Quote of the Week

02/07/06 "Run, it might be Somebody!" Title of the autobiography of California ultrarunner Ephraim Romesburg

01/31/06 "The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all that you are traveling for." - Louis L'Amour

01/24/06 "If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want - Why? Because: (a) you'll burn all the calories you consume; (b) you deserve it; and (c) you'll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway." - Don Kardong

01/17/06 "Endurance comes in waves.  What seems impossible one moment becomes possible the next." UltraRunner

1/10/06 “I always get those two confused!  It’s Mr. Phillip Wedgeworth that’s so fast, and Dr. Pendergrass that is in the autumn of his athletic career…” PBP Young Runner of the Year Robert Mozingo, after seeing the television commercial for Green Eye Clinic, which features a several year-old shot of a younger, pre-wreck Pendergrass.

1/4/06 "If one could run without getting tired I don't think one would often want to do anything else." - C.S. Lewis

12/26/05 "Don't be ruled by your past racing history. Base your quality sessions on your recent racing performances, not your personal records from decades ago. Some days simply run at a good, steady effort." -Sean Downey, RW managing editor

12/19/05 "If you can read this, thank a teacher.  If it's in English, thank a soldier." Anymouse

12/12/05 "The difference between a jogger and a runner is a a race-entry blank" George Sheehan

12/05/06 "Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self --- the passionate state of mind is an expression of inner  dissatisfaction."  Eric Hoffer

11/29 05 "You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough" Joe Louis

11/22/05 "When you're going through hell, keep going" Winston Churchill

11/15/05 "Only those who will risk going too far can find out how far they can go." T. S. Eliot

11/02/05 " No guts, no glory" WWII slogan.

10/26/05 Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. T. Seuss Geisel

10/19/05 Pain is good for you. Extreme pain is extremely good. Incline Club

10/12/05 We train hard because there are only 2 ways to get fast. We haven't figured out the other. Incline Club

10/05/05 "Go out hard. When it starts to hurt, speed up" Incline Club

10/01/05 "I can't give you brains, but I can give you a diploma." --- The Wizard of Oz

09/26/05 Faith: Sees the invisible, Believes the incredible, Receives the impossible. Anymouus

09/19/05 "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Amelia Earhart

08/28/05 The only way for a rich man to be healthy is by exercise and abstinence, to live as if he were poor. William Temple

08/21/05 To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded!" - Emerson

08/14/05 "How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the whole earth, were it not for misgovernment, and a diversion of all his energies from their proper object -- the happiness of man -- to the selfish interest of kings, nobles, and priests." -Thomas Jefferson, 1825

08/07/05 Actions speak louder than coaches. (Speedo ad)

08/02/05 "Risk more than others think is safe ~ Care more than others think is wise ~ Dream more than others think is practical ~ Expect more than others think is possible." Unknown

07/21/05 "Some people see things that are and ask, why?   Some people dream
of things that never were and ask, why not?  Some people have to go to
work and don't have time for all that...."   George Carlin

07/14/05 "If you believe in yourself, have dedication and pride and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards. "Paul "Bear" Bryant (Late, great coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team)

07/07/05 If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of
distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it. And, which
is more, you'll be a man, my son! Kipling

06/30/05 "His IQ drops 50 points every time he laces up a pair of running shoes." - Unknown

06/23/05 "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher

06/15/05 "That which we achieve too easily, we esteem too lightly " Thomas Paine

06/08/05 “Distance doesn’t kill speed. Not doing speed kills speed.” -Mark Wetmore (University of Colorado coach)

06/01/05 "A cyclist needs only two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape." - Anonymous

05/25/05 "If you aren't failing every now and then, you're probably playing it too safe." - Woody Allen

05/18/05 "It's said that horses are so dumb they'll run themselves to death. The same is true of ultra[long distance]runners. In fact, a few have already done so (or come close). It's not admirable. It's not respectable. Unless you do it as a creative form of suicide. Then that's cool." --Geri Kilgariff [The Heir Apparently Apprenticed Wizened Sage of Phoenix, Arizona]

5/11/05 "Dream big and dare to fail" Norman Vaughn

5/04/05 “They’ve just closed I220 and Hwy. 80.  All signals are scrambled and there are F16’s overhead.  We’re being held against our will by the Secret Service, which claims that normal runners don’t take 10 mile training runs in Jackson during their lunch hour…” Jerry Keywood phoning the “J.T. and Dave Show” live on Tuesday from an undisclosed location while President Bush’s motorcade headed to Canton for his speech at the Nissan plant.

04/30/05 "Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." Edward Stanley (1826-1893) from The Conduct of Life

04/23/05 Q: Along the course, did you see a lot of Ethiopian flags and people cheering, and how did that make you feel? Hailu Negussie: I was focused on my running that I didn't SEE ANYONE (2005 Boston marathon champ)

04/16/05 "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. "
Edward Abbey

04/09/05 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.1 Cor 9:24

04/02/05  "Anybody running beats anybody walking, and anybody walking beats anybody sitting." - Tom Bunk

03/22/05 "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced" - Kierkegard

03/15/05 "If at first you don't succeed, you can always become an ultramarathoner." - Bruce Fordyce

03/08/05 "In running," says Pat Caffrey, "there is no bad weather. Only wimpy people."

03/01/05 "No man really knows where his journey is going, or understands what he sees along the way, nor knows if today is the day it will end." Cadillacs

02/23/05 “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”-  Thomas A. Edison

02/08/05 "People say that we're searching for the meaning of life. I don't think that's it at all. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost beings and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive" Joseph Campbell, The Power of Moab

02/01/05 "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant." Horace

01/25/05 "Geologic time includes now" A cute saying the folks in Moab UT use to remind you to watch for falling rocks while you hike/run/bike in one of the world's most beautiful places.

01/18/05 "Man, I never thought Mr. Ulery would drive a ride like this... I believe I could hang out with him awhile. You sure  you talkin' 'bout that lightnin' fast dude with the grey hair and mustache?" Robert Mozingo, 9, before learning that the 1999 Buick LeSabre that he was riding in did not belong to world famous Steve ULERY, but actually to YOUSRI, owner of City Runners/Soccer Locker.

01/03/05 "Running is a road to self-awareness and self-reliance. You can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations, or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet, but when you are through, exhilarated and exhausted, at least for a moment, everything seems right with the world." From the back of the MTC member card.

12/27/04 "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun" Mark Twight

12/20/04 "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of
having been designed for a purpose"  Richard Dawkins

12/13/04 "It's hard being merry after all this, especially at this time of year, but someone's gotta do it..." -Merry Ulery, after circling the race course for hours, so that her husband could set a personal record in the 26.2 mile endeavor called the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon...

12/06/04 We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us. Romans, 5:3-5

11/29/04 "The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to
deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." Abraham Lincoln

11/22/04 Train to near death, rest, repeat. {Anonymous}

11/15/04 If you want to run, then run a mile. If you want to experience another life, run a marathon. {Emil Zatopek}

11/08/04 "May the road rise up to greet you, and the wind always be at your back" - Irish proverb

11/01/04 "To learn  something is fantastic because every time you learn something you become  something new." Leo F. Buscaglia, Ph.D., "Living, Loving &  Learning"

10/07/04 I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

09/30/04 "I can't go on, I'll go on". - Samuel Beckett

09/23/04 All things return to the one. What does the One return to? Zen koan.

09/16/04 "For me Frailty is a lot harder to bear than dying."

09/09/04 "A bicycle does get you there and more, and there is always the thin edge of danger to keep you alert and comfortably apprehensive. Through it all, getting there is all the fun"

09/02/04 "Bold is the task, when subjects, grown too wise, Instruct a monarch where his error lies"

08/25/04 "Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it." -Michael Johnson's trainer

08/18/04 "The best long distance runners eat raw meat, run naked and sleep in the snow." - Alaska Airlines advertisement honoring Iditarod dogs  

08/11/04 "trample the weak, hurdle the dead" Part of the pre-race instructions by the RD of an Ultra in Toronto

08/04/04 'If You Can Read This Then I'm In Front Of You' (from the back of a running shirt)

07/28/04 "In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we know, and we will know only what we are taught." Baba Diom, Senegal

7/19/04 "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" Wayne Gretsky

07/12/04 "Insanity is doing the same thing you've always done and expecting different results." Roger Milliken

07/05/04 "Faith is not so much something we believe; faith is something we live."   Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

07/01/04 "Vincit qui patitur: he conquers, who endures" - Percy Cerutty

06/25/04  "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt." - Keith Woestehoff

6/17/04 "It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." - George Sheehan

6/9/04 “Come on, speed hurts,” Lindy Sarpy as she blew by Steve Ulery in the last tenth of the Gulf Coast Classic 10K.

5/25/04 "Pain is weakness leaving the body." US Armed Forces

5/13/04 "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever" Lance Armstrong

5/6/04 "Half this game is ninety percent mental." - Yogi Berra

4/31/04 Build thee more stately mansions, oh my soul.
As the swift seasons roll, leave thy low-vaulted past.
Let each new temple, wider than the last
Shut them from heaven with a dome more vast
Until thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea.
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Chambered Nautilus"

3/14/04 "Nothing ever fatigues me, except that which I dislike." - Jane Austen

3/7/04 "If at first you don't succeed, try again.  Then quit.  There's no use being a damn fool about it." -- W.C. Fields 

2/29/04 There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

2/22/04 Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk. Chinese Proverb

2/15/04 "He's soft and he's fat and he's wearing my clothes and he's getting too old and he was born on my birthday and I'm afraid if I stop running, he'll catch up with me." The Nike poster definition of masters athlete motivation

2/4/04 "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." - Ben Zander, according to aspiring ultrarunner Sophia Lewis

1/25/04 "Exercise is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol." - Lily Tomlin

1/19/04 "Older people can run and have arthritis pain after a workout. Or not
run and have pain 24 hours a day."  Dr. William Raasch, associate
professor of orthopedic surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin

1/12/04 "I'm still hungry to chase records - even if they are my own" - Haile Gebrelassie

1/5/04 "It is well documented that for every minute that you exercise, you add one minute to your life. This enables you to someday spend more time in a nursing home at $5000 per month."

12/29/03 "The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." - Pierre de Courbertin

12/17/03 "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

12/05/03 "A man's got to know his limitations." - Dirty Harry

11/29/03 "It's better to wear out than rust out" Dr. Lawrence Line, Southern Bone & Joint

11/22/03 "It is no exaggeration to affirm that a journey by bicycle is like none other; it is a thing apart; it has a tempo and a style of it own. - James E. Starrs, The Noiseless Tenor

11/15/03 "Youth passes, but immaturity can last a lifetime." unknown

11//08/03 Our bodies are our gardens - our wills are our gardeners" William Shakespeare

10/29/03  "It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners.  Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."  George Sheehan

10/22/03 "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by
people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at
all." - Dale Carnegie

10/15/03 "Never again" Grete Waitz after winning her first ever road race at the New York City Marathon.

9/29/03 "We judge others by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."  Longfellow

9/22/03 "You can measure the quality of life in a community by how it treats its cyclists and pedestrians"  Barbara Culp, Bicycle Alliance of Washington

9/1/03 "The world consists largely of weak men made and kept free by better men than themselves" John Stuart Mill, 1865

8/25/03 "One man scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world was better for this." Don Quixote, de la Mancha

8/18/03 "A runner thinks less in terms of beating others, than in simply running the best he has within himself." - Unknown

8/11/03 "I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards." - Alberto Salazar

08/04/03 "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

07/21/03 (Overheard while chatting at the Hattiesburg weekly wine club meeting...). "Is that a Chardonnay or a White Zinfandel? I really can't quite make it out.  It's a little dry for my taste, not unlike the base wines I tasted in Austria last Summer while in Vienna for a spell as a member of the U.S. Duathlon team". John Pendergrass, M.D.

07/12/03 "That which does not destroy me makes me stronger" - Nietzsche
"That which does not kill us, cripples us for life" - Fred Shufflebarger

07/04/03 "Being married has its advantages and its disadvantages. The good thing is that I have someone close and near to tell about my Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon. The bad thing is that I have less time to share my great Hawaiian odyssey with other people. Ashley loves being married to a real triathlete. " Anthony "Judge" Mozingo to John Pendergrass

06/24/03 "The endurance athlete is the ultimate realist." - Marty Liquori

6/14/03 "I want to thank the rest of you for making me look normal." - Gordon Ainsleigh

6/6/03 "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher

5/26 "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." Corinthians 9:24-25 

5/21/03 "Above all, train hard, eat light, and avoid TV and people with negative
attitudes." - Scott Tinley

5/13/03 "My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already." - Milton Berle

5/5/03 "People say that we're all seeking a meaning in life. I don't think that's really what we're seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive." - Joseph Campbell

4/25/03 "The runner need not break four minutes in the mile or four hours in the marathon. It is only necessary that he runs and runs and sometimes suffers. Then one day he will wake up and discover that somewhere along the way he has begun to see the order and law and love and truth that makes men free." - George Sheehan

4/21/03 Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him,
'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach,
I don't know and I don't care."

4/14/03 Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to
Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt." 

3/31/03 Dr. John Pendergrass to maintenance crew at Wesley Medical Center, as he was borrowing a wrench to act like he had to make an adjustment on his Trek 5300 bicycle “I just need to tighten a couple of screws; I accidentally left them loose after returning from the World Duathlon Championships in Austria last summer as a member of the United States Duathlon Team.”

3/24/03 Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a
color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how to
spell my name, I can still find my clothes."

3/17/03 Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of
heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the
morning regardless of what time it is."

3/3/03 Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter Don King: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."

2/23/03  Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John
Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."

02/16/03 "I gotta suffer a little every day, or I'm not happy." Lance Armstrong

02/08/03 Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."

01/25/03 "Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the long course of rivers, the vast compass of the ocean, and the circular motion of the stars, and yet pass themselves by."   -St. Augustine

01/18/03 "Life is either daring adventure or it is nothing" Helen Keller

01/11/03 Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up
alphabetically by height." And, "You guys pair up in groups of three,
then line up in a circle."

01/01/03 "Frustration is the first step toward improvement. I have no incentive to improve if I'm content with what I can do. It's only when I face frustration and use it to fuel my dedication that I feel myself moving forward." John "the Penguin" Bingham. 

12/24/02 "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and places to pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul." -- John Muir, From "The Yosemite"

12/16/02 "To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness." CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, in resigning as archbishop of Boston (by coincindence using the exact same words the Pine Belt pacers web master used at the last club meeting!)

12/11/02 Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh: "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes."  

12/01/02 Bob Clark said, "Don't put any more pictures on the web site of Richard Sims just after a race; he might scare people from running."

11/30/02  Upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skins say: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."

11/20/02 "Well, nobody likes a dentist anyway..." Tony Mozingo, after being bumped to third place in his age group by a gulf coast runner who shall remain nameless... Tell Tony I take back all those good things I said. Actually, I  do prefer to race against funny guys that have recently completed Ironman triathlons.  Makes me feel powerful..." Reply from Unnamed gulf coast runner 

11/15/02 New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."

4/18/02: My heavens, Man!  What happened to all that speed you used to have?”   Dr. John Pendergrass (gloating, to the tune of na Na Na na Na na) to a dejected, winded Tony Mozingo near the finish line of the Run For the Roses 5K, after coasting in thirty seconds ahead of Mozingo for the third time in as many weeks…

4/27/02: “ SOME RUNNERS ARE TOUGH, SOME RUNNERS ARE INSANE, SOME ARE BOTH"  from http://www.claudesinclair.com/ 

5/04/02: "Next year everyone needs to attend this race and help support the local folks that work so hard" Phillip Wedgeworth

05/11/02:"Any idiot can run a marathon.  It takes a special  kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon."  - Alan Cabelly

5/12/02  “He sure didn’t look like he was training for a triathlon when I saw him…” A mutual friend of John Pendergrass and Tony Mozingo, commenting to Mozingo at Books-A-Million about seeing Pendergrass at a private party two nights before the Gulf Coast Triathlon.

5/19/02 "If the furnace is hot enough, it will burn anything." John Parker

6/1/02 " There are three things worth living for: American Luxury, Japanese women, and Chinese food." Emil Zatopek, joking

6/8/02 "Darn, I wish I could catch up to him" John Pendergrass to Tony Mozingo after Howard Thompson easily drops both of them during the return leg of their round trip bike ride to Prentiss. 

6/29/02 "Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos." Don Kardong 

7/14/02 "There's no such thing as a bad carbohydrate." Don Kardong

7/13/02 “I don’t mean to be an ass@#&* John, but there’s no way you swam the entire course…”  David Beckett to John Pendergrass after checking the results and realizing that his archrival had crushed him in all three disciplines of the triathlon for the first time ever.

7/24/02 "Hydrate or Die!" ® CamelBak Products Inc.

8/01/02 " I eat whatever the guy who beat me in the last race says he eats." Alex Ratelle

8/07/02 "It's like putting gas in your tank." Nancy Clark, referring to proper nutrition

8/12/02 "It used to be that I'd eat to run, and the more I ran, the more I needed to eat. But now I run to eat. I love to eat." Tom Fleming

8/19/02 "Run daily and don't eat like a pig." Dr. Ernest Aiken, German coach

9/2/02 Overheard at the Labor Day Run: "Where's Tony?"

9/14/02 "I never had a bear run away from me I didn't like" Ultra Runner

9/22/02 "Responsible, who wants to be responsible? Whenever something bad happens, it's always Who is responsible for this?" Jerry Seinfield

10/04/02 "You will get through the tired times, don't give up. There is lots of time. Walk and in a while you will be running again." - Rolly Portelance

10/21/02 Somebody at the Governor's cup said, "Tony is the only person who can pick up a girl during a marathon."

10/29/02 "You say that just because nobody has done it yet" Joe Paterno responding to an interviewers comment that he can't go on forever.  

The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank.  ~George
Sheehan

Jogging is very beneficial.  It's good for your legs and your feet.  It's
also very good for the ground.  It makes it feel needed.  Charles Schulz,
Peanuts

Don't Quit

Don't quit when the tide is lowest, for it's about to turn;
Don't quit over doubts and questions, for there's something you may learn.

Don't quit when the night is darkest, for it's just a while till dawn;
Don't quit when you've run the farthest, for the race is almost won.

Don't quit when the hill is steepest, for your goal is almost nigh;
Don't quit, for you're not a failure, until you fail to try.
- Jill Wolf -
 

I don't jog. If I die I want to be sick.  ~Abe Lemmons

It's unnatural for people to run around the city streets unless they are
thieves or victims.  It makes people nervous to see someone running.  I know
that when I see someone running on my street, my instincts tell me to let
the dog go after him.  ~Mike Royko

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.  ~Martin
Mull

I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm
damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street.  ~Neil
Armstrong on jogging, in an interview with Walter Cronkite

"The thing I don't like about Western States is that you show up at the starting line in the best shape of your life and a day later you are in Auburn in the worst shape of your life." - Andy Black

"You're not puking and nothing's broken so get going." - Vivian McQueeney to her husband, Scott, in the middle of the climb to Whitney Portal during Badwater 2000

"The luxurious ache of tired but not weary limbs." - Michael Fairless, 'The Roadmender'.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt, Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

"Come on, you sons of bitches - do you want to live forever" - Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly, USMC, Belleau Wood, June 1918

"Just go out there and simultaneously piss in your shorts, fart like a foghorn and drink from your mud-caked bottle. While you're at it let some liquid dribble down your chin onto your shirt, look up at the starry night and laugh like a raving lunatic. Fook em all. You're doing what you love to do and no one can stop you."
- Michael Musca, as told to Will Brown

"You guys just shuffle from concession stand to concession stand!" - Helge Zimmet, said to Karen Claire at Way Too Cool

"Running fast requires conditioning your body, absorbing proper mechanics to
the point where they're second nature, and then forgetting the details and letting it rip. It may sound funny to someone who hasn't been there, but the more you can let go, the faster you can go. Look at films of Mohammad Ali in his prime and you'll see how he had that little wrist flick on the end of his jab; if he had to think about doing that, he couldn't have done it. People have things inside them they don't know about until it comes out. When somebody asks me how fast a human being can run, I tell them that however fast they think it is, it'll be faster." - John Smith, UCLA track coach

"I gazed in envy at ultra runners whose quadriceps had the kind of definition that tells you Secretariat is somewhere in their family tree." - Liz Zelandais, writing about the Dam 50k Run/Relay

"The difference between me and Rick Hogan is that I always leave the rattlesnake for the next guy." - Andy Petterson at Old Dominion, referring to a snake killed by Rick near the Peach Orchard aid station

"The moon was out and I saw some sheep.
I saw some sheep take a walk in their sleep.
By the light of the moon, by the light of a star,
They walked all night from near to far.
I would never walk, I would take a car."
- Dr. Seuss

"You can be out there having your worst day, but at the same time the person next to you is having their best day. So there's really no room for crankiness in the sport. At least I try to minimalize it" - Suzie Lister, after '98 Western States

"When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the
darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen.
There will be something solid for us to stand on, or we will be taught to fly."
- Patrick Overton

"Well, there *used* to be a trail here somewhere.... " - Kent Street

"Do you think we were supposed to turn back there?" - Skip Eastman at Mackenzie River 50

"Ow." - Stan Jensen at 1995 AC100

"Look Mabel, here comes one who's running!"  - Unknown

"You'll be wistful for the "wall" of the marathon, when you hit the "death grip" of the ultra." - Bob Glover

"Why couldn't Pheiddipedes have died at 20 miles?." - Frank Shorter, 1970

"If you see a fork in the road, take it!" - Yogi Berra

"You can't be a schmuck and have great friends." - Buzz Burrell

"If you can see the light coming out of the other ear, you're an Ultra runner.
- Unknown

"I was starting to hurt, but then I burped and took a crap and am feeling much better" - Unknown, heard during the 1997 AR 50

"A 50K on trails is easier than a marathon on the road." - Unknown

"I swear, I'll never do this again." - Unknown

"If you can't see over it, walk it." - Unknown

"You're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!" - Ken Chlouber at Leadville

"It all comes down to knowing how to handle situations that are thrown at you in
an ultra." - Kevin Setnes

"Every man dies, but not every man truly lives." - Unknown

"We'll tell you when to start and we'll tell you when to stop. In between, don't
think, just keep running." - Ken Chlouber at Leadville

"A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well."
- G. K. Chesterton

"If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start." - Tom DuBos credits Stan Jensen with this one

"The best long distance runners eat raw meat, run naked and sleep in the snow."
- Alaska Airlines advertisement honoring Iditarod dogs (from Dana Roueche)

"There are times in our lives when we are drawn uncontrollably to some
dangerous source of misery." - Suzi Thibeault, in a letter to David Horton during his conquest of the Appalachian Trail: 2144 miles in 52 days, 9 hours, 41 minutes

"Common sense is necessary... more so than high tech. Race to the finish not race from the start, pace yourself, run your own race and don't get sucked into someone else's, walk when you need too, run when you can, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will hurt." - Kevin Sayers

"I love running cross-country... You come up a hill and see two deer going: 'What the hell is he doing?' On a track, I feel like a hamster." - Robin Williams, film star/comic/runner

"When you are 99 miles into a 100-mile running race, your brain is not the same brain you started with". - Paul Huddle

"Your talents are wasted as an engineer, Stan. Your calling is elsewhere."
- Alex Feldman' AC97 report



"O.K. when you come over the top of Casey Peak look straight down from the top of the mountain and you'll see a tiny blue square down in the valley [Casey Meadows], that's the tarp at the aid station. Run to it...there's no trail just run down through the boulders but don't go too far off to the left or you'll end up trying to go down a cliff." - Jim Pomroy, R.D. Elkhorn Mountain 100K 1997

"The Barkley, of course. It was 20 hours longer". - Mark Williams, when asked whether Hardrock or Barkley was harder

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon." - Alan Cabelly

"Last is just the slowest winner." - C. Hunter Boyd

"...so as we walked along the river toward Rucky Chucky, I said the words that most men say to a pretty woman as they walk along the river under a starry night on their first date: "If you were a real hardass, you'd stick your finger down your throat and clear your stomach and if you won't do it, I will." - Stan Jensen, pacing Sarah Lowell at WS'97

"Rewards are on a level with the effort, and the effort is extreme." - an unidentified "Utah runner", from Red Fisher

"Don't work towards freedom; let the work be the freedom." - Dogen Roshi, philosopher

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we know, and we will know only what we are taught." Baba Diom, Senegal

"Oh man! They should just put me out to stud!" - Len Kuentzm just after finishing his first 50-miler

"Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don't want to be out there saying, Well gee, my leg hurts, I'm a little dehydrated, I'm sleepy, I'm tired, and its cold and windy. And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision." - Dick Collins

"The Quitter"
When you're lost on the trail with the speed of a snail
And defeat looks you straight in the eye
And you're needing to sit, your whole being says quit
You're certain it's your time to die.
But the code of the trail is "move forward don't fail"
Though your knees and ego are scarred.
All the swelling and pain is just part of the game
In the long run it's quitting that's hard!

"I'm sick of the pain!" Well, now, that's a shame
But you're strong, you're healthy, and bright.
So you've had a bad stretch and you're ready to retch,
Shoulders back, move forward, and fight.
It's the plugging away that will win you the day,
Now don't be a loser my friend!
So the goal isn't near, why advance to the rear.
All struggles eventually end.

It's simple to cry that your finished; and die.
It's easy to whimper and whine.
Move forward and fight, though there's no help in sight
You'll soon cross the lost finish line.
You'll come out of the black, with the wind at your back,
As the clouds start to part; there's the sun.
Then you'll know in your heart, as you did at the start.
You're not a quitter. You've Won!!
- by Gene Thibeault

"You can sleep when you die." - Roger Rehwald (seen on a T-shirt)

"Above all, train hard, eat light, and avoid TV and people with negative attitudes."
- Scott Tinley

"Ultra-runners don't compromise ... they cope." - Bob Sharpley

"As long as you keep making RFM (Relentless Forward Motion), you will finish."
- Stacey Page 

"Find your limits and exceed them." - Lynn Strickland

"Road sucks!" - Skip & Tracey

"Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic." - Tim Noakes

"Beware of the chair!" - Unknown

"I never knew I could DNF and still have so much fun." - Gregg Heinrichs 

"For all the hardship, I was still excited to be on the trail, testing my endurance, feeling especially alive as strength and fatigue flowed alternately through my limbs." - Colin Powell

"No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes." - Don Kardong

"... slowed my pace to the point that I could have been rear-ended by a sleepy snail." - Dave Olney

"When you're afraid of failure you're more likely to do it." - Gordy Ainsleigh

"Succeeding makes you forget the failures." - Harry Cordellos, blind athlete (2:57 at Boston in 1975)

"Science can be useful, or it can just get in the way." - Karl King

"Far away, there in the sunshine, are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they may lead." - Louisa May Alcott

"Runners can get through the weary and lonely hours only if they are at peace in themselves." - Ayers

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Bagehot

"No matter how well you know the course, no matter how well you may have done in a given race in the past, you never know for certain what lies ahead on the day you stand at the starting line waiting to test yourself once again. If you did know, it would not be a test; and there would be no reason for being there."
- Dan Baglione

"If I can't go faster I'll go longer." - Doug Barber

"Self-destructive is doing something to hurt yourself. It is doing permanent damage to yourself. I have done neither. As for being obsessive, I am. I love to run." - John Barltrop

"The longest hill must end in a valley." - Henry C. Beeching

"Don't worry - you're supposed to walk the uphills." - Shelley Black

"Speed is sex ... distance is love." - David Blaikie

"The road to excess leads to the place of wisdom, for we can never know what is enough until we have experienced too much." - William Blake

"In ultrarunning, the pain is inevitable, but the suffering is optional." - Al Bogenhuber

"If someone says, 'Hey, I ran 100 miles this week. How far did you run?' ignore him! What the hell difference does it make? ... The magic is in the man, not the 100 miles." - Bill Bowerman

"You can't die from a stomach ache. The worst that can happen is that you'll throw up. Then you can eat some more and start running again." - Jack Bristol

"A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or else what's a heaven for?" - Robert Browning

"Go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see." - Jimmy Buffett

"I like those people. They are calmer and cooler, I think. Personality- wise, they are rich. An ultra runner is not somebody who is normally going to wish you bad. On the contrary if you are down an ultra runner will help you." - Michel Careau

"If it hurts, make it hurt more" - Percy Cerutty

"I think the novelty has worn off." - Jack Chapman

"The only way to define your limits is by going beyond them." - Arthur Clarke

"The number of miles I have run since I was a toddler would have taken me around the world several times, and I still cannot define precisely my joy in running. There is no sacrifice in it. I lead what I regard a normal life. In my case, I thoroughly enjoy running 100-odd miles a week. If I didn't I wouldn't do it. Who
can define happiness? To some, happiness is a warm puppy or a glass of cold beer. To me, happiness is running in the hills with my mates around me." 
- Ron Clarke

"Follow me--I know the way" - Herman Cohen, as he led a large group astray at Nugget 1994

"If you think you won't finish, you won't." - Dick Collins

"Champions are born with the right stuff, but still must suffer the stresses of training to achieve full potential." - David Costill

"The purpose of training is to stress the body, so when you rest it will grow stronger and more tolerant of the demands of distant running." - David Costill

"Speed and strength are of diminishing importance at greater and greater
distances." - David Costill

"The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." - Pierre de Courbertin

"You can't get lost on this course!" - Joe Dabes

"A runner's creed: I will win; if I cannot win, I shall be second; if I cannot be second, I shall be third; if I cannot place at all, I shall still do my best." - Ken Doherty

"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

"How many days does it take to run a hundred miles?" - Skip Eastman

"The only way to be who you want to be is by being what you haven't yet been."
- Sally Edwards

"Great spirits often encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

"The people that I have met are not foolish; they are aware of how tired and cold and hungry and frightened and hurting and discouraged and disoriented and how possibly injured they will become. They know they will face great physical, mental, emotional, and possibly spiritual challenges as they make their way to the finish. This is what they are racing against. This is their challenge. This is what I admire." - Carolyn Erdman

"The race continued as I hammered up the trail, passing rocks and trees as if they were standing still." - Red Fisher, Wasatch '86

"If at first you don't succeed, you can always become an ultramarathoner."
- Bruce Fordyce

"A race is just a race, but a friend who paces you is a friend for life." - Joseph Franko

"Trails with high passes and girls with nice asses." - Doug Freese

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it." - Goethe

"If Klingons were runners, they would be Ultrarunners." - Bryan Hacker

"The 10-K is a race. The marathon is an experience. The ultra is an adventure."
- Bryan Hacker

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." - Edward Everett Hale

"I'm tired." - Jussie Hammalainen

"Drink, drink, drink! Pee, pee, pee!" - Ed Hart

"The gulf between what we feel we are doing and what others perceive us to be doing will remain the most ultra of all distances, one that no amount of miles or words can finally bridge." - Hart

"Why would anyone want to do this a second time?" - Sue Haupt

"The more of us that do it, the harder it is for them to dismiss us as just a bunch of really weird people. Especially when we otherwise appear so normal." - Dan Hawthorne

"There's a lot to be said for LSD -- long, slow distance in this case." - Joe Henderson

"Why am I doing this?" - Don Herres

"It's not the races you enter that count. It's your runs in training and sticking with it. It's how you adjust to injury and how you recover that makes you a good runner." - Dave Hladysh

"Run hard, run long!"
- Jay Hodde

"Boredom and fatigue are very similar experiences."
- Al Howie

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Dolores Ibarruri

"Because I can." (when asked "Why do you run 100 mile races?") - Tom Johnson

"We (ultra runners) alternate between depression and stupidity." - Don Kardong

"All the disruptive arguments among my friends as to whether or not I was sane when I took up marathon running have been entirely resolved since I ran my first 50-miler." - John Kendall

"Enjoy your pain, you earned it!" - Pauli Kiriu

"You run an ultra largely on concentration ... not letting your form drag and continuing to run. Your body quits and the mind takes over. It's not like a marathon where you think, maybe I can gut it out." - Georgs Kolesnikovs

"My advice is that you should use your brains more and train less."
- Yiannis Kouros 

"You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wish it'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physical right now." - Ken Loveless

"I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like." - David Lygre

"Each time you run you will receive lessons. You have enrolled in the school of ultrarunning. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid. What you think makes no difference; the lessons will be presented until they are learned." - Keith Pippin

"When you run there are no mistakes, only lessons. The art and science of ultrarunning is a process of trial, error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the combination that ultimately works." - Keith Pippin

"Once that distance had been passed in training, an important physical and psychological threshold had been crossed. It was no longer a question of *if* it could be done. Rather, it became a question of *how fast* it could be done."
- Mike Plant (about Dave Scott)  

"You will get through the tired times, don't give up. There is lots of time. Walk and in a while you will be running again." - Rolly Portelance

"The mind learns the body can go at least a bit farther even though it feels increasingly uncomfortable." - Pritikin

"Sometimes you should overcome the tiredness and speed up when you'd
normally slow down. Great source of strength and power." - Pritikin

"If the bone's not showin', just keep goin'!" - Joan Risse at Angeles Crest, 9/95

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt

"Too much is better than not enough." - Kyle Rothweiler

"Ultra runners are daffy about practical matters." - Shapiro

"A dozen extra steps becomes a tremendous aggravation when you are pushing your edge out hour after hour." - Shapiro

"Enjoy the training and memories of race day, endure the race." - Shapiro

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

"Have you ever felt worse after a run?" - George Sheehan

"Success rests in having the courage and endurance, and above all, the will to become the person you are. . . "  - George Sheehan

"Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember." - George Sheehan

"I won't last forever, but I'm damn well going to know that I was here!" - George Sheehan

"Nothing is more certain than the defeat of a man who gives up." - George Sheehan

"Let him that would move the world first move himself" - Socrates

"ARRRGH -- what in God's name ever possessed me to think this would be a
good thing to do?" - Charles N. Steele

"I never met a hill I couldn't walk." - Larry Stice

"I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path and I will leave a trail." - Muriel Strode

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

"I have to find another port-a-tree." - Ellie Thayer

"If you start to feel good during an Ultra, don't worry - you'll get over it."
- Gene Thibeault

"It's the quitting that really is hard." - Gene Thibeault

"Finish with a smile on your face." - Joe Trask

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

"People think ultra is some kind of spaghetti eating contest for people with no talent to do anything else. But there's a lot going on. I break it down into the physical, the mental and endurance. Physical is the only gender-specific area; men have more muscle mass, the strongest man is always going to be stronger than the strongest woman. But I think physical is only a small percentage of ultra. The mental part includes preparation, strategizing, problem solving. How do you deal with 22 miles through snow, then overheating? How do you avoid allowing someone to lure you into running their race? You have to learn how to run over rocks downhill without trashing your quads; it's like skiing or dancing. And then endurance. An ultra is not about pain - I think a marathon is about pain, about intensity - but it's about hanging in through tiredness and about staying nutritionally fueled. There is some evidence that women may use fat more efficiently. And you have to want it, you have to have the passion, you have to be willing to take the risks. You can never be sure you'll finish." - Ann Trason

"There's no tangible reward in anything I do, certainly not in running Western States. It's just an interesting challenge." - Tim Twietmeyer

"When you weigh as much as I do, the downhills are glorious!" - Kelly D. Wason

"Any race you can walk away from, is a bad race" - Coach Pete Waters

"You move from doing things to show other people you could, to where you do things to look into yourself, into your soul, and see who you are and what you're all about." - Scott Weber

"Too much knowledge can hold you back. Ignorance on the other hand, now that was something that could get you to the finish line." - Mark Will-Weber

"You'll have no trouble keeping up. Remember, I'm a 35 minute miler." (when discussing a training run) - Mark Williams, first of 253 people to finish Barkley 100

"Long May You Run" - Neil Young

"If I can see it, I can run to it." - Randi Bromka Young

"If you get tired on a trail run, lie down in the middle of the trail in such a way that no one could pass you without waking you up - it will insure your finish line position." - Glen Zirbel

"If you can dream it, you can do it." - Angeles Crest motto

"26 miles 385 yards is where racing ends and ludicrous extremes begin." - from "Runner's World"

"For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well-lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn."
- from "The Sanskrit"

"The pain is temporary, The pride lasts forever." - Unknown

"If you can't learn anything from losing, don't lose." - Unknown

"Always enjoy yourself. Never give up. Don't think of being tired. Keep on going until you cross the finish line. Don't be upset if you don't win." - Unknown

"Stick a fork in me, I'm done." - Unknown

"It used to freak me out when I threw up, now I don't even slow down." - Unknown

"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells 'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper 'can'. And you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are." - Unknown

"The second 50 is done with the mind." - Unknown

"I run distance because I want to be in good shape when I die." - Unknown

"Look honey, here comes one that's still running!" - Unknown

"Adversity introduces a man to himself." - Unknown

"Running is a four weather sport." - Unknown

"Not bad for an old guy." - Unknown

"Opportunity is often passed up because it is disguised as hard work." - Unknown

"Everywhere is within running distance...if you have the time." - Unknown

"The finish line is just ahead."
"The aid station is just ahead."
"Trust me...this is the last hill."
"You're almost there."
"The trail is well marked."
- Unknown

"If we do what we did yesterday, we'll be OK. If we do something new we'll be competitive. If we are always looking for new and innovative ways of doing things then we will be the best." - Unknown

"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." - Unknown

"It's easy to imagine how you will act when things go according to plan, that's why you must always prepare yourself for what you will do when they don't."
- Unknown

"I get to eat *anything* and don't have to worry about putting on weight?" - Unknown

"In an ultra you should eat like a horse, drink like a fish, and run like a turtle."
- Unknown

"The race isn't always to the swiftest, but to those who keep on running."
- Unknown

"If you can't run fast, run far." - Unknown

"The amount of time the body needs to recuperate is not a sign of weakness but a fact of life." - Unknown

"Mental fortitude is more important than physical endurance." - Unknown

"A pounding heart is a sure sign you are putting forth your best effort." - Unknown

"The duration of an athletic contest is relatively short, while the training for it may take many weeks of arduous work and continuous exercise of self-effort. The real value of sport is not the actual game played in the limelight of applause but the hours of dogged determination and self-discipline carried out alone, imposed and supervised by an exacting conscience. The applause soon dies away, the prize is left behind, but the character you build is yours forever." - Unknown

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
- Unknown

"There is no future if we only repeat the past." - Unknown

"All things in moderation." - Unknown

"All things in moderation, including moderation." - Unknown

"MOST things in moderation" - Unknown

"No brain, no pain" - Unknown

"The first 50 miles are run with the legs, the second 50 miles with the mind."
- Unknown 

"90% of ultrarunning is 100% mental." - Unknown

"Nobody is going to finish this damn thing for me, but me." - Unknown

"If you look up, you're going down!" - Unknown

"Superficial goals lead to superficial results." Attila the Hun

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." Vince Lombardi

"To exercise at or near capacity is the best way I know of reaching a true introspective state. If you do it right, it can open all kinds of inner doors." Al Oerter -4 time Olympic Gold Medalist in Discus

"Part of the beauty and much of the moral seriousness of sport derives from the severe justice of strenuous play in a circumscribed universe of rules that protect the integrity of competition. Records are worth recording, and worth striving to surpass, because they serve as benchmarks of excellence achieved under the pressure of competition."George F. Will

"Often the true test of courage is not to die but to live" Count Vittorio Alfieri

"You have to go into the jungle, find the lion, and spit in his face...then shoot him. You guys are not good enough to win on talent alone...you have to want it. "Herbie Brooks- coach of the 1980 U.S. olympic hockey team

"Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is aimless. Vision with action will achieve." Anonymous

"Action without thought is a form of insanity; Thought without action is a crime." Albert Einstein

"You never fail, you simply produce results. Learn from these." Anonymous

"Failure is the path of least persistence." Anonymous

"I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work" Thomas Edison

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek

"Training is principally an act of faith. The athlete must believe in its efficacy; he must believe that through training he will become fitter and stronger; that by constant repetition of the same movements he will become more skillfull and his muscles more relaxed...He must be a fanatic for hard work and enthusiastic enough to enjoy it." Franz Stampfl from On Running, 1955

"Running: running: hear the beat!
Busting lungs and pounding feet.
Straining: gaining: 'til your done:
Or you have the race well-won.
Racing: Pacing: rather die:
Than give up or let them by.

First stanza of "The Distance Runner" by Percy Cerutty (who also did some coaching).

"Some men can run the fastest, jump the highest, or lift the heaviest, but no man has the corner on ambition, desire, and hustle." anonymous

"Belief is the thermostat that regulates all success." anonymous

"Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead." unknown (but apparently a very tough dude who liked obstacle courses)

"If you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life" origin unknown

"Security is mostly a superstition. It is not found in nature and children of man do not as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. "Helen Keller

"There are some who are born scared, afraid, and not willing to show some sack or guts. We eat those people for breakfast. "Read on a NO FEAR T-shirt

"A True Warrior Never Fights Without a Purpose That is Greater Than Oneself." T. Harv Eker

"Wisdom is better than strength. And a wise man is better than a strong man. Book of Wisdom 6:1

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

"If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it, you can achieve it." My mother, at least after hearing her say it 1000 times, I give her the credit.

"It is hard to soar with the eagles, when you're living with a bunch of turkeys!" Also my Mom, although now that I think about it.....Hey Mom, who were you calling turkeys?

"Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish to the crowd." I Ching

"Everyone has the desire to win, but only champions have the desire to prepare." Overheard during the 1997 Boston Marathon and relayed to me by Wayne Short from San Diego CA, USA.

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stilled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in a significant glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist...."Jack London

"There's No Easy Way "Allan Wells (1980 Olympic 100m Champion)

"One shouldn't be afraid to lose; this is sport. One day you win; another day you lose. Of course, everyone wants to be the best. This is normal. This is what sport is about. This is why I love it." Olympic Gold Medalist Oksana Baiul

"You are all Champions in your own way. That doesn't mean you have to be number 1 or be the best. Just do your best. If you aren't first, then make those people ahead of you break records by pushing them with your personal best. Consider for a moment what we achieve from athletics - the sheer fun of competing - the building of a healthy and alert mind and body - stamina, courage, perseverance, dedication, commitment, selflessness and most importantly, the will to excel." unknown

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find out it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."T.H. Lawrence (not a MAPP reader, but still a nice guy)

"People are able to wonder at the height of mountains, and the huge waves of the sea, the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and then pass by themselves without wondering at all."St. Augustine

"Everything unpleasant is developmental.""Kaikki vittumainen kehittää." translated from a Finnish expression by MAPP reader Mika Salkola

"Progress stops upon satisfaction.""Kehitys loppuu tyytyväisyyteen." another quote from Mika in Finland

"Mind is everything: muscle-pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind. "Paavo Nurmi

"If not you, who? If not now, when?" Garry Herbert - 1992 Olympic 2+ rowing Finalist (probably not the first guy to say this)

"If you race merely for the tributes from others, you will be at the mercy of their expectations." Scott Tinley

"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 (hint: under 4 minutes)

"The more I talk to athletes, the more convinced I become that the method of training is relatively unimportant. There are many ways to the top, and the training method you choose is just the one that suits you best. No, the important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top." Herb Elliot (1964)

"We are indeed Masters, I told them. We are professors. We are professionals. We have come into maturity. And we have matured doing what appears to be childish things. Nevertheless our ability to live with questions and without solutions began when we took to the roads. Our belief in ourselves and in the living of our own lives developed through our running. It was running tha treleased the treasures in our subconscious and gave us the creativity to put these treasures in substantial form. Keep running, I told the forties, fifties, and sixties looking up at me, the best is yet to come"George Sheehan M.D. (1983) Quoted in Noakes, 1989

"Sweet is Pleasure after Pain" Dirigo Rowing Shell advertisement

"At the peak of tremendous and victorious effort, while the blood is pounding in your head, all suddenly comes quiet within you. Everything seems clearer and whiter than ever before, as if great spotlights had been turned on.At that moment, you have the conviction that you contain all the power in the world, that you are capable of everything, that you have wings. There is no more precise moment in life than this, the WHITE MOMENT, and you will work hard for years, just to taste it again." Yuri Vlason

"Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals." Henry Ford

"It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest men. When you see 20 or 30 men line up for a distance race in some meet, don't pity them, don't feel sorry for them. Better envy them instead." Brutus Hamilton (Quoted by Doherty, 1964 and Noakes, 1989)

"Humankind is designed for exercise and not rest - hence the legs located below the torso. If designed for rest, we would at best have castors." Arthur Stewart, a Scottish fellow I met while skiing in Norway.

"Excess, upon occasion can be exhilarating, because it prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." Somerset Maugham

"A certain amount of opposition can be of great help to a man- Kites rise against, not with the wind." John Neal

"Good judgement is the result of experience and experience is the result of bad judgement." Unknown

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Sir George Picketing, often quoted by Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

"Significant problems you face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein

"The health of people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their power as a state depend." Benjamin Disraeli

"The first wealth is health." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." Hippocrates

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of human frame, and in the cause and prevention of disease." T. A. Edison

"Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favour compared with the products of nature, the living cell of the plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life." T. A. Edison

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; They do not exist." A. J. Balfour

"Man cannot discover new oceans until he has the courage to lose the sight of land." Unknown

"Man is not cut out for defeat. Man can be destroyed but not defeated." E. Hemingway

"Never a horse that couldn't be rode. Never a rider that couldn't be throwed." Some old cowboy from Texas with a chronically sore butt

" Thus i urge you to go on to your greatness if you believe it is in you. Think deeply and seperate what you wish from what you are prepared to do." Percy Wells Cerutty (Famous rnning coach)

In running you can't say you want to be the best. You just have to work very hard, really. You're only a hamstring injury away from oblivion. Steve Jones

The marathon is my only girlfriend. I give her everything I have. Toshihiko Seko

Running well is a matter of having the patience to persevere when you are tired and not expecting instant results. The only secret is that it is consistent, often monotonous, boring, hard work. And it's tiring. Robert de Castella

My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy. John Bryant

Hunker down, keep your eyes fixed ahead, and run like hell. Paul Spangler

Serious Quotes
1.. Birds of a feather flock together... and crap on your car.
2.. There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it.
For example, I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.
3.. When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog
run to the end of his chain and gag himself.
4.. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
5.. Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
6.. A penny saved is a government oversight.
7.. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the
right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
8.. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because, by then,
your body and your fat are really good friends.
9.. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a
replacement.
10.. He who hesitates is probably right.
11.. If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.
12.. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to
blame.
13.. The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's
really in trouble.
14.. Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS"
together it spells "THEIRS"?
15.. Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are "XL"?
16.. An early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.