I have learned that there is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving. It's not about speed. And gold medals. It's about refusing to be stopped. you might find that one particular direction proves difficult, but there are many directions on a compass. Infinite, in fact. As long as you keep searching, you'll find your winning way.

Amby Burfoot

Categorized in : Moving Running Winning

Running has taught me, perhaps more than anything else, that there's no reason to fear starting lines... or other new beginnings.

Amby Burfoot

new-beginnings lines running

I always tell beginning runners: Train your brain first. It's much more important than your heart or legs.

Amby Burfoot

heart running sports

I have learned that there is no failure in running, or in life, as long as you keep moving.

Amby Burfoot

running long moving

I run because I enjoy it — not always, but most of the time. I run because I have always run — not trained, but run. What do I get? Joy and pain. Good health and injuries. Exhilaration and despair. A feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of waste. The sunrise and the sunset.

Amby Burfoot

sunset pain running

The most powerful lesson you can learn in running? You're capable of much more than you think.

Amby Burfoot

powerful running thinking

In running, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you are relative to anyone else. You set your own pace and you measure your own progress. You can't lose this race because you're not running against anyone else. You're only running against yourself, and as long as you are running, you are winning.

Amby Burfoot

race winning running

You have to want it, you have to plan for it, you have to fit it into a busy day, you have to be mentally tough, you have to use others to help you. The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape.

Amby Burfoot

body use mind

If you train your mind for running, everything else will be easy.

Amby Burfoot

easy mind running

It's not about speed and gold medals. It's about refusing to be stopped.

Amby Burfoot

speed gold running

Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

Amby Burfoot

giving-up struggle running

Life is a marathon, not a sprint; pace yourself accordingly.

Amby Burfoot

track-and-field running life

To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths.

Amby Burfoot

lines running trying

As runners, we all go through many transitions-- transitions that closely mimic the larger changes we experience in a lifetime. First, we try to run faster. Then we try to run harder. Then we learn to accept ourselves and our limitations, and at last, we can appreciate the true joy and meaning of running.

Amby Burfoot

true-joy appreciate running

It's what runners do. We keep on keeping on

Amby Burfoot

runners

Winning is not about headlines and hardware [medals]. It's only about attitude. A winner is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best runner and best person he can be. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

Amby Burfoot

giving-up struggle attitude

That's the beauty of starting lines: Until you begin a new venture, you never know what awaits you.

Amby Burfoot

new-ventures lines running

Why run? I run because I am an animal. I run because it is part of my genetic wiring. I run because millions of years of evolution have left me programmed to run. And finally, I run because there’s no better way to see the sun rise and set... What the years have shown me is that running clarifies the thinking process as well as purifies the body. I think best - most broadly and most fully - when I am running.

Amby Burfoot

running animal thinking

Best wishes for a great marathon. Be sure to savor it. The first marathon is something special. Run long and healthy.

Amby Burfoot

best-wishes running long

As we run, we become.

Amby Burfoot

running

Success does not come to the most righteous and rigorously disciplined but to those who continue running.

Amby Burfoot

inspirational-running doe running