Quotes
Many of these are a copy and paste from the run 100s website. Others I just pick up along the way and will post.
"Ultra Distance is all about keeping the body in good enough condition for the mind to do it's job". Phillip Howells 2010
"There was no one chasing us. Distance has it's own reward". - Unknown
"BTW, I still think the WS trail is one of the most beautiful places that I have vomited." - Mary Gorski, 1999 WS attemptee and 2001 finisher
"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
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." - Douglas Adams
"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
"Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning 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
"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
"Just go out there and simutaneously piss in your shorts, fart like a foghorn and drink from your mud-caked bottle. While you're at it let some liquid dribble down your chin onto your shirt, look up at the starry night and laugh like a raving lunatic. Fook em all. You're doing what you love to do and no one can stop you." - Michael Musca, as told to Will Brown
"Running fast requires conditioning your body, absorbing proper mechanics to the point where they're second nature, and then forgetting the details and letting it rip. It may sound funny to someone who hasn't been there, but the more you can let go, the faster you can go. Look at films of Mohammad Ali in his prime and you'll see how he had that little wrist flick on the end of his jab; if he had to think about doing that, he couldn't have done it. People have things inside them they don't know about until it comes out. When somebody asks me how fast a human being can run, I tell them that however fast they think it is, it'll be faster." - John Smith, UCLA track coach
"You can be out there having your worst day, but at the same time the person next to you is having their best day. So there's really no room for crankiness in the sport. At least I try to minimalize it" - Suzie Lister, after '98 Western States
"You'll be wistful for the "wall" of the marathon, when you hit the "death grip" of the ultra." - Bob Glover
"Why couldn't Pheiddipedes have died at 20 miles?." - Frank Shorter, 1970
"A 50K on trails is easier than a marathon on the road." - Unknown
"If you can't see over it, walk it." - Unknown
"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
"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
"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
"When you're afraid of failure you're more likely to do it." - Gordy 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
"In ultrarunning, the pain is inevitable, but the suffering is optional." - Al Bogenhuber
"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
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." - T.S. Eliot
"The race continued as I hammered up the trail, passing rocks and trees as if they were standing still." - Red Fisher, Wasatch '86
"Security is mostly a superstition; it does not exist in nature. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller
"If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like." - David Lygre
"Never judge a day by the weather." - Dave Nelson
"That which does not destroy me makes me stronger" - Nietzsche
"When you run there are no mistakes, only lessons. The art and science of ultrarunning is a process of trial, error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the combination that ultimately works." - Keith Pippin
"I never met a hill I couldn't walk." - Larry Stice
"If you start to feel good during an Ultra, don't worry - you'll get over it." - Gene Thibeault
"It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse." - Ann Trason
"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
"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
"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
"Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them." - Unknown
"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 a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." - Unknown
"All things in moderation, including moderation." - Unknown
"Ultras, where the athlete pays and the spectator gets in free." "I refuse to tip-toe through life only to arrive at death safely."
"You can never run a hill too hard, you will collapse before hurting it."