Prefontaine Running Quotes & Sayings

I haven't seen too many American distance men on the international scene willing to take risks. I saw some U.S. women in Barcelona willing to risk, more than men. The Kenyans risk. Steve Prefontaine risked. I risked - I went through the first half of the Tokyo race just a second off my best 5000 time. — Billy Mills

Every once in a while I think, 'What am I doing out here running, busting myself up? Life could be so much easier. The other guys are out having fun, doing other things, why not me?' — Steve Prefontaine

If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters ... nobody except me. — Steve Prefontaine

No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me. — Steve Prefontaine

Running gives me confidence. — Steve Prefontaine

As far as being a coach, it's always fascinated me. It's a greater responsibility than most people give it credit for because you're dealing with people. — Steve Prefontaine

Kids made fun of me because I was a slow learner, because I was hyperactive, because of a lot of things. Running gave me confidence. — Steve Prefontaine

I originally started redoing houses to deal with stress. I found that the hour I could go to a job site every day took my mind off the 24/7 of thinking about my clients. — Sandy Gallin

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back. — Steve Prefontaine

I don't just go out there and run. I like to give people watching something exciting. — Steve Prefontaine

The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die. — Steve Prefontaine

What I like most about track is the feeling I get after a good run. — Steve Prefontaine

In racing, I wanted to be a winner and to be a winner, you have to be willing to roll the dice. — Bobby Rahal

Nobody had a bigger heart or passion to win than America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine "Pre." Watch the movies Prefontaine, Without Limits, or Fire on the Track to see what I'm talking about. — Robert Cheeke

The community is eminently Portuguese - that is to say, it is slow, poor, shiftless, sleepy, and lazy. — Mark Twain

Have you ever noticed how much they look like orchids? lovely! — Robert A. Heinlein

You make it all sound so simple. Run your guts out ... collapse at the finish, throw up, that makes a good runner. Sounds like you regret not being more like Prefontaine ... Everyone gripes to me that American marathoners are 'lazy-no-good-for-nothings'. My point is, many people have criticisms, but few have valid answers. I'd like to know what happened to the guys that kicked my ass in high school. — Keith Brantly

No matter how hard you train, Somebody will train harder. No matter how hard you run, Somebody will run harder. No matter how hard you want it, Somebody will want it more, I am Somebody. — Steve Prefontaine

What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running? — Steve Prefontaine

The idea of losing the three at Hayward Field and the idea of losing my specialty to someone who wasn't running his specialty. Mostly, the idea of losing in front of my people. They haven't forgotten about me. — Steve Prefontaine

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. — Steve Prefontaine

Don't let fatigue make a coward of you. — Steve Prefontaine

How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races? All my life people have been telling me, 'You're too small Pre', 'You're not fast enough Pre', 'Give up your foolish dream Steve'. But they forgot something, I HAVE TO WIN. — Steve Prefontaine

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started. — Steve Prefontaine

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. — Steve Prefontaine

The brilliant British mathematician, eccentric, and computer pioneer Alan Turing came up with the following test: A computer can be said to be intelligent if it can (on average) fool a human into mistaking it for another human. The converse should be true. A human can be said to be unintelligent if we can replicate his speech by a computer, which we know is unintelligent, and fool a human into believing that it was written by a human. Can one produce a piece of work that can be largely mistaken for Derrida entirely randomly? — Nassim Nicholas Taleb