My Favorite Running Quotes

This is a list of my favorite running quotes I have collected over the years.  When I need a boost, I click through to remind myself why I love running.

"Like the marathon, life can sometimes be difficult,challenging and present obstacles, however if you believe in your dreams and never ever give up, things will turn out for the best." - Meb Keflezighi, U.S. Olympic marathoner

"The marathon has so many elements to prepare for. I think that is one reason I always want to come back for more. There is always something to change in your preparation and I am still trying to discover what I am capable of.  I guess I just love the challenge." - Dathan Ritzenhein

"Success does not come to the most righteous and rigorously disciplined but to those who continue running." - Amby Burfoot

"Running has taught me, perhaps more than anything else, that there's no reason to fear starting lines...or other new beginnings." - Amby Burfoot 

"Even when our heart aches, we summon the strength that maybe we didn't even know we had, and we carry on; we finish the race." - President Barack Obama at the Boston Marathon memorial service on April 18, 2013

"Winning is not about headlines and hardware [medals]. It's only about attitude. A winner is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best runner and best person he can be. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up." Amby Burfoot, Editor-at-Large, Runner's World and 1968 Boston Marathon Winner

"Success isn't how far you go, but the distance you traveled from where you started." - Steve Prefontaine

"The real purpose of running isn't to win a race; it's to test the limits of the human heart." –Bill Bowerman

“I also realize that winning doesn't always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself.” - Meb Keflezighi

"Anybody can be a runner. We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It's the easiest sport." - Bill Rodgers

"You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. We were born to run; we were born because we run." - Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

"Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did." - Nelson Mandela

"Running unites us and brings us together... For it isone of the few commonalities left between us as a human race. Toeing the starting line of a marathon, regardless of the language you speak, the God you worship or the color of your skin, we all stand as equal. Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people ran." Dean Karnazes

"Running is a big question mark that's there each andevery day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher

"Either you run the day or the day runs you."  - Jim Rohn

"Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough." -Hal Higdon

"What I've learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you're hurting like crazy and you want to give up. Success is often just around the corner." - Sir James Dyson, Inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner

"To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain - not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it." Dr. George Sheehan

"A marathon is like life with its ups and downs, but once you've done it you feel that you can do anything." - Anonymous

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrificethe Gift." - Steve Prefontaine

"Happiness is pushing your limits and watching them back down."  New Balance Ad

“If I were to be remembered for anything at all, I would want that to be that I am/was authentic. No Mas. Run Free!” - Micah True, American ultra runner

"We all know that if you run, you are pretty much choosing a life of success because of it." - Deena Kastor

"Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow." - Henry David Thoreau

"That's the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is." - Kara Goucher

"Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don'thave races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up." Amby Burfoot

"When you run in the morning, you gain time in a sense. It's like stretching 24 hours into 25. You may need to sleep less and get up earlier, but if you can get by that, running early seems to expand theday." - Fred Lebow, founder of the New York City Marathon

"There's no magic to running far or climbing Everest. Endurance is mental strength. It's all about heart." - Bear Grylls, Host of Man vs. Wild

“If you can find meaning in the type of running you need todo to stay on this team, chances are you can find meaning in another absurd pastime: Life.” - Robert Towne, screenplay for Pre

"You feel good while you're running and you feel even better when you're finished." - Fred Lebow

"The expression 'misery loves company' is meant for winter running. As I'm lying in bed on dark, cold mornings, it's a lot harder to talk myself out of getting up when I know I'm accountable to other people." - Jason Lehmkuhle, of Team USA Minnesota, runner-up at 2008 U.S. Half-Marathon Championships

"Running should be a lifelong activity. Approach it patiently and intelligently, and it will reward you for a long, long time." Michael Sargent

"Never make a decision on a hill."

"Pain is temporary, pride is forever"

"Run into peace." - Meister Eckhart, 14th-Century Philosopher

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." -Bill Bowerman

"The distance race is a struggle that results inself-discovery. It is an adventure involving the limits of the self." Paul Weiss

"Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the type of running you need to do ... chances are you'll be able to find meaning in that other absurd pastime - LIFE." - Bill Bowerman

“Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running.” - Sarah Condor

"There are times when you run a marathon and you wonder, Why am I doing this? But you take a drink of water, and around the next bend, you get your wind back, remember the finish line, and keep going." -Steve Jobs

“Running is a statement to society. It is saying 'no' to always being on call, to sacrificing our daily runs for others' needs. When we run we are doing something for ourselves.” Phoebe Jones, runner

“The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.” - George Sheehan

"I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just anathletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anythingis possible." - John Hanc, running writer

"It's the one thing that's mine. My runs everyday aremy thing. It's my therapy, my hour to myself. Nobody can really take it away from me... It's such a huge part of me. I love to say that I'm a runner."- Summer Sanders, Olympic gold-medalist

"There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul." - Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers blog at Runner's World

“When you run, you log on to yourself. You flip through thepages of your being.” - Kevin Nelson, The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration

"Training for a marathon started out as a life-list thing, and it turned into a lifestyle." - Mike Post

"Running along our journey doesn't only teach us how to keep moving forward through what life throws at us, it also makes us into the best version of ourselves." - Ashley Erickson, freelance fitness writer/editor

"Running is the greatest sport. Your competitors push you to run better, stronger, and faster; and you can only fail by quitting." Kenny Ames 2-6-12