“We can’t sprout wings and fly. Most of us can’t sing and dance, and we’ll never perform on stage. But for a day we can perform. It’s like being on Broadway and getting a standing ovation.”
Fred Lebow, former Director of the New York marathon.
“You need great humility to run a marathon”
The one and only Grete Waitz
“Ask yourself: ‘Can I give more?’. The answer is usually: ‘Yes’.”
Kenyan great, Paul Tergat
“If you feel bad at 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.”
Australian great, Rob De Castella
“Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.”
Even all time great Alberto Salazar had the same doubts as all marathon runners
“Remember the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running.”
Sarah Condor
“When it’s pouring rain and you’re bowling along through the wet, there’s satisfaction in knowing you’re out there and the others aren’t.”
New Zealand distance running great Peter Snell
“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.”
Running writer John Bingham
And the final word from perhaps the greatest runner of all time, the modest and wonderful Emil Zatopek:
“A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.”
