It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.
The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.
Motivation remains key to the marathon: the motivation to begin; the motivation to continue; the motivation never to quit.
I definitely want to show how beautiful the marathon can be. I am the opponent of all those who find the marathon bad: the psychologists, the physiologists, the doubters. I make the marathon beautiful for myself and for others. That's why I'm here.
Onions make me sad. A lot of people don't realize that.
Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
Few things in life match the thrill of a marathon.
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
You shall become the person you are.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
A lot of people don't realize that not everybody gets high.
Marathoning is like cutting yourself unexpectedly. You dip into the pain so gradually that the damage is done before you are aware of it. Unfortunately, when the awareness comes, it is excruciating.
Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.
I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.
But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.
I run to see who has the most guts.
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
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.
You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.
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