Inspiration for Marathoners...

Here are funny and provocative quotes about marathoners...

• "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

• "Marathon running is a terrible experience: monotonous, heavy, and exhausting."
  Veikko Karvonen, 1954 European and Boston Marathon Champ

• "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming."
  Frank Shorter

• "Marathoning is like cutting yourself unexpectedly. You dip into the pain so gradually that the damage is done before you are aware of it. Unfortunately, when awareness comes, it is excruciating."
  John Farrington, Australian marathoner

• "There is the truth about the marathon and very few of you have written the truth. Even if I explain to you, you'll never understand it, you're outside of it."
  Douglas Wakiihuri speaking to journalists

• "We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."
  Emil Zatopek

• "I'm going to go out a winner if I have to find a high school race to win my last race."
  Johnny Gray

• "Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity."
  Michael Johnson

• "I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
  Jesse Owens

• "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts."
  Steve Prefontaine

• "It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse."
  Ann Trason

• "Tough times don't last but tough people do."
  A.C. Green

• "I cannot have survival as my only goal. That would be too boring. My goal is to come back in my best running form. It is good for me to have that goal; it will help me."
  Ludmila Engquist (Olympic champion hurdler facing cancer and chemotherapy)

• "When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?"
  Jesse Owens

• "There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open."
  Nike

• "What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."
  Dwight D. Eisenhower

• "The gun goes off and everthing changes... the world changes... and nothing else really matters."
  Patti Sue Plummer

• "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming."
  Frank Shorter

• "Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible."
  Doug Larson

• "If you start to feel good during an ultra, dont' worry you will get over it."
  Gene Thibeault

• "The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."
  Robert Frost

• "I have met my hero, and he is me."
  George Sheehan

• "No negative thoughts cross my mind on race day. When I look into their eyes, I know I'm going to beat them."
  Danny Harris

• "Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired."
  Jules Renard

• "I've always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners."
  Sebastian Coe

• "We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
  Will Rogers

• "The will to win means nothing if you haven't the will to prepare."
  Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner

• "The start of a World Cross Country event is like riding a horse in the middle of a buffalo stampede. It's a thrill if you keep up, but one slip and you're nothing but hoof prints."
  Ed Eyestone

• "The freedom of Cross Country is so primitive. It's woman vs. Nature."
  Lynn Jennings

• "Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have nature and that is much better."
  Juha Väätäinen, Finland

http://www.hornetjuice.com/marathon-quotes.html