Quotes & Sayings About Running Races

Rivalries don't necessarily mean races being close at major championships. I had a rivalry with Butch Reynolds for many years. I won all the races, but Butch was the world record holder before I came into the sport, he was extremely talented and he was the only other man running 43 seconds. — Michael Johnson

If I'm going to get in these races and run against the best guys, I'm going to be there with them. And if I die, then I die, but I'm not going to walk away from the track saying, 'I didn't give everything.' Ever again. — David Krummenacker

Many athletes are seeking new and novel ways of pushing their limits, and the challenge of running back-to-back races is certainly one way to test the boundaries. — Dean Karnazes

This is your first marathon. Possibly, you'll want it to be your last. Focus on future races draws energy from the one in front of you. Like the mileage that comprises them, train for marathons one at a time. — Gina Greenlee

there is no stronger taboo today than talking about race. In many cases, just being accused of "racism" can get you fired. Yet, teachers in America know the races differ in school achievement; policemen know the races differ in crime rates; social workers know the races differ in rates of welfare dependency or getting infected with AIDS. And sports fans know that Blacks excel at boxing, basketball, and running. They all wonder why. Some blame poverty, White racism, and the legacy of slavery. Although many doubt that "White racism" really tells the whole story, few dare share their doubts. When it comes to race, do you really dare to say what you think? — Rushton

The man who runs from his office to the golf club, gulps a sandwich, belches and races to the first tee has no business howling in anguish when he puts his first two shots in the woods, then tops a 3-iron shot into the pond. — Tony Lema

My focus in 2010 was on just running fast races. My focus in 2011 was for winning at the World Championships. This year has been a combination of the two so we'll see what kind of time it brings. — David Rudisha

If you put down a good, solid foundation and build one room after another, pretty soon you have a house. You build in your speedwork, your pace and increase your ability to run races and think races out. Then it's possible to run the way we do. — Rod Dixon

When I was nine, I had this girlfriend and we used to have running races in the park. I wanted to be like Superman and fly in and rescue her. — Orlando Bloom

Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. — Haruki Murakami

Republicans are taking the possibility of [Donald] Trump as nominee seriously enough that the committee that oversees next year's Senate races laid out a confidential seven-page blueprint for candidates on how to run with Trump at the top of the ticket. — Dalia Mogahed

Speedwork is terribly overrated! I remember talking to runners after distance races and someone is sure to say they were able to run fast off base work with no speed work at all. The truth is speedwork doesn't work. Lots of miles, and then fast miles gets you there much quicker than speed work. — Gerry Lindgren

Running through my mind are thoughts of all the races I ran. On my chest are medals from the races I won. In my heart is gratitude to Gerard Hartmann for helping make my dreams come true. I am very honoured to be a part of this wonderful book. — Douglas Wakiihuri

To keep your love of running fresh, sign up for races and then don't take yourself or anyone around you too seriously. — Dana L. Ayers

Behind me are a hard 2 weeks of training, so I feel a little bit tired right now, but my goal for the race in Cardiff and Pau remains the same as in all races. I want to do well and have good runs and enjoy racing. The results come by itself when I do that. — Peter Kauzer

Tupper, I think in The Victor. Alf was a working class, whippet-thin runner known as the Tough of the Track who won all his races despite having been up all night making briquettes to save a friend's business, missing his bus to the stadium, being knocked over mid-race by a poncy upper-class twit and losing one of his raggedy running shoes. — Douglas Skelton

Scots are born exiles, and Scotland the perfect country to be exiled from. Do not imagine that I am running down Scotland. Far from it ... No, what I mean is that Scotland's beauties, though undeniable, are obvious ones, easy to carry in the heart, easy even to describe to the benighted members of less fortunate races. Lakes, islands and mountains, heather and rowan, broad straths and narrow glens - these are jewels easily worn in the memory ... — Jan Struther

Not all races are run on a track. And not all finish lines are marked by ticker tape. — Toni Sorenson

If you don't discover God's dreams, you'll either waste your life running in wrong races and crossing wrong finish lines or, like many people, have no finish line at all. — Dutch Sheets

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

...My "poodle" brain craves the adventures that happen during training and racing. Days-long relays, obstacle courses involving fire and barbed wire, races at night, races where you wear tutus. (Fact: that can be every race, if you want it to be.) Some adventures can be intimidating, but it's still fun to conquer something new. — Dana L. Ayers

All things that love the sun are out of doors;
The sky rejoices in the morning's birth;
The grass is bright with rain-drops; - on the moors
The hare is running races in her mirth;
And with her feet she from the plashy earth
Raises a mist, that, glittering in the sun,
Runs with her all the way, wherever she doth run. — William Wordsworth

Big occasions and races which have been eagerly anticipated almost to the point of dread, are where great deeds can be accomplished. — Jack Lovelock

I've run a lot of miles over the years, some fast and some not so fast. I've won some big races and I've had some big disappointments, but I enjoy the freedom of running and the challenge of training and competition as much now as when I first started back in high school. — Alberto Salazar

... And here it is: You don't win races by wishing, you win them by running faster than everyone else. And to do that you have to train hard and strive your utmost, and sometimes even that isn't enough, because another runner just might be more talented than you are. Here's the truth: If you want something, you can have it, but only if you want everything that goes with it, including all the hard work and the despair, and only if you're willing to risk failure. That's the problem with Karl: He was afraid of failing, so he never really tried. — Philip Pullman

Running is in my blood-the adrenaline flows before the races, the love/hate of butterflies in your stomach. — Marcus O'Sullivan

Wanting to win races is detrimental to courage. You tend to run too conservatively because you want to wait and sprint. If you are there to force the pace, to CREATE greatness rather than to have greatness, Courageous moves are a part of your race. — Gerry Lindgren

I made the school team, and when I won in a match against another school it was the greatest moment of my life even greater than the European titles. In those school races, I always ran my legs off. There were girls watching and I wanted to impress them. I was foaming and vomiting, but I won — Juha Vaatainen

Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up. — Amby Burfoot

I have always liked sport and only played or run races for the fun of the thing. — Jim Thorpe

That wild, dangerous part of him. He knew now where it was running, and to whom. He could never have known that the one place he would find peace was in the heart of the wildest, edgiest creature of all. — Thea Harrison

I grew up as a tomboy. I was always barefoot, running races with the guys on the block, climbing trees, and beating kids up. — Edie Falco

You don't win races by wishing, you win them by running faster than everyone else does. — Philip Pullman

Running back-to-back races requires a certain tactical prudence. Going too hard in any one race might jeopardize your performance in another. Maintaining proper hydration and caloric equilibrium also becomes increasingly critical. — Dean Karnazes

There are few instincts more natural than the body in full motion as it races across a field or through the trees. — Neal Bascomb

You ask me,' a thoughtful Crumpet had once said in the smoking-room of the Drones Club, 'why it is that at the mention of his Uncle Fred's name Pongo Twistleton blenches to the core and calls for a couple of quick ones. I will tell you. It is because this uncle is pure dynamite. Every time he is in Pongo's midst, with the sap running strongly in his veins, he subjects the unfortunate young egg to some soul-testing experience, luring him out into the open and there, right in the public eye, proceeding to step high, wide and plentiful. For though well stricken in years the old blister becomes on these occasions as young as he feels, which seems to be about twenty-two. I don't know if you happen to know what the word "excesses" means, but those are what he invariably commits, when on the loose. Get Pongo to tell you some time about that day they had together at the dog races. — P.G. Wodehouse

I work with a place in Santa Monica called Phase IV. My doctor recommended them to me when I started losing weight. They help people train for things like triathlons or biking and running races. They offer physical therapists, testing, lectures. — Drew Carey

Indeed, the zeal of Boston's rank-and-file marathoners rivaled, and in some ways echoed, the religious passion of Nathaniel Howe and his congregation. The runners indulged in orgies of self-denial-running 100 miles a week, working junk )ohs in order to have time to train, paying their own way to races, banding together in ascetic cells, forgoing the temptations of an idolatrous world in order to attain grace and salvation out on the road. As in Puritan New England, grace was not blithely attained. A believer-a runner-earned it by losing toenails and training down to bone and muscle, just as the Puritans formed calluses on their knees from
praying. No one made a cent from their strenuous efforts. The running life, like the spiritual life, was its own reward. — John Brant

You can't become a winner overnight, or even in a couple of years-it takes time ... You will lose races and you will have to accept that, learn from it and believe that you'll win the next one, knowing that you'll probably lose that as well. All the time you have to keep believing that one day you will win. — Paula Radcliffe

Whether it's putting on a bunny costume and running with friends, or simply appreciating the whining coming out of the guy next to you, races offer moments when you can simply enjoy the people around you and feel happy. — Dana L. Ayers