"Fitness is not about the vanity of what you see in the mirror. It's about the functionality of your body. My legs carried me 26.2 miles, through ankle-deep mud and stretches of snow; through 20 degree weather at the bottom of the world, to claim first place in my age group in the Antarctica Marathon."- Christine Gary
"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, guy with really good hair - oh yea, I guess he ran too.
"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
"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."
- Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner
"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
"Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about."
- PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian
"Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself."
- John Bingham, running speaker and writer
"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, Canadian marathon runner
"Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'."
- Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner
"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
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
- John Bingham
