Marathon Quotes

“But I also realize that winning doesn't always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself.”
― Meb Keflezighi, Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream

“The next generation is like the last runner in a very long relay race. The race to end extreme poverty has been a marathon, with the starter gun fired in 1800. This next generation has the unique opportunity to complete the job: to pick up the baton, cross the line, and raise its hands in triumph. The project must be completed. And we should have a big party when we are done.”
― Hans Rosling, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

“When I go to the Boston Marathon now, I have wet shoulders—women fall into my arms crying. They're weeping for joy because running has changed their lives. They feel they can do anything.”
― Kathrine Switzer

“Where most friends would say, “Poor baby,” running friends say, “You’re being a baby.” Where most friends offer gentle encouragement, running friends talk smack. Running buddies celebrate the best, tolerate the worst, and pretend not to notice the embarrassing. They’re a vault for the secrets that we share on the trail, when we’re hungry, hot, and way too tired to be anything but 100 percent real. And when someone asks, “Would it be a horrible idea if . . . ?” the running buddy’s answer is always, “Yes. What time?” A running buddy sees your limitless potential and will happily act as a mirror until you see it, too.”
― Susan Lacke, Running Outside the Comfort Zone: An Explorer's Guide to the Edges of Running

“And then there's the perverse joy of subtly working in references to marathon training in daily life, say at the post office or while waiting outside my first-graders' classrooms at the end of the school day.”
― Sarah Bowen Shea, Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line - and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity

“Don't get disheartened one mile into a marathon.”
― Rasheed Ogunlaru

“He has so little energy in his body that he can only walk to the bathroom on the other side of the hallway twice a day.

After a few meters he is worn out, much worse than after the marathons he used to run. He was a triathlete, he earned a brown belt in judo, became Dutch champion in hockey, until he contracted pneumonia in 2005 and never recovered. Ever since, he has a headache, vertigo, and insomnia, but worst of all the fatigue: after minimal effort his muscles would lose all their strength and take days to recover. Only after a few years did he get a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).”
― Ellen de Visser

“We’re not born running up mountains. Most of us don’t even figure out we’re capable of such a feat until later in life. Along the way, we make a lot of mistakes. Some of us even hit rock bottom. And then we pick ourselves up, dust off the dirt, and start climbing — sometimes literally. Running is a transformative experience in mind, body and spirit for so many. It helps us face inner demons and shush the naysayers — especially when those naysayers are ourselves.”
― Susan Lacke, Running Outside the Comfort Zone: An Explorer's Guide to the Edges of Running

“Of all the animals that fly, some are like floating flowers (butterflies), some are songbirds that are full of gulp (swallows), and some are swimming birds that also run marathons (ducks). When I compose music to be performed live in an elevator, those are my inspirations.”
― Jarod Kintz, Music is fluid, and my saxophone overflows when my ducks slosh in the sounds I make in elevators.

“When push comes to shove, I’m going to figure out some doors need to be pulled to be opened. I like to walk into places like a duck that's just finished running a marathon.”
― Jarod Kintz, Music is fluid, and my saxophone overflows when my ducks slosh in the sounds I make in elevators.

“De meeste vrienden die eens een keertje met me meelopen laten me al na een paar kilometer in de steek. Ze krijgen de slappe lach van het lopen. Ik niet. Er valt voor mij niets te lachen. Hardlopen is voor mij een heel ernstige zaak. In Duitse klassieke muziek wordt ook niet veel gelachen, dus waarom tijdens het hardlopen wel?”
― Abdelkader Benali, Marathonloper

“The marathon is less a physical event than a spiritual encounter. In infinite wisdom, God built into us a 32-km racing limit, a limit imposed by inadequate sources of the marathoner's prime racing fuel - carbohydrates. But we, in our human wisdom, decreed that the standard marathon be raced over 42 km.

So it is in that physical no-man's-land, which begins after the 32-km mark, that the irresistible appeal of the marathon lies. It is at that stage, as the limits to human running endurance are approached, that the marathon ceases to be a physical event. It is there that you, the runner, discover the basis for the ancient proverb: "When you have gone so far that you cannot manage one more step, then you have gone just half the distance that you are capable of." It is there that you learn something about yourself and your view of life." Marathon runners have termed it the wall. (Chapter 10)”
― Tim Noakes, Lore of Running

“Life is a craft no one masters. But we will see an abundance of amazing colors, beautiful views and stunning insights along the way.”
― Ricky Maye, Outsiders: The Story of Success

“Put one foot in front of the other, no matter what. Enjoy the hilltop views, have courage in the valleys, pay attention to the bends in the road, cry when you have to, laugh when you can, be helpful to others, share your joys as well as your sorrows, and remember that God created you for a purpose.”
― Eleanor Brownn

“Anyone can star a marathon. Only the strongest will finish it, even after they fall.”
― Gena Showalter, Lifeblood

“My body is sore. I’m not very good at the sport called Sleeping. Like a waddling duck is to a marathon runner, so I am to a kitten. I need to practice more, maybe multiple times a day.”
― Jarod Kintz, BearPaw Duck And Meme Farm presents: Two Ducks Brawling Is A Pre-Pillow Fight

“Have you ever seen how fast ducks can waddle when chased? If I were to ever run a marathon, I'd model my pace on their stride and rhythm.”
― Jarod Kintz, One Out of Ten Dentists Agree: This Book Helps Fight Gingivitis. Maybe Tomorrow I’ll Ask Nine More Dentists.: A BearPaw Duck And Meme Farm Production

“Sometimes I fish, and sometimes my vending machine is broken so I can’t. Thanks for all your Butterfly Smiles. I have them FOR SALE as Powdered PowWOW Substitute, for people who shower like they spent the night sleepwalking through a marathon at the pace of a sprinting duck.”
― Jarod Kintz, Music is fluid, and my saxophone overflows when my ducks slosh in the sounds I make in elevators.

“What's the difference between running shoes and dancing shoes? Nothing, if you find a song that's 26.2 miles long.”
― Jarod Kintz, There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can't

“Coffee, it's the original energy drink. After I chug this I'll feel like I could run a marathon, but I won't, because I have two Rubik's Cubes for knees, and they still need to be solved.”
― Jarod Kintz, The Lewis and Clark of The Ozarks

“The understanding of the universe is equivalent to running a marathon. By the time humanity reaches extinction, we would have not even crossed the first few meters.”
― Rajesh`, Random Cosmos

“As runners, we tend to think in exchanges and zero sum games: If I finish this race, I get a medal. If I run 10 miles today, I’ll have earned this burger. I have to hit these splits, otherwise, I failed. But sometimes, the things we get out of a run are far more abstract than a piece of tin to wear around our neck or a set of numbers on a stopwatch. A run can take us to places and people we would otherwise never have the opportunity to encounter.”
― Susan Lacke, Running Outside the Comfort Zone: An Explorer's Guide to the Edges of Running

“It can be hard, out there during a tough race or long run gone wrong, to remember that we choose these mental and physical tests. We are fortunate to experience these events.”
― Rob Steger, Training For Ultra: Ultra Running Stories From the Middle of the Pack

“There is no finish like the one you questioned.”
― Rob Steger, Training For Ultra: Ultra Running Stories From the Middle of the Pack

“The journey of entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Success comes to those who can maintain their focus and determination over the long haul.”
― Justin Ho Guo Shun, The Art and Science of Startup

“Running rules over mood.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“The last leg of Marathon is most exhausting and draining.”
― Sandeep Sahajpal, The Twelfth Preamble: To all the authors to be!

“Een marathon is een duurloop van dertig kilometer gevolgd door een wedstrijd van 12,2 kilometer, wordt weleens gezegd.”
― Abdelkader Benali, Marathonloper

“Dan is er de troost dat je over een mislukte marathon beter kan schrijven dan over een geslaagde.”
― Abdelkader Benali, Marathonloper

“If you can keep things simple, imagine running a marathon as nothing more than a long walk in the park.”
― Manuel Corazzari