Thursday, October 16, 2008

TIART: Favorite Quotes

I have had this post for about 2 months now. I wanted to write something about my favorite quotes but never got around to organizing them. This of course was the perfect opportunity to not only slack at work but also dig through my stuff and find all those quotes that have helped me get through the good and bad times. These first three quotes pretty much sum up my philosophy on running and life.

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

"Even if most people I interacted with had no idea of what I'd done, I knew. That was all that mattered. The greatest rewards of high achievement, I had come to believe, were intrinsic." - Dean Karnazes

"It's very hard to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the real competition is against the voice inside you that wants to quit." - George Sheehan

This next one is from a song I have been listening to a lot but its super motivational:

"When you can't wait any longer but there's no end in sight, when you need to find the strength it's your faith that makes you stronger, the only way you get there is one step at a time." - One Step at a Time by Jordan Sparks

Going way back I found the quotes from my Senior year in high school when we went to the Championship game in basketball:

"If you couldn't play tomorrow, how hard would you play today?" - Unknown

"You pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates; and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the name on the back." - Herb Brooks (Miracle)

I also asked B-Rabbit what his favorite quotes were (he is on the college swim team so his quotes are about swimming but still good)

"For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water and knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I've been in." - Ian Thorpe

"I am not going to allow myself not to preform well just because I don't feel well. I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it's about how much I am prepared to let them affect me." - Ian Thorpe

Ok I guess that is enough quotes! I am missing practice today and tomorrow so I will be doing the workouts on my own. Yesterday we just did five hills and some running then upper body lifting. During lifting the sprinter girls showed me this neat exercise. Take 5 pound dumbbells in each hand. Stand in place but do the running motion with arms for 30 seconds (try not to hit your hips with 5lb weights). FEEL THE BURN!! Apparently it is supposed to make you run faster and help you build up important muscles. (do you understand my explanation of the exercise???) Stay Motivated!!


Runners Lounge - Take it and Run Thursday

10 comments:

Jamie said...

Great quotes! And I am going to try that arm exercise. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

All great quotes.

Nicole said...

Awesome quotes! I have soo many books of quotes.. . . i'm obsessed with them!

Marcy said...

I love the George Sheehan one as well. Very true!

tfh said...

The Sheehan quote definitely motivates me during my solo sessions! That voice can be loud. And I have to try that exercise--I've seen it in Runners' World but never got around to doing it.

Meg said...

Great quotes and cool arm exercise. I'll have to try it!

Aron said...

awesome quotes!!!

in spirit of the marathon deena kastor doing that exercise... i think i will have to try it!

Laura said...

I especially love that one about how you would push more if you knew you couldn't do it tomorrow. I hate when I finish a race and then have energy, and I think "ugh, if only I had gone a little harder at that one point." The WORST feeling!

N.D. said...

Nice - love the quotes!

The Laminator said...

Totally loved your quotes...especially the one asking how hard you'd run today if it were your last...actually thought about it during my last PR race.