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by Various
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong
man stumbles, 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, because there is no effort without error and
shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the
great enthusiasms, the 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 cold and timid souls who know neither
victory nor defeat."
- Theodore Roosevelt, Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
"I gazed in envy at ultra runners whose quadriceps had the kind of definition
that tells you Secretariat is somewhere in their family tree."
- Liz Zelandais, writing about the Dam 50k Run/Relay
"The moon was out and I saw some sheep.
I saw some sheep take a walk in their sleep.
By the light of the moon, by the light of a star,
They walked all night from near to far.
I would never walk, I would take a car."
- Dr. Seuss
"You guys just shuffle from concession stand to concession stand!"
- Helge Zimmet, said to Karen Claire at Way Too Cool
"Perhaps the genius of ultra running is its supreme lack of utility. It makes
no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances
on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the
approval of peers. But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted
from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense.
The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that
is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that
the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running
such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of
their being -- a call that asks who they are ..."
- David Blaikie
"Pain is a wonderful thing and now I was feeling wonderful, really wonderful!!!"
- Unknown trail runner on Mt. Baldy, submitted by Mark Ryne
"Nobody is going to finish this damn thing for me, but me."
- Unknown
"I refuse to tip-toe through life only to arrive at death safely."
- Submitted by Scott Weber
"A 50K on trails is easier than a marathon on the road."
- Unknown
"A 100-miler is just like childbirth... when it's over, you say, wait... what just happened?!"
- Nancy Shura-Dervin 2001 AC-100
"Look Mabel, here comes one who's running!"
- Unknown
"I decided to go for a little run."
- Forrest Gump
"You can never run a hill too hard, you will collapse before hurting it."
- Submitted by Adam Born
"I wasn't a truly genuine trail ultra runner until March 7, 1992 at the
Wild Oak 50 near Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was a rainy day and
simultaneously, while I was piddling on the run, chewing on an energy
bar and washing it down with Mountain Dew, my nose was dripping and I
farted. That was the ultimate defining moment in my trail running
career, if not my entire life."
- Bob Boeder
"You're not puking and nothing's broken so get going."
- Vivian McQueeney to her husband, Scott, in the middle of the climb to
Whitney Portal during Badwater 2000
"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not
to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is
against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."
- George Sheehan
"Perhaps the genius of ultra running is its supreme lack of utility. It makes
no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances
on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the
approval of peers. But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted
from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense.
The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that
is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that
the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running
such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of
their being -- a call that asks who they are ..."
- David Blaikie
"Remember, you paid a lot of money to feel this bad."
- Nancy Shura-Dervin, pacer to her runner
"Find the level of intolerance you can tolerate and stay there."
- David Horton
"The thing I don't like about Western States is that you show up at the
starting line in the best shape of your life and a day later you are in
Auburn in the worst shape of your life."
- Andy Black, on Western States
"If you can't see over it, walk it."
- Unknown
"You're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!"
- Ken Chlouber at Leadville
"We'll tell you when to start and we'll tell you when to stop. In between, don't
think, just keep running."
- Ken Chlouber at Leadville
"If you under-train, you may not finish, but if you over-train, you may not start."
- Tom DuBos credits Stan Jensen with this one
"The best long distance runners eat raw meat, run naked and sleep in the snow."
- Alaska Airlines advertisement honoring Iditarod dogs (from Dana Roueche)
"I love running cross-country ... You come up a hill and see two deer going:
'What the hell is he doing?' On a track, I feel like a hamster."
- Robin Williams, film star/comic/runner
"When you are 99 miles into a 100-mile running race, your brain is not
the same brain you started with".
- Paul Huddle
"If you're feeling really bad, don't worry, it will pass and if you're feeling really good, that will pass too."
- Nancy Shura-Dervin/UltraLadies 1994
"Nobody should ever run a race where they are lapped by the sun."
- friend of Alex Swenson, referring to 100 mile races
"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run
an ultramarathon."
- Alan Cabelly
"Better to be a little under trained than to be a little over injured.
- Nancy Shura-Dervin/UltraLadies
"... so as we walked along the river toward Rucky Chucky, I said the
words that most men say to a pretty woman as they walk along the river
under a starry night on their first date: "If you were a real hardass,
you'd stick your finger down your throat and clear your stomach and if
you won't do it, I will."
- Stan Jensen, pacing Sarah Lowell at WS'97
"Anybody running beats anybody walking, and anybody walking beats anybody
sitting."
- Tom Bunk
"Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and
drop out. You don't want to be out there saying, Well gee, my leg hurts,
I'm a little dehydrated, I'm sleepy, I'm tired, and its cold and windy.
And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on
how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision."
- Dick Collins
"You can sleep when you die."
- Roger Rehwald (seen on a T-shirt)
"Beware of the chair!"
- Unknown
"... slowed my pace to the point that I could have been rear-ended by a
sleepy snail."
- Dave Olney
"I want to thank the rest of you for making me look normal."
- Gordon Ainsleigh
"No matter how well you know the course, no matter how well you may
have done in a given race in the past, you never know for certain
what lies ahead on the day you stand at the starting line waiting
to test yourself once again. If you did know, it would not be a
test; and there would be no reason for being there."
- Dan Baglione
"Don't worry - you're supposed to walk the uphills."
- Shelley Black
"Speed is sex ... distance is love."
- David Blaikie
"In ultrarunning, the pain is inevitable, but the suffering is optional."
- Al Bogenhuber
"You can't die from a stomach ache. The worst that can happen is that
you'll throw up. Then you can eat some more and start running again."
- Jack Bristol
"I like those people. They are calmer and cooler, I think. Personality-
wise, they are rich. An ultra runner is not somebody who is normally
going to wish you bad. On the contrary if you are down an ultra runner
will help you."
- Michel Careau
"I think the novelty has worn off."
- Jack Chapman
"The only way to define your limits is by going beyond them."
- Arthur Clarke
"If you think you won't finish, you won't."
- Dick Collins
"How many days does it take to run a hundred miles?"
- Skip Eastman
"The race continued as I hammered up the trail, passing rocks and trees
as if they were standing still."
- Red Fisher, Wasatch '86
"Trails with high passes and girls with nice asses."
- Doug Freese
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."
- Robert Frost
"The 10-K is a race. The marathon is an experience. The ultra is an
adventure."
- Bryan Hacker
"I'm tired."
- Jussie Hammalainen
"Why would anyone want to do this a second time?"
- Sue Haupt
"There's a lot to be said for LSD -- long, slow distance in this case."
- Joe Henderson
"Why am I doing this?"
- Don Herres
"Because I can." (when asked "Why do you run 100 mile races?")
- Tom Johnson
"Enjoy your pain, you earned it!"
- Pauli Kiriu
"My advice is that you should use your brains more and train less."
- Yiannis Kouros
"You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wish
it'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physical
right now."
- Ken Loveless
"I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like."
- David Lygre
"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day.
It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be
strong today?'"
- Peter Maher
"No matter what hurts at the beginning, by the end of the race
something else will hurt worse."
- Bob O'Connor
"Pain is good. Extreme Pain is Extremely Good ..."
- Navy Seals
"That which does not destroy me makes me stronger"
- Nietzsche
"Each time you run you will receive lessons. You have enrolled in
the school of ultrarunning. You may like the lessons or think them
irrelevant and stupid. What you think makes no difference; the
lessons will be presented until they are learned."
- Keith Pippin
"You will get through the tired times, don't give up. There is lots of
time. Walk and in a while you will be running again."
- Rolly Portelance
"If the bone's not showin', just keep goin'!"
- Joan Risse at Angeles Crest, 9/95
"Happy trails to you, until we meet again"
- Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
"Moderation bores me."
-Dean Karnazes
"Enjoy the training and memories of race day, endure the race."
- Shapiro
"I have met my hero, and he is me."
- George Sheehan
"Start slow, then taper off".
- Walt Stack
"ARRRGH -- what in God's name ever possessed me to think this would be a
good thing to do?"
- Charles N. Steele
"I never met a hill I couldn't walk."
- Larry Stice
"I have to find another port-a-tree."
- Ellie Thayer
"If you start to feel good during an Ultra, don't worry - you'll get
over it."
- Gene Thibeault
"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."
- Thoreau
"It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse."
- Ann Trason
"The first 50 miles are run with the legs, the second 50 miles with the
mind."
- Unknown
"People think ultra is some kind of spaghetti eating contest for people
with no talent to do anything else. But there's a lot going on. I break
it down into the physical, the mental and endurance. Physical is the
only gender-specific area; men have more muscle mass, the strongest man
is always going to be stronger than the strongest woman. But I think
physical is only a small percentage of ultra. The mental part includes
preparation, strategizing, problem solving. How do you deal with 22
miles through snow, then overheating? How do you avoid allowing someone
to lure you into running their race? You have to learn how to run over
rocks downhill without trashing your quads; it's like skiing or dancing.
And then endurance. An ultra is not about pain - I think a marathon is
about pain, about intensity - but it's about hanging in through
tiredness and about staying nutritionally fueled. There is some evidence
that women may use fat more efficiently. And you have to want it, you
have to have the passion, you have to be willing to take the risks. You
can never be sure you'll finish."
- Ann Trason
"90% of ultrarunning is 100% mental."
- Unknown
"Anything worth doing is worth doing to the extreme."
- Bruce Wise
"If you get tired on a trail run, lie down in the middle of the trail in
such a way that no one could pass you without waking you up - it will
insure your finish line position."
- Glen Zirbel
"The pain is temporary, The pride lasts forever."
- Unknown
"Stick a fork in me, I'm done."
- Unknown
"It used to freak me out when I threw up, now I don't even slow down."
- Unknown
"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs
and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells
'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear
the voice whisper 'can'. And you discover that the person you thought
you were is no match for the one you really are."
- Unknown
"The second 50 is done with the mind."
- Unknown
"It used to freak me out when I threw up, now I don't even slow down."
- Unknown
"The finish line is just ahead."
"The aid station is just ahead."
"Trust me ... this is the last hill."
"You're almost there."
"The trail is well marked."
- Unknown
"In an ultra you should eat like a horse, drink like a fish, and run
like a turtle."
- Unknown
"His IQ drops 50 points every time he laces up a pair of running shoes."
- Unknown
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must
Out run 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 a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better
be running."
- Unknown
