Great running quotes (compiled 04/08).

“Don’t limit your challenges – challenge your limits!” – Nicola Bamford; Run Britain editor

"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." - Steve Prefontaine; great American distance runner

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." - Oprah Winfrey; American chat show queen

"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." -Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile

"If you feel bad after 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." - Distance star Rob de Castella

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter; great American distance runner
"I've always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners." - Sebastian Coe; double Olympic 1500m Champion and 2012 Chairman

“It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.”
“To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain colour to someone who was born blind.”

“I’ve always had a simple view of training for distance running; run two hard interval sessions a week and one long run – 20-miles or 2-hours, whichever comes first. Every other run is aerobic and you do as much of that for volume as you can handle. Do this for two or three years and you’ll get good.” – Frank Shorter; 1972 Olympic marathon Champion.

“Have a race plan in mind. It needn’t be more complicated, though, than knowing your target per mile.” – Alberto Salazar; former NY marathon winner.

“Be determined that you will finish. Don’t give up unless you have an injury. Your mind will plan games but don’t let it win. It is also better to go into the race under trained than over trained. In the former you can always find energy from somewhere. Over trained, once you’ve gone, you’ve gone!” – Official Flora London marathon training guidelines.