Best Running Quotes for National Running Day

June 7, 2023

National Running Day takes place the first Wednesday in June each year. To get you motivated to run on this day and all year long, Endurance Sportswire had included the best running quotes to pin, share, post and inspire you.

• “The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.” –  George Sheehan
• “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” – John Bingham
• “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

• “Running allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible. Nothing unattainable.” – Kara Goucher
• “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” – Julie Isphording
• “Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running.” – Sarah Condor
• “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
• “Running is alone time that lets my brain unspool the tangles that build up over days.” – Rob Hanisen
• “There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.” – Kristin Armstrong
• “In running or in life, I’ve found it really important to not shy away from races, workouts, exercises, or experiences I knew I am not great at or familiar with.” – Molly Huddle

• “Going in, you have to remember that the race is supposed to be the fun part. The race isn’t to be feared, it’s supposed to be the things we look forward to. It’s why you did all the stinkin’ work in the first place, so have fun.” – Ben Rosario
• “As we run, we become.” – Amby Burfoot
• “I breathe in strength and breathe out weakness.” – Amy Hastings Cragg
• “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
• “The more I run, the more I love my body. Not because it’s perfect, far from it, but because with every mile it is proving to me that I am capable of more than I ever thought possible.” Unknown
• “We run to undo the damage we’ve done to body and spirit. We run to find some part of ourselves yet undiscovered.” John Bingham
• “Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and of course, physically.” – Bart Yasso
• “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes
• “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
• “When your legs get tired, run with your heart.” – Unknown
• “Whether a mile or a marathon, you get there the same way. . . one step at a time. Such is life.” – Baylor Barbee
• “No matter how slow you go you are still lapping everyone on the couch.” – Unknown
• “I always loved running…it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.” – Jesse Owens
• “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
• “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.” – Dr. George Sheehan
• “The benefits and opportunities of running are available to anyone. You don’t have to be born a natural athlete, and you don’t have to be uniquely gifted. A life-shaping experience is there for the taking, waiting right outside your door.” – Donald Buraglio
• “I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.” – Dean Karnazes
• “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
• “I run because it’s so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can’t. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you’re capable of so much more than you thought.” Arthur Blank
• “We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves…The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.” – Sir Roger Bannister