A good reason why running is not just for the young. As Mexico City Games decathlon champion Bill Toomey once said in Track & Field News: “Competition’s too much fun to be left to the kids.” If you stopped engaging in sports you must have forgotten the last time you had fun. Maybe you should join a running club and remind yourself how fun life is.
Before the 1995 New York Marathon Marathoner Paul Evans from Britain was asked whether being 34 years old he was too old to win NYC marathon this is what he said, “The registration on the car is quite old, but the engine doesn’t have many miles,” I think that was a brilliant answer from a guy who left school at sixteen went to work as a cobbler then was laid off at 27. After his cobbler career died he was reborn as as professional athlete. Five years after he started running, in 1993, he finished seventh at NYC marathon in 2 hours 13 minutes 36 seconds. in 1994, he placed fifth in the London Marathon, lowering his personal best by five seconds to 2:10.31.
George Patton was a great American Soldier but most people don’t know he was also an Olympian. During the WWII he was criticised for his win at all cost/outer aggressive nature (He slapped a soldier on a sick bed, he later admitted he thought the soldier was just faking sickness) but we can learn from his positive philosophy. One of my favourite quote by Patton has to be the following quote. “Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.” - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian
Quotes on what pushed Gebreselassie to start running, “He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.” Haile Gebreselassie “I used to run to school, 10k every day. And this at altitude, perfect preparation, really.” Haile Gebreselassie “In the rainy season, sometimes to get to the first lesson we had to run really quick, because we had to cross the river to school and we’d have to go up and down the bank to find a place to cross because there is no bridge.” Haile Gebreselassie His father never believed in running “My father thought sport was something fun – he didn’t know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: ‘Good, you can support not just yourself but me too” Haile Gebreselassie The most important things for Haile Gebreselassie “I will always listen to my coaches. But first I listen to my body. If what they tell me suits my body, great. If my body doesn’t feel good with what they say, then always my body comes first” Haile Gebreselassie “I’m lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife” Haile Gebreselassie The future “At the moment I am a little bit politician, yes. I think that could be my next step. It is not because I want power, it is because of what I think I could do for the people.” Haile Gebreselassie His thought on his “crooked” hand “This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.” Haile Gebreselassie
If you are injured and wondering whether it’s safe to run with an injured ankle, leg or knee, you may find this quote helpful. “When I was 37, I pulled a groin muscle, and I tried to run through it. A friend asked, ‘You have to decide: Are you going to run for the next two weeks or for the rest of your life?’ Thats been my philosophy ever since.” Richard Hillested, 66, finisher of more than 75 marathons and Ultras.
I don’t agree with this one but I have to admit this is funny, Marathon running is a terrible experience: monotonous, heavy, and exhausting. Veikko Karvonen, 1954 European and Boston Marathon Champ |
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