The Quotable Runner: Great Moments of Wisdom, Inspiration, Wrongheadedness and Humor - Hardcover

Contents" Introduction The Starting Line Voices from the Midpack (and Elsewhere) Coaches Eat, Drink, But Be Wary Training Fear Racing Records Cross-Country Hills In the Footsteps of Atalanta The Marathon The Mile Mind Over Matter The International Runner Pain The Olympics Medals and Money The Finish Line: Retirement Victories and Defeats Who's Who A few of our favorite quotes: "Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible." --Shakespeare "Long distance running is particularly good training in perseverance." --Chairman Mao "Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." --Don Kardong "Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, like the muscles of the body." --Lynn Jennings "If you want to win a race you have to go a little berserk." --Bill Rodgers "Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." --Oprah Winfrey "The mile has all the elements of drama." --Roger Bannister "Mind is everything. Muscle -- pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind." --Paavo Nurmi "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." --Juma Ikangaa "Start slowly, then taper off." --Walt Stack "Records are made to be broken." --Anonymous Introduction by Mark Will-Weber Compiling a book of quotations is a bit like prospecting. For long, unrewarded hours you sift through the silt, murk, and bottom mud which comprise the great body of sports literature and journalism--all for that rare nugget of gold. I began work on "The Quotable Runner" without actually realizing that I was doing it. (I highly recommend this method for any lengthy task if you can arrange it.) The first few hundred quotations that I gathered were used at the bottom of race results, in batches of five or six quotes per race, which I passed on to the cross-country runners at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As their coach, I thought it might be a fun way to jazz up the results sheets and inspire the runners to train with diligence and a new spark. Maybe a line from Zatopek, Nurmi, or Benoit would ignite a dre

Mark Will-Weber is the editor of The Quotable Runner, Breakaway's best-selling title. Former editor of Runner's World.