the Boston Marathon ... It was an attack against the American public and our democratic use of the streets. We have used our public roadways for annual parades, protest marches, presidential inaugurations, marathons, and all manner of other events. The roads belong to us, and their use represents an important part of our free and democratic tradition. ~ Amby Burfoot

The marathon is like a bullfight. ~ Alberto Salazar

A big slice of the strange, a zap to the synaptic net, the shock of unending Otherness moistened with meaning, special stinks, grace notes, blaring daylight that illuminated without instructing. A marathon that addicted.
To wake up from cold sleep and go into that, fresh from the gewgaws and flashy bubble gum of techno-Earth, was – well, a consummation requiring digestion.
She could see that Redwing worried at this, could not let it go. Neither could she. Vexing thoughts came, flying strange and fragrant through her mind, but they were not problems, no. They were the shrapnel you carried, buried deep, wounds from meeting the strange. ~ Gregory Benford

The best way to become a mentally tough runner is to believe that you're a mentally tough runner ~ Ryan Hall

Low-intensity, high-volume training develops the sort of suffering tolerance that enhances fatigue resistance more effectively than does speed-based training. Fast runs may hurt more, but long runs hurt longer. The slow-burn type of suffering that runners experience in longer, less intense workouts is more specific to racing. ~ Matt Fitzgerald

The runner's greatest asset, apart from essential fitness of body, is a cool and calculating brain allied to confidence and courage. ~ Franz Stampfl

Making a movie is like a marathon, and commercials are like sprints - they're equally satisfying, but in different ways. ~ Tony Scott

On a film set, there are runners who are 19, it's their first job, but to me they're as important as anybody else because if they don't do their job then nobody else can. So I don't think anybody should be treated disrespectfully or as if they're of a lower status. ~ Jim Carter

I was visiting Marcus and his wife when a friend asked if she could talk to me alone. Teresa was the spouse of a Team member who'd served with Chris. We hadn't spent a lot of time together, but we'd always had a connection.
"I have something I want to give you," she said. "I don't know if it's going to seem corny to you or what, but I kind of want to do it for me."
She pressed a medal into my hand. I looked at it--it was the medal she'd received for completing the Boston Marathon.
"You and Chris kept me going," she explained. "It was almost eerie how, when my legs were tired and I wanted to quit, Randy Travis's song came on the iPod. It was the one he played at the memorial. My iPod was on random shuffle but it was always at just the right moment. I would hear that song and it would spur me on."
Maybe Chris was somehow behind that. People have told me of other inspirational incidents; each one, from simple to grand, has touched me with its beauty. ~ Taya Kyle

The Runner's Prayer

I pray that I may run,
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last race,
I then most humbly pray:
When checking in for the Lord's great race,
And standing there a sinner,
That God in his mercy finds me,
Qualified to enter. ~ Randy L. Thurman

You belong with me, Scarlett, haven't you figured that out? And the world is where we belong, all of it. We're not home-and-hearth people. We're the adventurers, the buccaneers, the blockade runners. Without challenge, we're only half alive. We can go anywhere, and as long as we're together, it will belong to us. But, my pet, we'll never belong to it. That's for other people, not for us. ~ Alexandra Ripley

Ideally I would start by racing my athletes once every two weeks. But, such a program has to be flexible because some runners improve better with weekly races or even bi-weekly races. A coach has to adjust to what is best for the runner. ~ Gerry Lindgren

Most sexism is down to men being accustomed to us being the losers. That's what the problem is. We just have bad status. Man are accustomed to us being runners-up or being disqualified entirely. For men born pre-feminism, this is what they were raised on: second-class citizen mothers; sisters who need to be married off; female schoolmates going to secretarial school, then becoming housewives. Women who disengaged. Disappeared. ~ Caitlin Moran

Wounded Warriors tell me they're not just going to walk again, they're going to run, and they're going to run marathons! ~ Michelle Obama

Marathon running, for me, was the most controlled test of mettle that I could ever think of. It's you against Darwin. ~ Ryan Reynolds

I will never be ok with the suffering of others - that I will likely continue to fight so I must treat it as a marathon race not a sprint. ~ Kristin Bauer Van Straten

In athletics, older runners tend to go for longer races, but it's the opposite in swimming because your body can't handle the endurance. ~ Kirsty Coventry

Minho looked at Thomas. I nominate this shank to replace me as Keeper of the Runners. ~ James Dashner

I couldn't disappoint people. I did not want to fail and exhaust myself, because I was the kind of runner who trained so little that I couldn't race again within another 10 days. ~ Roger Bannister

Begging your pardon, but I'm not just a secretary. I seriously, seriously despised it when people called secretaries and administrative professionals just a secretary. Being a secretary was a multitasking marathon, a daily gauntlet of making everyone happy all the time. ~ Penny Reid

In a long distance race, everyone gets tired. The winner is the runner who figures out where to put the tired, figures out how to store it away until after the race is over. Sure, he's tired. Everyone is. That's not the point. The point is to run. ~ Seth Godin

Tag said I was aptly named. "Wasn't Moses a prophet or something?"
I just rolled my eyes. At least we weren't talking about the fact that I'd been found in a basket.
"MO-SES!" Tag said my name in a deep, echoing "God voice," reminiscent of the old Charlton Heston movie, The Ten Commandments. Gigi had loved Charlton Heston. I'd spent an Easter with her the year I was twelve and we'd had a Charlton Heston marathon that made me want to smear red paint above everybody's door and burn all the bushes in Levan. Come to think of it, I had smeared paint all over Levan, many times. It was all Charlton Heston's fault. ~ Amy Harmon

I was on a path, and I became determined to give it everything I had - no matter what. ~ Eleanor Brownn

More than the time, it's about how you feel - you want to be strong throughout the race. ~ Ryan Hall

I enter myself in races. I did a triathlon, and I have done a marathon a couple of times. ~ Stephen Mangan

My goal has always been to slow down as slowly as possible. It's as simple as that. ~ Frank Shorter

Having a true faith is the most difficult thing in the world. Many will try to take it from you. ~ Steve Prefontaine

My soundless feet shall fly among the runners
Through the red thunders of a Zeppelin raid,
My still voice cheer the Anti-Aircraft gunners,
The fires shall glare - but I shall cast no shade. ~ Stella Benson

I ran the Boston Marathon out of love. I believe that love is the basis of all meaningful human endeavor. Yet it was a love that was incomplete until it was shared with others. ~ Bobbi Gibb

I know what I want when I start a marathon: to win! But what do you want? Make sure you're clear in advance and don't go out too fast. ~ Haile Gebrselassie

As most students of antiquity know, the modern marathon takes its name from the name of a famous battle that the Athenians won over the Persians in 490 B.C. Pheidippides, a Greek soldier and champion runner, volunteered to run the 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to spread the news of the victory. Upon arriving, Pheidippides is reported to have gasped "Rejoice, we conquer!" and then promptly died on the spot. ~ Pieter Peereboom

Every day of the year where the water is 76, day and night, and the waves roll high, I take my sled, without runners, and coast down the face of the big waves that roll in at Waikiki. ~ Duke Kahanamoku

Sometimes, in a tight game with runners on, digging in at short, ready to break with the ball, a peace I'd never felt before would paralyze the diamond. For a moment of eternal stillness I felt as if I were cocked at the very heart of the Midwest. ~ Stuart Dybek

Every day gives you an opportunity to improve. With every run, you can try to be better. Not just a better runner, but a better person. ~ John Bingham

I did a movie called Marathon Man and it was one of my best memories. ~ Dustin Hoffman

I was afraid to watch 'Blade Runner' in the theater because I was afraid the movie would be better than what I myself had been able to imagine. In a way, I was right to be afraid, because even the first few minutes were better. ~ William Gibson

It's just hard to love someone who cancels the cable right before the Walking Dead marathon. ~ Kwame Alexander

Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren't involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It's precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive
or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself. ~ Haruki Murakami

Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon. ~ Robert Graves

Sometimes it's just surreal out there, while you're running a marathon. People just standing out in the cold, even the rain, cheering for you, blasting music for you. It's an awesome show of camaraderie and community. ~ John Roberts

Having never had dealings with Bow Street, Lady Fieldhurst was not quite certain what to expect: perhaps a stout fellow past his prime, befuddled with sleep or spirits, with a bulbous red nose - the same sort as might be found in any number of watchmen's boxes across the metropolis. The individual who entered the room in [the footman's] wake, however, was very nearly her own age. To be sure, his nose was somewhat crooked, as if it had been broken at some point, but it was far from bulbous, and it was certainly not red. He was quite tall, almost gangly, with curling brown hair tied at the nape of his neck in an outmoded queue. He wore an unfashionably shallow-crowned hat and a black swallow-tailed coat of good cloth but indifferent cut; indeed, his only claim to fashion lay in the quizzing glass which hung round his neck from a black ribbon, and which he now raised, the resulting magnification revealing his eyes to be a warm brown. Julia might have been much reassured as to his competence, had it not been for the fact that his mouth hung open as from a rusty hinge. ~ Sheri Cobb South

The marathon is a competition between your will and your possibilities ~ Jeff Galloway

Some might say that it's easier to be the runner than the runner's family. ~ Robert De Castella

I was thinking back to all the time in the gym, working hard, and that spurred me on [winning New York marathon just ten months after giving birth ~ Paula Radcliffe

We were about a mile from school, on a path in the park, when Chirag reached down and took off his shoes, tossing them into the trees beside us.

"What are you doing?" I shouted in between breaths. Step, breath. Step, breath. He was a few yards ahead of me. I took advantage of his pause to pass him; I wasn't about to let him beat me.

"There's a tribe of Indians in Mexico who are the best runners in the world," he shouted. "They run barefoot for miles and miles and never break a sweat."

"You're not that kind of Indian," I shouted back, and Chirag laughed, his golden skin shimmering beneath his sweat.

"You should try it, too!"

"No way!" I replied without turning around to face him. "The ground is filthy. There could be glass or splinters or something."

"Aw, come on, Maisie," he cooed, coming up on my left side and getting a few steps ahead of me once more. "I dare you. ~ Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Marathons are hard because of the physical pain, the pounding on the muscles, joints, tendons. ~ Lance Armstrong