“...Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race dark Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!” MotivationalRunning Book:Once a Runner Source: Once a Runner
“In mind's special processes, a ten-mile run takes far longer than the 60 minutes reported by a grandfather clock. Such time, in fact, hardly exists at all in the real world; it is all out on the trail somewhere, and you only go back to it when you are out there.” WorldMindRealFactsRunningProcessMinutesSpecialTenMilesClockReal WorldGrandfatherTrails Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“Running to him was real; the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as a diamond; it made him weary behond comprehension. But it also made him free.” WayMadeRealHardRunningJoyDiamondWearyWoeComprehension Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“He wanted to impart some of the truths Bruce Denton had taught him, that you dont' become a runner by winning a morning workout. The only true way is to marshal the ferocity of your ambition over the course of many days, weeks, months, and (if you could finally come to accept it) years. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could he make them understand?” IfsWayYearsRunningWantedCoursesWinningAcceptingMorningWeekTaughtMonthsAmbitionMilesTrialsRunnersWorkoutImpartFerocity Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“Cassidy's heart tried to leap out through his taught skin and hop into his wet hands. But outwardly it was all very calm, very serene, just as always, and it seemed to last a tiny forever, just like that, a snapshot of them all on the curved parabola of a starting line, eight giant hearts attached to eight pairs of bellows-like lungs mounted on eight pairs of supercharged stilts. They were poised on the edge of some howling vortex they had run 10,000 miles to get to. Now they had to run one more” HeartHandsRunningLastsLinesForeverTaughtSkinsStartingCalmEdgesEightTinyMilesGiantsHopsPairsLeapWetLungsSereneSnapshotsVortexStiltsParabola Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“Hey listen, I already have a complete list of silver linings. It's the goddamn cloud that's killin me.” RunningCloudsListsHeySilver Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“He ran his hand up and down his left achilles tendon. Very tender; better pay attention to it and back off if it gets any worse. Maybe ice it. The old Injury Evasion Fandango. Did it ever end?” IfsEndsHandsRunningLeftPayAttentionIcePay AttentionRanInjuryUp And DownAchillesEvasionHands Up Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“There was no let-up. The tempo was always moderate but steady. If a new guy decided to pick up the pace, that's where it stayed, whether he finished with the group or not. You showed off at your peril.” IfsRunningGuyGroupsPicksDecidedFinishedPaceSteadyModeratesPerilTempo Author:John L. Parker Jr.
“Though Jack Nubbins was extremely talented, Quenten Cassidy had viewed the Specter; when he reached down through the familiar layers of gloom and fatigue he generally found more there than a nameless and transient desire to acquire plastic trophies. He and Nubbins were not even in the same ball park.” RunningDesireFoundBallsFamiliarParksAcquireLayersPlasticFatigueGloomTrophiesTransientNameless Author:John L. Parker Jr.
