Monday, February 04, 2013

Motivational Quotes...

I usually end my weekly emails to my team with a motivational quote.  As you see above, one of my favorites is "More Sweat in Training, Less Blood in Battle" which according to most has military roots.  So the question here is what is your favorite motivational quote?  What does it mean to you?  

Finally here is a link to a group of motivational posters found on the Runner's World site:
http://imgur.com/a/kTecg

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I am literally so pissed off right now!"
-me

Chris C said...

Couple I like include one from the baseball's Don Mattingly.."Practice doesn't make perfect..perfect practice makes perfect." Reminds me of when coaches speak of consistency, purposefulness and enjoyment during training/competition.
And the other..why not lyrics from Rise Against.."I'm not after fame or fortune..I'm after you!"

Anonymous said...

"quotes don't mean s**t with a mile to go"
-Anonymous

Anonymous said...

"I will not stop until I reach my goal!"

Anonymous said...

"If at first you don't succeed...Try doing what your COACH told you to do the first time."

Albert Caruana said...

Thanks for the contributors so far. Keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race."

"The quickest way to finish is to start."

Anonymous said...

"Dare to dream heroically"

frostythehighlander said...

Pre is the king of inspirational quotes.

"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts"

"Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it"

and the best one of all-

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift"

Anonymous said...

"What I want to be is number one."

- Pre

Anonymous said...

Training hard and putting in the work (sweat) doesn't mean you should bleed less come race time. Trained or not racing should be hard and it should hurt.

Nils said...

I've always taken the "less blood" quite literally, as if to say "don't play football in the fall, run cross-country and we'll see who's REALLY tough!" That's just my take.

Anonymous said...

Success isn't how far you get but the distance you traveled from where you started. -Pre

Anonymous said...

Success is achieving your goal.

Anonymous said...

Put these together back in 2010 for a coach writing a book. Will submit in parts - since ya don't wanna accept it in one!! :) Apologize if there are any repeats.

Cross Country: No half times, no time outs, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport.
Author Unknown

No one ever drowned in sweat.
Author Unknown

Cross Country — Finally a practical use for golf courses.
Author Unknown

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle
when the sun comes up you’d better be running.
Author Unknown

The will to win is worthless, without the will to prepare.
Author Unknown

In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.
Author Unknown

The true test of a man’s character is what he does when he knows he won’t get caught.
Author Unknown

Sunshine is delicious,
Rain is refreshing,
Wind braces us up,
Snow is exhilarating,
There’s really no such thing as bad weather,
Only different kinds of good weather.
Author Unknown

Some people don’t have the guts for distance racing. The polite term for them is sprinters.
Author Unknown

Cross Country philosophy — the faster you run the faster you’re done.
Author Unknown

It’s rude to count people as you pass them. Out loud.
Adidas ad

Those who say that I will lose and am finished will have to run over my body to beat me.
Said Aouita

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.
T. Alan Armstrong

The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do.
Walter Bagehot

It is a paradox to say the human body has no ‘limit.’ There must be a limit to the speed at which men can run. I feel this may be around 3:30 for the mile. However, another paradox remains – if an athlete manages to run 3:30, another runner could be found to marginally improve on that time.
Sir Roger Bannister

Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport as about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.
Sir Roger Bannister

Anonymous said...

Part 2

If I faltered, there would be no arms to hold me and the world would be a cold and forbidding place.
Sir Roger Bannister

Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge.
Dave Bedford

I think people can handle 150 to 200 miles a week. But something has to give somewhere. If he’s a student, how’s he going to study? He may be at the age of chasing and courtship, and that’s an important form of sport and recreation, too.
Bill Bowerman

My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy.
John Bryant

A lot of people don’t realize that about 98 percent of the running I put in is anything but glamorous: 2 percent joyful participation, 98 percent dedication! It’s a tough formula. Getting out in the forest in the biting cold and the flattening heat, and putting in kilometer after kilometer.
Rob de Castella

Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once.
Julius Ceaser

Run hard, be strong, think big!
Percy Cerutty

The nine inches right here; set it straight and you can beat anybody in the world.
Sebastian Coe, holding his fingers up to his head

The great thing about athletics is that it’s like poker, sometimes you know what’s in your hand and it may be a load of rubbish, but you’ve got to keep up the front.
Sebastian Coe

Tomorrow is another day, and there will be another battle!
Sebastian Coe

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

To win without risk is to triumph without glory.
Pierre Cornielle

All it takes is all you got.
Marc Davis

Good things come slow – especially in distance running.
Bill Dellinger

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

The five S’s of sports training are: Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill and Spirit;
but the greatest of these is Spirit.
Ken Doherty

The only tactics I admire are do-or-die.
Herb Elliott

I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
Mike Fanelli

Marathoning is like cutting yourself unexpectedly. You dip into the pain so gradually that the damage is done before you are aware of it. Unfortunately, when the awareness comes, it is excruciating.
John Farrington

Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.
Try to be better than yourself.
William Faulkner

Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.
Tom Fleming’s Boston Marathon training sign on his wall

The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy…It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.
Jacqueline Gareau

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.
Gatorade ad

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.
Juma Ikangaa

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
Japanese Proverb

It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.
Brooks Johnson

If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want — Why? Because
(a) you’ll burn all the calories you consume,
(b) you deserve it, and
(c) you’ll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.
Don Kardong

The thing about Pre is that he ran as hard as he could every race, and if you were going to beat him, you were going to have to run harder than he did.
Bob Kennedy

When you are a up-and-coming runner in the U.S., and making some breakthroughs in distances, Pre is still the man that you are compared to. It’s always based on Pre.
Bob Kennedy

If you want to make God laugh, just try and make plans for the future.
Ron Litzler

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

Anonymous said...

Part 3

I haven’t seen too many American distance men on the international scene willing to take risks. I saw some U.S. women in Barcelona willing to risk, more than men. The Kenyans risk. Steve Prefontaine risked. I risked – I went through the first half of the Tokyo race just a second off my best 5000 time.
Billy Mills

Only think of two things — the report of the pistol and the tape. When you hear one, run like hell, until you break the other.
Sam Mussabini

Mind is everything: muscle – pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
Paavo Nurmi

Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired. You’ve always got to make the mind take over and keep going.
George S. Patton

Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don’t think about them, I just do them. The decision has already been made.
Patti Sue Plumer

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding.
Steve Prefontaine

A lot of people run a race to see who’s the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.
Steve Prefontaine

My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.
Bill Rodgers

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Theodore Roosevelt

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

The marathon is like a bullfight. There are two ways to kill a bull, for instance. There is the easy way, for one. But all the great matadors end up either dead or mauled because for them killing the bull is not nearly as important as how they kill the bull. They always approach the bull at the greatest risk to themselves, and I admire that. In the marathon, likewise, there are two ways to win. There’s the easy way if all you care about is winning. You hang back and risk nothing. Then kick and try to nip the leaders at the end. Or you can push, challenge the others, make it an exciting race, risking everything. Maybe you lose, but as for me, I’d rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way and lose, then run a conservative, easy race only for a win.
Alberto Salazar

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Seneca

Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.
Dr. George Sheehan

The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.
Bill Squires

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.
Lowell Thomas

I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I’m not frightened by anyone’s reputation.
Ian Thompson

Believe in yourself, know yourself, deny yourself, and be humble.
John Treacy

Good judgment is the result of experience. Experience is the result of bad judgment.
Mark Twain

Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have nature and that is much better.
Juha Vaatainen

Dream barriers look very high until someone climbs them. They are not barriers anymore.
Lasse Viren

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington

Running is real and relatively simple — but it ain’t easy.
Mark Will-Weber

Once you’re beat mentally, you might was well not even go to the starting line.
Todd Williams

We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.
Emil Zatopek

That's all!

Albert Caruana said...

Great additions. Thanks.

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