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Joe Henderson
[Running, endurance, and sustainable lifestyles]
For fun, but also for inspiration and enlightenment, I decided to put together a collection of 100 quotes about that most fundamental activity of our species, the human race.
The quotes I found range from whimsical to profound--sometimes in the same breath (see Dr. Suess).
And I was especially fascinated by how universally evocative running seems to be not just to those of us who run for sport, but to philosphers, scientists, and even U.S. presidents (Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter), as well as to some of the giants of literature and the arts (Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Joyce Carol Oates). And of course, let's not leave out actual runners, from Clarence DeMar to Kathrine Switzer to the guy who may have written more about running than anyone else on our crowded planet, Joe Henderson. I hope you won't mind that I'm also including a scattering of quick takes from my book The Longest Race, which will be out on October 9.
2. "Men ran after and ate horses for four hundred thousand years. The outcome is more than a love of horse flesh; it is a runner's body."
--Anthropologist Paul Shepard
3. "There are as many reasons for running as there are days in a year.... But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child."
--Dr. George Sheehan
6. "I got plenty of cautions that one or two of these marathons was all a man should do in a lifetime."
--Clarence DeMar, in 1911, before the first of the seven Boston Marathons he won, and the 65 he ran overall.
7. "Running has substantiall shaped human evolution. Running made us human."
--Evolutionary biologist Dennis Bramble of the University of Utah
8. "What's true for us as individual humans is true for the civilization we create: a sprint culture, seeking ever greater speed and power in all things cannot endure."
--from The Longest Run: a Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, the Case for Human Endurance (October 2012)
10. "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 advertisement
11. "The best long-distance runners eat raw meant, run naked, and sleep in the snow."
--Alaska Airlines advertisement referring to sled dogs, as cited by run100s.com
12. "As a boy, I was about the slowest moving youngster in school."
--Seven-time Boston Marathon winner Clarence DeMar
13. "Happiness is pushing your limits and watching them back down."
--New Balance advertisement
14. "We humans...don't just sense what's happening in our bodies through the mediation of our consciousness up top in the ivory towers of our heads, but through our feet."
--The Longest Race
15. "Why couldn't Pheidippides have died at 20 miles?"
--Frank Shorter, 1970, two years before he won the Olympic marathon
16. "Sport, which mimics the language and emotional intensity of war but eliminates the fatal destruction, may be a form of redemption."
--The Longest Race
17. “They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!” --C. Joybell C.
18. "A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man."
--Arnold Toynbee
19. "It might be a paradox that would only irritate an old-school coach, but I knew well that I would run my best by hoping that everyone else ran their best."
--The Longest Race
20. "Men are born human. What they must learn is to be an animal. If they learn otherwise it may kill them, and kill life on the planet."
--Anthropologist Paul Shepard
21. "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
22. "Early humans actually ran with lower energy efficiency than the animals they chased--yet prevailed."
--The Longest Race, citing University of Utah biologist David Carrier
24. "The feature that differentiates hominids from other primates is not large brain size, but the set of characteristics associated with erect bipedal posture and a striding gait."
--Biologist David Carrier
26. "Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."
--William Barclay
29. "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
--Leonardo da Vinci
33. "Without patience, you will never conquer endurance."
--Yiannis Kouros, holder of multiple world ultra records, as quoted in TheTrailJogger
35. "Paradoxically, ultrarunners have (and need to have) less body fat than most other people--yet the little we hve is of great value. Fat is the ultrarunner's secret friend."
--The Longest Race
36. "Come what may, bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance."
--Virgil
37. "No matter how lean you might be, unless you are actually starving, you will have enough fat to go for days."
--The Longest Race
38. "Heroism is endurance for one moment more."
--George F. Kennan
42. "There is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise.
--W. H. Auden
43. "The human cardiovascular system evolved as part of the physiology of [prehistoric] hunters, who ran for their lives."
--Paul Shepard
47. "Pushing your body past what you thought it was capable of is easy; the hard part is pushing yourself even further"
--Rex Pearce, as quoted by a blogger I've lost track of, for which I apologize.
Blog on!
50. "Here are some who like to run. They run for fun in the hot, hot sun."
--Dr. Suess, quoted by @We_Run
51. "When men do not run they are likely to die prematurely from dysfunction of the heart and vascular systems or from disabling chronic disease."
--Anthropologist Paul Shepard
53. "We think running is one of the most transforming events in human history."
--Dennis Bramble, professor emeritus in the biology department of the of Utah, commenting on how humans evolved as long-distance-running "persistence hunters"
55. "Everyone who has run knows that its most important value is in...removing tension and allowing released from whatever other cares the day may bring."
--President Jimmy Carter, after recovering from his collapse in a Maryland road race
57. "I couldn't help but note that the notion of spending a bunch of money on something 'minimalist' was more than a touch ironic."
--Stacey Gordon
59. "Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from a place showers will never reach."
--Dr. George Sheehan
60. "Ultrarunning won't save the world, but it's a practice of the kinds of skills and outlooks that could ultimately help change the world's course and will almost certainly change yours."
--"Notes for an Aspiring Ultrarunner," an appendix to The Longest Race
61. "You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn't that big a deal."
--Seven-time Western States 100-Mile winner Scott Jurek, quoted by Can't Stop Endurance
63. "Long-distance running is not separate from the rest of life. It will affect your overall vitality, endurance, and patience, and may also affect your relationships and worldview. You will very likely become less complacent, more questioning, more adventurous, and more reconnected with your youth." --The Longest Race
64. "If we fail to encourage physical development and prowess, we will undermine our capacity for thought, for work, and for use of those skills vital to an expanding and complex America."
--John F. Kennedy
65. "Is this level of athletic competition the ultimate distraction from real life? Or is it a form of prayer?"
--Norah Vincent, on the Olympics, submitted by Mark Pynt
67. "The Greeks understood that mind and body must develop in harmonious proportion to produce a creative intelligence."
--John F. Kennedy
68. "I always loved running.... It was something you could do by yourself and under your own power."
--Jesse Owens
71. "Not less than two hours a day should be devoted to exercise."
--Thomas Jefferson
75. "If you want to win something, run 100 meters. IF you want to experience something, run a marathon."
--Emil Zatopek, winner of four Olympic gold medals
78. "Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body."
--Lynn Jennings
80. "The Blessing and Curse of Competition: Why Vince Lombardi Was Dead Wrong"
--Chapter subtitle in The Longest Race
81. "Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live to the fullest."
--Haruki Murakami
82. "I'm a minimalist. I'd rather run naked than over-clothed and over-equipped.
--EA
83. "I'm a minimalist. I don't want a GPS; I want to develop the ancient skill of mental mapping.
--EA
84. "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view."
--Edward Abbey
85. "We who run...are different from those who merely study us. We are out there experiencing what they are trying to put into words."
--Dr. George Sheehan
87. "In the year 2025m, the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives."
--Stephen King, in The Running Man
91. "This knowledge, the knowledge that the physical well-being of the citizen is an important foundation for all of the activities of the nation, is as old as Western civilization itself. But it is a knowledge which today, in America, we are in danger of forgetting."
--John F. Kennedy, 1960
92. "If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon."
--Kathrine Switzer, first woman to run the Boston Marathon
93. "Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."
--Oprah Winfrey
94. "You have brains in your head.
You have fee in your shoes.
You can Steer yourself any
Direction you choose!"
--Dr. Suess
95. "I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards."
--Alberto Salazar
97. "Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant."
--Dr. George Sheehan
98. "Years ago, women sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and discussing life. Now they discuss the same topics while they run."
--Joan Benoit, first winner of the women's Olympic marathon
100. "Without fellow humans, there's no foot race. Without a healthy planet, there's no race."
--The Longest Race, out in October
Paul Mastin said... Great quotes! I am looking forward to reading your book.
Stacey Gordon said... You quoted me!!!! Cool!
Allan Marsh said... Great reading! I've been looking for the effective gear to improve my runs and stumbled upon militarygradenutritionals.com/blog/. Besides many useful tips, I have also read there about natural nutritional supplements, which help athletes and military to enhance their endurance. I have tried their NavySeal Formula by myself and was impressed how quickly my tone went up. I was able to double my distances and had enough energy even after the finish! This product makes my trainings much more effective.
rpace6 said... I dig it! Here's my quote: "Pushing your body past what you thought it was capable of is easy; the hard part is
pushing yourself even further ... past what your mind wants to let you. That’s what
ultrarunning is all about; introducing you to a self you’ve never known.
Happy trails,
Rex Pace
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