Inspirational Quotes from Runners

What is your favorite motivational quote? I think there are so many out there to share! My #oneword this year is INSPIRATION so check it out! Here are some great running and inspirational quotes & images.  

There is no staying the same. You are either striving to get better or allowing yourself to get worse.

All that is difficult is designed to make me stronger!

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), First Lady of the United States

"If you're going through hell, keep going". Sir Winston Churchill. 

"If a true sense of value is to be yours it must come through service." fortune cookie 

"There is no spoon." The Matrix 

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory." -Gen. George S. Patton

"Suck it up buttercup" ~~ unknown 

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft." ~~ Theodore Roosevelt 

"Desire is not enough, one must do. Knowledge is not enough, one must apply." ~~ Bruce Lee 

"Nothing is more dangerous than the conscientiously ignorant, or the sincerely stupid." ~~ Martin Luther King Jr.

 You must do the things you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. 
-Helen Keller-

Have...a good time...all the time ~ Viv Savage 

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense."--Winston Churchill

 "Strength doesn't come from what you can do, it come from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't." Rikki Rogers

Kristin McQueen's story is the most inspirational cancer survivor story I have heard! We are so sorry that she did not win the Send Kristin to Kona this year! :(

Here is a link to my personal blog and quotes I created when diagnosed with cancer just 3 years ago..  I think this one is still my favorite! :)

 No one can hold you back from doing all that you want to do.  

Just keep your goals in sight, listen to your body, and take one day at a time.  

Some days will be better than others -- but every day is blessing,
so make each day the best it can be.

- Nancy Cook on running, cancer survivorship and life

Motivational Quotes for running & life!

"Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever"


"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."


Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.


"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out where the strong stumbled, or how the doer could have done better. The credit belongs to the one who is in the arena, their face marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and falls short again and again: There is no effort without error. But he who tries, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends themself in a worthy cause, at best knows the triumph of achievement, and at worst, fails while daring. Their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." -Teddy Roosevelt


"Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit". - George Sheehan


 It is never too late to be what you might have been ~ George Eliot 


The glass is neither half full nor half empty. It's just a glass of water. Drink it already.

"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit." -Dawna Markova


"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


"Get busy living, or get busy dying." from Shawshank Redemption.


"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi


'I wish I would've run.' But few have gone to bed thinking 'I wish I wouldn't have run.'


"We will either find a way, or make one."--Hannibal


"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." Prefontaine #2: 


A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest, I run to see who has the most guts. " Prefontaine #3: 


Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."  - Marianne Williamson in Return to Love.

"Your body hears everything your mind says." - Naomi Judd, 


"Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated." -Anonymous


 "Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."


If you have a body, you are an athlete
- Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike)


 To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. Steve Prefontaine


We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."
-Kenji Miyazawa


“To fail is a natural consequence of trying, To succeed takes time and prolonged effort in the face of unfriendly odds. To think it will be any other way, no matter what you do, is to invite yourself to be hurt and to limit your enthusiasm for trying” ~David Viscott


 It is never too late to be what you might have been ~ George Eliot 


Mary R. Wittenberg, president, New York Road Runners Club:
"A marathoner is a marathoner regardless of time. Virtually everyone who tries the marathon has put in training over months, and it is that exercise and that commitment, physical and mental, that gives meaning to the medal, not just the day’s effort, be it fast or slow. It's all in conquering the challenge."


 "I thought of that while riding my bike."
Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity.


"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." Gilda Radner


""The best pace is a suicide pace, and today is a good day to die." -Steve Prefontaine" 


 "Steyu" - Cherokee Indian
This translates as "Be Strong". It is good for Cross Country teams because a) only your teammates will know what it means, thus reenforcing the secret society you are a part of; and b) because this is as long a sentence as you can string together in support of your teammate when you are racing like there is no tomorrow.


 "For everyone who thought I couldn’t do it. For everyone who thought I shouldn’t do it. For everyone who said, ‘It’s impossible.’ See you at the finish line." - Christopher Reeves


"If you are going through hell, keep going." Theodore Roosevelt.


‎"For everyone who thought I couldn’t do it. For everyone who thought I shouldn’t do it. For everyone who said, ‘It’s impossible.’ See you at the finish line." - Christopher Reeves


Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:30-31,

“You don’t have to get it right; you just have to get it going.” – Mike Litman


 "Everybody wants to know what I'm on. I'm on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?" -Lance Armstrong


"The most important thing I have learned about life to this point is --it goes on." -Robert Frost


"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." ~Albert Camus


 "Make voyages. Attempt them. There is nothing else." Tennessee Williams


"Do, or do not. There is no 'try.' " by Jedi Master Yoda


When Your Legs Are Tired, Run With Your Heart.


"Nothing worse then knowing that it's in you and never letting it out"


"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." 


"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up. " — Dean Karnazes


If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. Mario Andretti


"Feel the fear and do it anyway."

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as 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 Coubertin 


"Nothing will work unless you do." Maya Angelou 


"If I continue to do what I've always done, then I am going to get what I've always got." Anonymous.


Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher.


Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you've been able to do before, you won't develop and grow. When you go for it 100%, when you don't have the fear of "what if I fail," that's when you learn. That's when you're really living. - Mark Allen


"Energy and persistence conquer all things." ~Benjamin Franklin

"But everytime we think we've reached our capacity for greatness we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless." ~ Aaron Sorkin (from The West Wing "20 Hours in America")


 It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great. (Jimmy Dugan)


‎"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." - Nike

New Year's Quotes

A collection of my latest favorite quotes ---

"I wish for those I love this New Year an opportunity to earn sufficient, to have that which they need for their own and to give that which they desire to others, to bring into the lives of those about them some measure of joy, to know the satisfaction of work well done, of recreation earned and therefore savored, to end the year a little wiser, a little kinder and therefore a little happier." - E. Roosevelt

What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other. -George Eliot-

Nothing cures like laughter. Make each day a reason for jubilation, laughter and festivity. Create celebration in your soul.

Joy is not a precious concept reserved for holidays and special occasions. Rejoice in simple things. Make joy at home in your heart today.

Unshared joy is an unlighted candle. -Spanish Proverb-

The simple pleasures are life's truest treasures. Indulge yourself.

Contentment with little makes happiness. - African Proverb

"Wealth is not a matter of intelligence; it's a matter of inspiration." — Jim Rohn

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored." -Earl Nightingale

Link to Falconwing11 Ken's Posterous Website of quotes and posts

Collection of Quotes - From all my friends on Facebook

From Liz

Live to learn, learn to live, then teach others. - Doug Horton

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. - Lao Tzu

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. - Franklin P. Jones

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. - Mother Teresa

From Katherin:

"I am bound to praise the simple life, because I have lived it and found it good. When I depart from it, evil results follow. I love a small house, plain clothes, simple living. Many persons know the luxury of a skin bath - a plunge in the pool or the wave unhampered by clothing. That is the simple life - direct and immediate contact with things, life with the wrappings torn away - the fine house, the fine equipage, the expensive habits, all cut off. How free one feels, how good the elements taste, how close one gets to them, how they fit one's body and one's soul! To see the fire that warms you, or better yet, to cut the wood that feeds the fire that warms you; to see the spring where the water bubbles up that slakes your thirst, and to dip your pail into it; to see the beams that are the stay of your four walls, and the timbers that uphold the roof that shelters you; to be in direct and personal contact with the sources of your material life; to want no extras, no shields; to find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to find a quest of wild berries more satisfying that a gift of tropic fruit; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest, or over a wild flower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life."
--John Burroughs

From Dan

"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates according to Plato
"The life unlived is not worth examining." - Can't find the attribution
"No conclusions about what we ought to do can validly be drawn from a description of what most people in our society think we ought to do." - Peter Singer
"i know the human race is doing the best it can, but hells bells that's an explanation not an excuse." - don marquis as archie the cockroach

From Grace:

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone." ~ Audrey Hepburn

I relay for my dad, my grandma, my nana, Mr. Near, Dr. C., Ashley, and the hope that in the future, no daughter will have to hear her father say, "I have cancer." I spend my free time babysitting not just for the money, but because I love it. I talk to myself in the car. I tend to laugh at the worst possible moment. I think flannel shirts should come into style for someone other than farmers and "hicks." I think falling backwards off a 42-foot drop was one of the most trusting things I've ever had to do, but it was amazing. I truly think my parents are cool. I want to fall in love. I wear my heart on my sleeve and a cross around my neck. I wish on stars. I yell at myself when I screw up.

Yeah, that’s me. So take me as I am.

From Nadia:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

What kind of thing is so important that it can't wait for cake?
-Emily, Gilmore Girls (possibly my favorite quote ever)

If no one spoke unless there was something to say, the human race would soon lose the power of speech
-from The Painted Veil

If someone went into a coma twenty years ago, and woke up today, they would think that the world had gone mad
-Keith Richards, quoted in Rolling Stone

From Kelli:

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White

From Karen:

Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the way things turn out -- Art Linkletter

We are building Bridges of HOPE -- Jeff Ross

Don't confuse your wants with your needs
Believe in Love, forsake your greed
And give away what you want to receive
-- Roger Clyne

From Jeff Ross:

"I would that one think I'm a fool than open my mouth and remove all doubt!"
-Abraham Lincoln

"Loose Lips...Sink Ships" - Ester on Fred Sanford

"The Main Thing is to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing" - Lou Holtz

"Call the Po-Po" - Madea

Don't Suck -Julie B. O-H-I-O

From Angie:

So we must love while these moments are still called today, take part in the pain of this passion play, stretching our youth as we must, until we are ashes to dust, until time makes history of us.

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.

But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.

It's really hard to walk in a woman's shoes -- that's why you sometimes need really special shoes!

The Optimist Creed

Back in 1997, I applied for a job with the ACS in the Colorado Division so that I could go west and ski after this amazing ski vacation in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.... I just had to go! Well - I packed my plants, my clothes, my dog Chester and headed west in my GMC Sonoma. It was an amazing 2 years of growth in my life. Although I don't have time this morning to write the entire story - - I was reminded of my growth, learning about people as I was all alone with no family and made new friends to make my way. My boss at the time, Stephanie Haberkorn, gave me this saying from the Optimist International and it was a "mantra" of sorts for me - through that time and my entire life. I found it framed in the cellar and then searched the web to find it to post here today.

Keep it in your heart - along with the Jon Gordon Energy Bus - - this will truly fit your life too.

Promise Yourself-
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.


Optimist International

Wedding quote

Listening to Savage Garden tonight and remembering our wedding.... I ventured and now want to be sure that I share with everyone my "testimonial" for the Hawk Resort. It was amazing and our wedding will be a momentous occasion to remember for us and hopefully for those in attendance. I have the link in my BLOG WORLD below - so please check it our. I update the wedding site once in a while with new Steve & Nancy pics.

Here is the quote ---->> Hawk Website and my quote.

We were hoping to go back this year, but with the Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran that weekend, it will probably be one more year before we return to celebrate. But what a GREAT place to pamper yourself and celebrate life!

More running quotes

My faves:
If EXCELLENCE is attainable...I guess that means GOOD is not good enough!!! Then QUITTING is not an option!!!!! - Jeff Ross

Excuses...are bridges of the incompetent that lead to no where! If we fall...we fall FORWARD! - Jeff Ross

"The best way out is always 'through'" Robert Frost

““Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. You have to kick at the darkness ‘till it bleeds daylight.”

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right"

"you will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life" camus

"Life is not about how to survive the storm. Life is about how to dance in the rain."

"Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it. Today is ready cash: Use it!" --Edwin C. Bliss

"Behold the turtle: He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out." -James Bryant Conant

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
Marianne Williamson

We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way. ~ Gloria Gaither ~

"If feedback is the breakfast of champions — then regular feedback is a diet we can live on forever." -Peter Thomson

"God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it sees something different" Rabbi Harold Kushner.

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it
and then move on.
~ Bob Newhart ~

Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage.
~ Erma Bombeck ~

"Life is not about how to survive the storm. Life is about how to dance in the rain."
The world is too dangerous for anything but truth
and too small for anything but love.
- William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Every positive change--every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness--involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution; we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception.”
~ Dan Millman
21st century philosopher
Courage Quotes - Growth

"The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals" - Hal Higdon

"Anyone that says long distance running is a rational sport has never run a step." -g

"Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run" -Bruce Springsteen

"Hills are just candy for runners" -gary

You are like the Ben Franklin of the running community -- and you make it happen" - Rob H

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." -Bill Bowerman

"Run like hell and get the agony over with." -Clarence DeMar

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




And of course there is MORE ---->>>

Audrey Hepburn's Beauty tips

For attractive lips ,
speak words of kindness...

For lovely eyes ,
seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure ,
share your food
with the hungry.

For beautiful hair ,
let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

For poise ,
walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone...

People, even more than things, have to be restored,
renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed;
never throw out anyone.

Remember,
if you ever need a helping hand,
you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;
one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.

Random Quotes for the New Year

"We can choose to be teachable and continue to learn..or we can be closed-minded and stop growing. The decision is ours." - Unknown

For Long you Live and High You Fly. And Smiles you'll give and Tears you'll cry. And all you Touch and all you See...is all your Life will ever be. (Pink Floyd)

Hang on to your dreams, reach for your star.
Know you can make it, no matter how far.
Expect to succeed; vow NEVER to quit.
A dream only comes true if you hang on to it.

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer sombody else up". - Mark Twain

"Risk nothing, have nothing, are nothing" - Anonymous

Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it's right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.
Oprah Winfrey

The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for.
- Dan Millman

If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.
- Dan Millman, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Moderation? It's mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It's the devil's dilemma. It's neither doing nor not doing. It's the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It's for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die. Moderation...is lukewarm tea, the devil's own brew.
- Dan Millman, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
Robert Frost

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Dan Millman Quotes

Stay strong and Be strong!

"Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by appliying their will to vercome apathy, doubt or fear."

"Wake up! If you knew for certain ou had a terminal illness- if you had little time left to live -- you would waste preciouslittle if it! Well, I'm telling you... you do have a terminal illness; It's called birgh. You don't have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason - - or you will never be at all."

- Dan Millman
21st century philosopher

See the Thinkarete.com site for more inspirational quotes!

Quote of the day

The beginning of love
is to let those we love
be perfectly themselves,
and not to twist them
to fit our own image.
Otherwise we love only
the reflection of ourselves
we find in them.

-Thomas Merton

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.
If a child with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice.
If a child lives with security
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship
He learns to find love in the world.