Quote

In running it is man against himself, the cruelest of all opponents. The other runners are not the real enemies. His adversary lies within him, in his ability with brain and heart to master himself and his emotions.

--Glenn Cunningham, American Runner in the 1930s

Quote: Battles

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

-- Jesse Owens

New Men's Marathon Record

This is just unbelievable. Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia broke his own record today at the Berlin Marathon running 2:03:59. Whoa.

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Updated 9/29/08

I just wanted to add this blog entry from Runner's World. Mark Remy ran Geb's training through SmartCoach to see what Geb should be doing. Here is the blog entry.

Quote

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

Quote: Running & Yoga

From RunnersWorld.com's Daily Kick in the Butt:

Running is a thing worth doing not because of the future rewards it bestows, but because of how it feeds our bodies and minds and souls in the present. -- Kevin Nelson, The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration

Now that pretty much sums up why I think yoga and running are absolutely perfect for each other.

Man Runs 192-Miles to Support Cancer Research

This is truly amazing. Please read.

Quote - Making a Champion

Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.

Muhammad Ali
Boxing Legend

Size Doesn't Matter

I don't know about any of you, but I've had my fair share of body image issues. I've always felt I was too big. Even when I was smaller than I am now I thought I was big. I thought that to be a competitive runner you absolutely had to be the tiniest little thing. Well, guess what? You don't. I think what it takes to be a competitive runner is drive, determination, training and focus. It has nothing (well maybe a little) to do with size. Erin Donahue is a perfect example. She is 5'7" and 145-pounds of solid muscle and she is one of the USA's 1500m runners in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Here is an article that I found really interesting, especially for those of us who think you have to be 5'6" and 105-pounds to find success in running.

Quote

RunnersWorld.com's Daily Kick in the Butt sent me this quote this morning. It reminded me of how I sometimes feel like I just want to run alone and don't want my running partners with me. Sometimes I'm selfish like that and just want that time to myself to focus on form, pound out stress from a tough day, or just be at peace with the out of doors. Other times however, I crave running with my group. I love running with them. I'm not sure I could have a better group of three to run with. As, this quote says, have running partners just makes everything that much better.

Running is ultimately a personal experience. It is a revival of the spirit, a private oasis for the thirsty mind. Yes, it's healing power only increases in the presence of others. Run together and the oasis grows cooler and more satisfying.

-- Amby Burfoot

Sleep, Pain & Hills

I'm blaming the full moon - and not my terrible diet as of late or my silly little schedule because of course those have been perfect [insert sarcasm here] - on the fact that my sleep the past two nights has just been terrible. On Monday night, I woke up almost every hour tossing and turning and dreaming crazy weird things. Tuesday night I decided to stay up late watching the Celtics beat LA in the NBA finals (haha Kobe!) and then my body was awake at 4am. And to top it all off the other night I watched this sleep study that in a nutshell said decreased sleep can lead to reduced intelligence and not to mention type 2 (I believe it was type 2) diabetes when extremely sleep deprived. Here is the article from 60 Minutes. Check it out... it'll motivate you to go to bed and stay there for at least your 8 hours. And if you love sleep as much as I like to, you might even be there for 12!

I did a 7 mile hill workout tonight and I have to tell you I was scared. Why? Well because hills hurt. I had to keep reminding myself that pain is pleasure (please read that as pain is pain and you should stop the activity, but discomfort or a new sensation is not pain and you may continue the activity, but most importantly listen to your body). All I had to do was take it one hill at a time and push through each one nice and steady one step at a time. And that's what I did. I have to admit that I did get a little motivation from these two quotes:

It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.
-- Emil Zapotek

To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain - not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, and learn to accept it.
-- Dr. George Sheehan

I felt good during the workout, but I definitely needed this motivation to push me through. I feel like I've been recovering very well lately, but with my increased mileage this week we'll see how that turns out. I'll be certain to get my sleep for the next couple runs I have planned this week.

Quotes

I am sitting here waiting for a load of laundry as I watch game 4 of the Celtics versus Lakers NBA Championship series. I was just thinking about how motivational it can be to watch someone you look up to do what the do best.

In the case of the Celtics, my boyfriend watches Keven Garnett with a fierce intensity and I can see in his eyes the desire to get out and play the game with the same intensity and heart as Garnett. I do the same when watching track and field and seeing Kara Goucher, Deena Kastor, and Shalane Flanagan. I love to watch them, but at the same time seeing them run makes me want to get out and run.

So in this spirit of watching our favorite athletes to gain motivation, I'm giving you a few quotes I've gotten from my daily Runner's World quotes. I hope you find them motivational, inspirational or some other kind of 'ational.

I think some of the most celebrated moments in human achievement should be those times when everything is going against a person and they are down in the dumps but they simply choose to get up. That's real greatness! --Ryan Hall

Life (and running) is not all about time but about our experiences along the way. --Jen Rhines

Racing is the fun part; it's the reward of all the hard work. --Kara Goucher

Enjoy! And be sure to leave some of your favorite motivational quotes.

Marathon History and Motivation

Every day I receive an e-mail from Runner's World with a motivational quote. Some of them really hit home, while others I delete and never think of again. This morning was one of the quotes that I delete and never think of again. That is until my little sister reminded me of it.

It's horrible, yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame. -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

So Heather, my little sister, starts a gchat with me to tell me how cool today's quote was. And I said, "what? I don't remember it. What was it?" She reminds me what it was and I say, "hm... I wonder what it means."

Within five minutes my research guru little sister sends me an e-mail with subject line "the background" and in it is a link to an article called, The Great Marathon Boom of 100 Years Ago, written by Don Allison. Well good thanks, Heather. What the heck is this? Why did you send it? At least I have reading now at lunch.

So I'm reading the article at lunch (a great article by the way) and all of a sudden - there's the quote. As Allison states in his article,

As he [Dorando] entered the stadium for the final laps to the finish line, he staggered and turned in the wrong direction. With assistance from two race officials, the diminutive Italian was helped and turned in the proper direction toward the finish. He fell three times and arose each time, but not without help from two officials. Crossing the finish line first in 2:54:46, it had taken Dorando nearly 10 minutes to cover the final quarter-mile. A fresh Johnny Hayes arrived at the finish just 30 seconds later.

Later on, Allison quotes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the author of my RW Daily Quote as well as Sherlock Holmes) from his report in the Daily Mail describing Dorando at the finish.

. . .Then again he collapsed, kind hands saving him from a heavy fall. He was within a few yards of my seat. Amid stooping figures and grasping bands I caught a glimpse of the haggard, yellow face, the glazed, expressionless eyes, the lank black hair streaked across the brow…It is horrible, and yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame.

Needless to say this quote has a lot more meaning to me now than it did before. I hope you enjoy the article and the quote. I know I appreciate it much more now.