Yesterday, my pal Wendy Welch (who is, sadly, not a runner, but who IS a fabulous writer as well as a much more faithful blogger than I have been lately) posted her 10 favorite book quotes.
I’m stealing her idea. Here are (only) 5 of my favorite running/running-related/inspiring quotes. I’d love to hear quotes that inspire you if you’ve got them handy!
“If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” – Gilbert Chesterton (he didn’t write this for back of the backers, but he could have)
“The greatest pleasure in life is doing things people say we cannot do.” – Walter Bagehot
“It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse.” – Ann Trason (ultra runner)
“The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours!” – Peggy Flemming
“The medals don’t mean anything and the glory doesn’t last. It’s all about your happiness.” – Jackie Joyner Kersee
Anything by Steve Prefontaine are among my favorite running quotes. “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” “A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.”
There are others, those are the two that come to mind. I don’t know them off the top of my head. Although I sort of disagree with the last quote you have. I LOVE medals! Sure they may not mean anything in the sense that after a while they’re just there, hanging on the wall, in a box, drawer, used as paperweights or coasters. It’s about the happiness yes, but those medals, for me at least are a part of the happiness.