Quotes

The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize you're not in shape for it,
it's too far to walk back. - Franklin Jones

The only one who can tell you 'you can't' is you. And you don't have to listen - Nike

The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart - Ingersoll

A winner is a loser who was willing to fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up and win - Peter Zafra

It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up
- Vince Lombardi

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did
- Newt Gingrich

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. - Michael Jordan

The Creator has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do.

Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. Orison Swett Marden

Resolve that whatever you do, you will bring the whole man to it; that you will fling the whole weight of your being into it. - Orison Swett Marden

We fail to see that we can control our own destiny; make ourselves do whatever is possible; make ourselves become whatever we long to be. - Orison Swett Marden

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle -- victorious. - - Vince Lombardi

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. - Vince Lombardi

A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done. - Vince Lombardi

"If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you must not have done anything today."
---Unknown

"The race isn't over until you cross the finish line. You'll be surprised at how much can change in the last twenty strides." ---Jackie Dugall

"Training is what you are doing while your opponent is sleeping in." ---Brian Owen

"What I've learned in my years as a competitive wheelchair athlete is this--what separates a winner from the rest of the pack is not raw talent or physical ability; instead, it is the drive and dedication to work hard every single day, and the heart to go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is." ---Linda Mastandrea

"The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal." ---Jackie Joyner-Kersee

"Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition." ---John Smith

"Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort." ---Elgin Baylor

"Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the keys to my destiny." ---Elain Maxwell

"When anyone tells me I can't do anything...I'm just not listening anymore."
---Florence Griffith-Joyner

"All of us get knocked down, but it's resiliency that really matters. All of us do well when things are going well, but the thing that distinguishes athletes is the ability to do well in times of great stress, urgency and pressure." ---Roger Staubach

I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do was shrug and say 'We'll just have to see'. --Dick Fosbury (won an Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Games after he invented a revolutionary high-jump technique.)

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital. -Joe Paterno

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a mans determination
-Tommy Lasorda

A ship in the harbor is safe. But that's not what ships are built for. -Anonymous

The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves. -Anonymous

If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just finish the race its up to you.
-Dave Scott, Triathlete

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. -Samuel Johnson

The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before. -Steve Young

But the fact is that I wouldn't have won even a single Tour de France without the lesson of illness. What it teaches is this: pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.

To be successful in anything , a person must always want to be better, not only than your opponent, but better than your last performance. Done correctly, being competitive is a wonderful way to always try to be a better person by learning from your mistakes and capitalizing on you successes

My mom would never let us quit. She always taught us the importance of sticking with it, even when times are tough. We didn't just hear her, we watched her. I know what to do because she led the way. She showed us that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish the world. No matter where you're from and what you 're up against.

Twenty seconds before a race, there's absolute focus. The key thing is to achieve relaxation, but at the same to have absolute total control. You've got to find the balance between being totally ready to go and being really at peace with yourself as well.

A true champion knows how to overcome doubts and manage those doubts and turn them into motivation.

You've got to believe you can win. But I believe respect for the fact that you can lose is what you always have to keep in your mind so that nothing surprises you.

When others think you can’t ---- You Believe!
When you get down------ You Believe!
When you are taking on water trying to conquer the swim -----You Believe!
When you are trying to make that first milestone jogging and your lungs are about to explode ---- You Believe!
When your legs are burning and you just don’t want to pedal your bike any more --- You Believe!
When you don’t want to get out of bed on a cold rain drenched morning --- You Believe!
When you feel like you are making no progress --- You Believe!
Bottom line --- You Believe!

I never wanted to be one of those people who looks back and says, "I wonder if . . ." If I have a goal, I'll go out and set forth to achieve it. When something is your passion, it becomes everything. You put everything into it without hesitation. No questions. No doubts. Nothing to stop you.

Kim Fitchen - Cross-country runner and member of three U.S. World relay teams who never seriously ran or competed until she was twenty-five years old

The rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that precedes the victory.

A winner will find a way to win. Winners take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves to be that much better. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as a reason to give up. It's all a matter of pride.

I Believe I'm one of the best pitchers in the world - I know I am as far as results go. But you can't live on your legacy. Every time I step on the mound I have to prove it.

If my dreams can happen to me, your dreams can happen to you. Champions are not made on the track or field; champions are made by the things you accomplish and the way you use your abilities in everyday life situations.

Bob Beamon Former world-record long jumper and track coach at Florida Atlantic University

It's important to know that at the end of the day it's not the medals you remember. What you remember is the process-- what you learn about yourself by challenging yourself, the experiences you share with other people, the honesty the training demands -- those are things nobody can take away from you whether you finish twelfth or you're an Olympic Champion.

Silken Laumann - Canadian Olympian who overcame injury to win a bronze and a silver medal in single sculls rowing in 1992 and 1996 respectively.

I don't think you can ever will yourself to win. I think you prepare yourself the best you can, get yourself in the best mindset you can get in, and go after it!

Jack Nicklaus - Six-time winner of the Masters

" Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have."
Norman Vincent Peale

It is not the critic who counts,
nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Some men see things the way they are and ask, "Why?" I dream things that never were, and ask "Why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
- Dr. Dale Turner

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

Steve Prefontaine

"There are only two options regarding commitment, You're either in or your out. There's no such thing as life in between."

"Only the weak attempts to accomplish what he knows he can already achieve." - Stella Juarez, Author

"Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret!"

- Unknown

"Success must be felt within before it can be seen on the outside."

- Unknown

I hated every minute of training, but I said, don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life a champion."

" Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it."
William Durant

"Nothing in life just happens. You have to have the stamina to meet the obstacles and overcome them."

"There is nothing we cannot live down, rise above, and overcome." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"We must train from the inside out. Using our strengths to attack and nullify any weaknesses. It's not about denying a weakness may exist but about denying its right to persist." Vince McConnell

Keep these concepts in mind: You've failed many times, although you don't remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. .... Don't worry about failure. My suggestion to each of you: Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try."

"You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all."

" It's not what God gives you, that counts,...It's how you take care of it,..that does!"
Donna Avvento

"I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Talent is God-given, be humble! Fame is man-given, be thankful!

Conceit is self-given, be careful...

"This is about doing something difficult and not stopping when it becomes not just difficult, but cold and difficult... or cold and wet and difficult... or cold and wet and dark and difficult."

-Suzy Hamilton

The vision of a champion is a guy who is bent over, gasping for breath, dripping in sweat, when no one is watching.

"There are only two options regarding commitment, You're either in or your out. There's no such thing as life in between." - Anonymous

Only those who risk going too far, can possibly find out how far they can go.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself !

George Bernard Shaw

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
- Mark Twain

There's no thrill in easy sailing ... but there IS satisfaction that's mighty sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you thought you'd never make.
— Spirella

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
- Andre Gide

Success is never final and failure never fatal. It's courage that counts.
- George F. Tilton

"Just remember this: No one ever won the olive wreath with an impressive training diary."
- Marty Liquori

"Restlessness is discontent-and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man-and I will show you a failure."
- Thomas Alva Edison

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It's up to you to decide what to do with them." -- Jim Valvano

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts."
Steve Prefontaine

"Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn't work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time."

"Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great."

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

" Life is never perfect. Life is filled with obstacles to make you wiser and grow to who you are today. So love yourself first and you will love life even more."