Some quotations to make you even more excited about running as you go about your week:
On hills (of which St. Paul's has some):
If the hill has its own name, then it's probably a pretty tough hill. -Marty Stern (American track coach)
I don't go looking for hills, but when I come to one, I run it. -Jack Mahurin
Hills are speedwork in disguise.
-Frank Shorter (American Olympic champion)
On running in general
(of which we all have done a fair amount):
Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about them, I just do them.
-PattiSue Plummer (American Olympian)
Whenever I run, I feel as if my best friend has come back. -Ellen Hart Pena
Running has given me more energy than I've ever had before...It's always my hope that I'll inspire someone to walk or run around the block the next day. -Annabel Marsh
Running affords the perfect integration of body and spirit. It makes for a fullness of life.
-Sister Marion Irvine (oldest woman to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials at age 54)
In recent years I've come to realize that the more of the outdoors I get, the more I want. That alone-that growing appetite for being out in the world-is a debt to running that I can never repay. -John Jerome
Run like hell and get the agony over with.
-Clarence DeMar (Boston Marathon champion)
Running is my lover.
-Toshihiko Seko (Boston Marathon champion)
I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, "I've never seen anyone run like that before." It's more than just a race, it's style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative. -Steve Prefontaine
The answers to the big questions in running are the same as the answers to the big questions in life. Just do the best you can with what you've got, and that includes your stride length. -George Sheehan
I love running cross country....On a track, I feel like a hamster. -Robin Williams
Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have nature and that is much better.
-Juha Väätäinen (Finnish runner)
Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.
-Sophia Loren
The runner has a view of life that makes all the jogging and racing worthwhile. -Dr. George Sheehan
Above all, train hard, eat light, and avoid television and people with bad attitudes. -Scott Tinley
Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way. Run often and run long, but never outrun your joy of running.
-Julie Isphording, Marathon winner
Don't underestimate the importance of easy days. Easy days help you beat fatigue, to keep fatigue from beating you. -Bob Glover
On opportunities
(which we certainly have right now!):
This chance will stand before you only once.
-Sandra Day O'Connor
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. -Will Rogers
One chance is all you need. -Jesse Owens
It's never too late to be what you might have been. -George Eliot
All glory comes from daring to begin. -Ancient proverb
On the mind (a very powerful thing)
When I run, truly run, I am certain of that. It is all there. My body does what it does best. The mind like a kaleidoscope constantly rearranges the things it has stored into new and exciting patterns. And my soul utterly loses itself in the present.
-Dr. George Sheehan
My body is exercising and my body is relaxing. I think these are the essentials of the sport.
-Delano Meriwether
All that I am, I am because of my mind.
-Paavo Nurmi (9-time Olympic champion)
You have to think that you can't quit. Your brain wants to quit, but you have to fight it. It has nothing to do with speed, and everything to do with finishing.
-Abe Weintraub
(completed 9 NYC Marathons between age 80 and 90)
Ninety percent of my training is done with partners. That's probably why my motivation is so high...we're always psyched. -Paula Newby-Fraser
You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt
Running has given me a new life.
-John Cahill, 75-year-old masters runner
When people keep telling you that you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try it.
-Margaret Chase Smith (Congresswoman)
Don't ever accept anyone else's preconceived limitations. If there's something you want to do, there isn't any reason you can't do it. -Amy Dodson (running amputee)
The only limits are, as usual, those of vision.
-James Broughton (American poet)
Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body. -Lynn Jennings
On perseverance
(which we all have-after all, we run three miles!):
Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance. -Mao Tse-tung
Slumps are inevitable; they are a natural and unavoidable part of competition. But slumps will pass, and with time, performance will return to its expected level.
-Jim Taylor, Ph.D.
Any day I am too busy to run is a day I am too busy.
-John Bryant (Editor, London Times)
Good things come slow-especially in distance running.
-Bill Dellinger (American track coach)
Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!
-Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
and What Alice Found There
Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.
-Dostoyevsky (Russian writer)
A lot of people run to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts. -Steve Prefontaine
Bid me run, and I will strive for things impossible. -William Shakespeare
On work (with which we are all quite familiar):
God gives talent. Work transforms talent into genius. -Anna Pavlova
The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare. -Juma Ikangaa (Marathon champion)
There's no traffic jam on the extra mile. -Unknown
Sweat plus sacrifice equals success. -Charles O. Finley
On winning and losing
(because we are about to do the former):
Failure is not failure but the opportunity to begin again...more intelligently. -Henry Ford
No one ever won the olive wreath with an impressive training diary.
-Marty Liquori (American Olympian)
On racing (because that's what we do):
Anyone can win, unless there happens to be a second entry. -George Ade
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. -Hebrews 12:1
Do you know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. -1 Corinthians 9:24
Why race? The need to be tested, perhaps; the need to take risks; and the chance to be number one. -Dr. George Sheehan
When I'm in peak shape, I have this feeling of effortlessness and excitement. Before I race, I'm calm, but I'm also eager to get going and push myself harder than I ever have.
-Regina Jacobs (3-Time Olympian)
Friends, runners, teammates, run well, rest well, and prepare well this week, because next Saturday at Interschols, we are all going to do the best we have ever done, run the fastest we have ever run, show Andover who is really the best, and bring the plaques home once more! Love, your captains :)
