Motivational Marathon Quotes & Sayings

See, unlike most hackers, I get little joy out of figuring out how to install the latest toy. — Jamie Zawinski

Listening to your body does not imply a lack of grit but a willingness to honor true physical limits. Kenyan runners have a reputation for listening to their bodies but certainly do not take it easy on themselves; they are among the world's most gifted and accomplished athletes. — Gina Greenlee

All discomfort is not equal. Learning to listen will help you distinguish among effort, fatigue and pain. To what degree, under what conditions and over what period of time your body experiences these sensations will determine how you respond. — Gina Greenlee

We love those who hate our enemies, and if we had no enemies there would be very few people whom we should love. — Bertrand Russell

Each of us has our definition of adventure: ending an unsatisfying
relationship, returning to school, parachute jumping or training for a
marathon. Go ahead. Get your thrill on. — Gina Greenlee

If you've nurtured your Spirit and trained your Mind as well as your Body you'll be prepared with everything you need to draft across the finish. Remember: all the training runs when you didn't feel like running but ran anyway and felt so good physically but also about yourself. Envision the flash of friendly faces waiting to greet you. Celebrate that you have more energy now than you ever dreamed. Revel in the uptick in personal productivity and self-worth. Yes, you will run a marathon. And you will finish. — Gina Greenlee

What was the use of knowing? If the thing was true, it was terrible. — Oscar Wilde

Boredom has a bad rap. Its true character reveals you are deep inside your comfort zone. Boredom is a docent beckoning toward the edges of a labyrinth. — Gina Greenlee

To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind. — Jerome Drayton

There's more to marathon day than running long. Learning how your body reacts to the early alarm, light breakfast and warm-up is key. Minimize surprises come race day. Run long the same time of day as the race. — Gina Greenlee

We are made of emotions, we are all looking for emotions, it's only a question of finding the way to experience them. There are many different ways of experience them all. Perhaps one different thing, only that, one particular thing that Formula One can provide you, is that you know we are always expose to danger, danger of getting hurt, danger of dying. — Ayrton Senna

Allow seven months to responsibly train for your first marathon. This will minimize stress to your mind and body and give your existential nature time to incorporate a new way of being. — Gina Greenlee

One of the most important ways for you to train, stay healthy and injury free is to listen closely to what your body tells you. — Gina Greenlee

In a life full of work, family, civic responsibilities, commutes and errands, your training runs offer fertile opportunity to lean inward and listen. — Gina Greenlee

Body follows mind. If the mind compares itself to others this could lead to overtraining. Tune out what other runners do and how fast they run. Tune in, instead, to how your body wants to increase speed and distance. — Gina Greenlee

I longed only to turn back and climb and begin life all over again in a place where I might find the peace I'd once known in mountains of another time and another place, and I wondered-if I could slip out of camp unobserved-whether I just might be able to stay hidden and uncaptured until this war came to an end. — Andrew Krivak

I look back on my liberal political beliefs with a sort of wonder - as another exercise in self-involvement - rewarding myself for some superiority I could not logically describe. — David Mamet

The week before the marathon, sleep well. If normally you "get by" with five hours but require seven, make sure you get seven every night. The sleep you get the week leading up to the marathon is more important than the night before. The night before, you probably won't sleep well due to anxiety, excitement and anticipation. — Gina Greenlee

The goal of your first marathon is to finish. You have no time goal. You're not endeavoring to win or place in your age category. Being a speed demon serves no purpose other than to court injury. Your only competition is you. — Gina Greenlee

The only righteous thing on the face of the earth is death. No one has ever bribed their way out of that. The earth takes us all: the good, the evil and the sinners. And that's all the justice you'll find in this world. — Svetlana Alexievich

Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children. — Albert Camus

The old author knew all too well that the imagination was a top cause for missing good meals. — S.A. Tawks

Everybody wants attention and admiration. Nobody wants to be criticized. The sweetest sound in the English language is the sound of a person's own name. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly. Let the other person save face. — Alice Schroeder

Your body provides you with constant feedback that can help improve your running performance while minimizing biomechanical stress. Learn to differentiate between the discomfort of effort and the pain of injury. When you practice listening, you increase competence in persevering through the former and responding with respect and compassion to the latter. — Gina Greenlee

Once flooded with light, our boogeymen diminish, no longer ogres in our imagination. We welcome internal dialogue for its treasures. — Gina Greenlee

It's hard to blame someone because they simply don't have time. — Roland Joffe

Uncertain about an aspect of training? Read, consult others and experiment. In the end, though, listen to the body and the Voice Inside. Instead of dousing it with music, podcasts or talk radio, let the Voice Inside play out and wind past rumination to rich sediment that informs what drives and scares you. — Gina Greenlee

Just like the body responds with sore muscles when we add mileage, the initial discomfort felt when we listen to the Voice Inside reflects growth. The good news: anxiety initially triggered by listening to our inner dialogue is short-term vs. the unnamed, interminable dread that piggybacks suppression. Even better, we can manage it with self-talk, deep breathing (inherent to running), the Tribe and social support. — Gina Greenlee

Life's a marathon, not a sprint. — Phillip C. McGraw

Go where you add value. Don't look for places where you're just like everybody else. — Paul Wachter

I was born with the Sight, Ink," she said, voice trembling. "So tell me, why were you the first person I'd ever seen from the Twixt?"
They stared at each other. His answer slipped through his lips.
"Because I saw you," he confessed. "And I couldn't look away. — Dawn Metcalf

As your training integrates Mind, Body and Spirit, enjoy the process. Your journey to the marathon finish will last a few hours. Your journey to the start will influence a lifetime. — Gina Greenlee

Pop was a devout Roman Catholic; I'm a lapsed Catholic. I'm not the village atheist, but I exert my right not to believe, and I doubt I would have been very public about that were he still alive, simply just so as not to hurt his feelings. — Christopher Buckley

this creature moved on all fours. Long, pointed ears lay flat against the monster's head. The long, tapered snout was wrinkled into a snarl, lips pulled back to reveal two rows of razor-sharp fangs. Muscles moved like liquid beneath the layers of coarse, black fur. Terrible clawed feet, each toe ending with a black, curved talon that wrapped around the stairs, splintering the wood. — Graeme Reynolds