By Marnie Kunz
Certified trainer and run coach

The best running motivational quotes will inspire you to get out the door and run. As a running coach, I believe in the power of quotes to motivate people. Whether you’re a new runner or a longtime marathon runner, you can’t help but want to jump up and run after reading these quotes. With these insights from the world’s greatest runners and thinkers, you’ll be lacing up your running shoes to hit the pavement (or track or trail).

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Best Running Motivational Quotes

These running quotes will give you a boost of motivation to conquer your next run. If you’re struggling to get out the door, or having a bad day, remember these motivational running quotes. I am also including some running mantra quotes and examples to really step up your mental training.

Beginning Runner’s Quotes

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
― John Bingham, author, marathon runner

“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, American physician, senior athlete, and author

“I often hear someone say, ‘I’m not a real runner.’ We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner.”
— Bart Yasso, Runner’s World's former Chief Running Officer, creator of the Yasso 800s Speed Workout which can predict marathon times

“Different people have different reasons for racing, but one is simply the incentive to get out and run, increase mileage, and feel good.”
— Hal Higdon, runner and author

Quotes on Enjoying the Run

“That’s the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is.”
— Kara Goucher, champion distance runner and author, podcast host

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” — Fred Lebow, Holocaust survivor, runner, race director, and founder of the New York City Marathon

“Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.”
― Oprah Winfrey, television personality, producer, and marathon runner

“For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and look to the day when it is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight.”
― George Sheehan, physician, runner, and author

“I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.”
— Ronald Rook, runner and orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine

“We are designed to run, and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so.”
— Jeff Galloway, American Olympian and author

“Running is alone time that lets my brain unspool the tangles that build up over days.”
— Rob Haneisen, runner and writer

“Every run is a work of art, a drawing on each day's canvas. Some runs are shouts and some runs are whispers. Some runs are eulogies and others celebrations.”
— Dagny Scott Barrios, author and runner

“The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.”
— George Sheehan, physician, runner, and author

“Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.”
— Julie Isphording, Olympic runner

“All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence. And this is a pretty wonderful thing. No matter what anybody else says.”
― Haruki Murakami, marathon runner and author

Running Quotes on Overcoming Obstacles

“We all have bad days and bad workouts, when running gets ugly, when split times seem slow, when you wonder why you started. It will pass.”
— Hal Higdon, runner and author

“No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.”
— Sir Roger Bannister, neurologist and distance runner who ran the first sub-4 minute mile

“Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.”
— Steve Prefontaine, Olympic distance runner

Women’s Running Quotes

“Our running shoes have magic in them. The power to transform a bad day into a good day; frustration into speed; self-doubt into confidence; chocolate cake into muscles.”
— Mina Samuels, runner and author

“Life is for participating, not for spectating.”
— Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor

“There are a million reasons why you can’t. Focus on the few reasons why you can.”
— Kara Goucher, champion distance runner, author, and podcast host

Quotes on Running Fast

“Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you.”
— Desiree Linden, Olympic marathon runner, champion long-distance runner, author, and podcast host

Marathon Running Quotes

“Of all the races, there is no better stage for heroism than a marathon.”
— George Sheehan, physician, runner, and author

"Aiming for the marathon is a task of sorts which can include terrific highs and lows."
— Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of the NYC and Boston Marathon

"You can never be sure. That's what makes the marathon both fearsome and fascinating. The deeper you go into the unknown, the more uncertain you become. But then you finish. And you wonder later, 'How did I do that?' This question compels you to keep making the journey from the usual to the magical."
— Joe Henderson, author and runner

“I’ve learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible.”
— John Hanc, runner and writer

“My legs almost always hurt (a lot) [by mile 21], and you can either choose to let that pain dictate the last five miles of the race, or you can decide to lean into it and appreciate that you are lucky enough to push your body this hard. You need to re-wire your brain to believe that this is how you’re supposed to feel, and keep running your hardest in spite of it.”
— Veronica (Jackson) Graziano, marathon runner and Olympian

"So many people crossing the finish line of a marathon look as happy as when I won. They have tears in their eyes. The sport is full of winners."
— Gary Muhrcke, winner of the first NYC Marathon

“People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But I don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life—and for me, for writing as well. I believe many runners would agree.”
― Haruki Murakami, marathon runner and author

Running Champion Quotes

"I also realize that winning doesn't always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself."
— Meb Keflezighi, Olympic Marathon runner, author

“Don’t dream of winning, train for it!”
— Mo Farah, world champion distance runner

“Most of us have enough areas of our lives where we have to meet others’ expectations. Let your running be about your own hopes and dreams.”
— Meb Keflezighi, Olympic Marathon runner, author

Sprinting Quotes

“I always want to give more than I gave yesterday.”
— Allyson Felix, Olympian champion and track and field sprinter

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.”
— Wilma Rudolph, Olympic sprinter who overcame polio

“You were born to run. Maybe not that fast, maybe not that far, maybe not as efficiently as others. But to get up and move, to fire up that entire energy-producing, oxygen-delivering, bone-strengthening process we call running.”
— Florence Griffith Joyner, Olympic sprinter

Ultra Running Quotes

“I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering.”
― Amelia Boone, Spartan World Champion obstacle course runner

“The longer and farther I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind--a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.”
― Scott Jurek, champion ultrarunner and author

“There’s no way to un-run an ultra marathon. The world is the same but your view of yourself is now fundamentally different.”
― Paul Butzi, ultrarunner

“There is magic in misery. Just ask any runner.”
— Dean Karnazes, ultrarunner and author

“You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone.”
― Scott Jurek, champion ultrarunner and author

“Most of the time we exist in a constructed world where everything is designed to keep us comfortable, keep us away from the rawness of life. But we evolved to exist in an environment that would often be tough, difficult, dangerous, and deep down I think we long for a connection to that ancestral existence.”
― Adharanand Finn, ultrarunner, author

“The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.”
― Paulo Coelho, author and lyricist

“Once you descend into that dark place out on the trail, where everything is crashing down around you, you need to find something real to keep you moving. It could be love or pain, but it has to be real. It certainly won’t be Facebook likes.”
― Adharanand Finn, ultrarunner, author

Mental Training Quotes

“The distance runner is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in his divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace unique; the everyday eternal.”
― George Sheehan, physician, writer, runner

“Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.”
— Lynn Jennings, champion long-distance runner

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
― Dean Karnazes, ultramarathon runner and author

“The real purpose of running isn't to win a race, it's to test the limits of the human heart.”
— Bill Bowerman, track and field coach and co-founder of Nike

“We train our bodies. We train our guts. … It only makes sense that you can train your mind.”
— Desiree Linden, champion long-distance runner, author, and podcast host

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― Haruki Murakami, marathon runner and writer

Running Mantras

Running mantras can help you run through pain and persist despite challenges that come up in your training and racing. Repeating mantras - short, positive phrases - can build your resilience and help you conquer the toughest of runs. You can harness the power of mantras by picking one or two phrases to repeat in your head throughout your workouts.

Here are some mantras you can try:

"I breathe in strength and breathe out weakness."
— Amy Hastings Cragg, champion distance runner and marathoner

“I can and I will.”

“I am strong, I am fast.”

“I gain strength as I run.”

“I am tough. I run far.”

What are the best running motivational quotes you’ve seen or heard? Follow and tag @Runstreet on Instagram to share your workouts and get cheered on.

If you need a training plan to help you crush your next race, visit the Runstreet Training Center for personalized running programs designed by a running coach and fitness trainer. Your running program will increase your mileage gradually and help you reach higher levels of fitness while reducing your risk of injuries.

Happy running to you!

Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified personal trainer and USATF- and RRCA-certified running coach based in Brooklyn, NY. Marnie likes helping people get and stay active to enjoy a better quality of life. When she’s not doing fitness things, Marnie enjoys exploring with her dog, a mischievous rescue Akita.

50 Best Running Motivational Quotes to Get You Moving