Say What? 10 pieces of running "Wisdom" for all...

Here in the Florida marathon and ultrarunning world, we are now officially "in-season"; you can find an in-state marathon or ultra pretty much every weekend from now until Florida's "Super Bowl of ultrarunning" in May (the KEYS100).  

With all these races coming up, what better to write about than some of the "wise" (and never contradictory) things that people he said about running in general and ultrarunning in particular.   (Fair disclosure:  As the members of Team Zwitty know, I have been on a bit of a "quote kick" lately; we have a QOTD ("Quote of the Day") competition every day, with past quotes ranging from Bill Bowerman and Pre, all the way to Taylor Swift (obviously), and everything in-between).

Anyway, here we go:

1.  the larger meaning of running

"Running, one might say, is basically an absurd past-time upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning, in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time:  life."  ―Bill Bowerman

“I'm struck by how pitiful and pointless this little container called me is, what a lame, shabby being I am. I feel like everything I've ever done in life has been a total waste.” ―Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

2.  of chasers and chasees

“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 it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”  ―Christopher McDougall


"I only run when I'm being chased.  Heh heh heh!"  ―Every non-runner in America

3.  everyone's (seemingly) favorite subject

"'DNF' means "Did Nothing Fatal."  ―Lisa Smith-Batchen

"A DNF is a mortal sin." ―Andrei Nana

4.  the spirit of the marathon

"If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." ―Katherine Switzer

"Oh you're running another marathon?  Cool.  How far is this one?   ―All of your non-runner friends

"We shall not speak of this 'M' word." ―Many FUR members :)

5.  front-running (aka "peacocking" in ultras)

"I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken-shit."   ―Steve Prefontaine

"Slow and steady wins the race."   ―The Tortoise and the Hare.  Also attributed to lots of people who have won ultras, as well as no one ever who has won a 10k :)

"The best pace is a suicide pace.  And today is a good day to die."   ―Steve Prefontaine

6.  the indomiTible "spirit/Insanity" of running

"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves…The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable."  ―Roger Bannister

"Running is stupid."  ―Frank McCabe

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise."  ―P.Z. Pearce

7.  The secret to effective training

"Train, don't strain." ―Arthur Lydiard


"Thrust against pain.  Pain is the purifier.  Walk toward suffering.  Love suffering.  Embrace it."  ―Percy Cerutty

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8.  confidence

“How to run an ultramarathon ? Puff out your chest, put one foot in front of the other, and don't stop till you cross the finish line.”   ―Dean Karnazes


"Standing on the starting line, we are all cowards."   ―Alberto Salazar

9.  the role of crews/pacers in ultras

"It is a team sport (really).  Be kind to your crew, pacers, and family."  ―Ann Trason

"I actually tell my pacer: “Don’t speak until you are spoken to.”  ―[name withheld]

10.  jogging

"I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging.  If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups."  ―Rita Rudner

"The difference between a jogger and a runner is a race entry fee."  ―George Sheehan

"I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street."  ―Neil Armstrong on jogging, in an interview with Walter Cronkite

"Oops . . .  I almost forgot. I won't be able to make it fellas. Veronica and I trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's 'jogging' or 'yogging'. it might be a soft 'j'. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild."  ―Ron Burgundy

11.  go get 'em

No matter what your running goals are for 2015, how you plan to go about reaching those goals, or even your reasons for running in general, two things are certain:  (1)  you will find quotes in support of and directly opposite to your views on how best to reach your goals, and (2) you will find people who both support you and those who think you are crazy.  We all run for our own reasons/goals, so whatever they are, good luck in all of your endeavors for 2015!  There are tons of upcoming races here in Florida, and I hope to see as many of you as possible "out there" in the next few months.  

For this weekend, a special "good luck" to everyone running the Miami Marathon, including Team Zwitty runners Lauren Hadley, Jodi Weiss, Sandy McCallum, Bonnie Collins, Melanie Papatestes, Mike Holt, and Nick Garcia!  

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