Running Quotes About Getting Over Bad Runs and Races

We’ve all had our share of those awful runs or races when we’re feeling off of our game, sluggish, unmotivated, fatigued, and just not generally not excited about running. Here are some running quotes about bad runs and races to help you move past them and remind yourself that the terrible runs are all part of the process.

1. “Some sessions are stars and some are stones, but in the end they are all rocks and we build upon them.”
– Chrissie Wellington, four-time World Ironman Champion

2. “Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough.”
– Hal Higdon, running coach and writer

3. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett

4. “Relish the bad training runs. Without them it’s difficult to recognize, much less appreciate, the good ones.”
– Pat Teske

5. “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard…is what makes it great!”
– Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

6. “There’s no such thing as a good run that is fluke. But you can have fluke bad runs.”
– Jack Daniels, running author and coach

7. “Bad workouts and races — we all have them and we always will. Accept that the body has an ebb and flow that we don’t quite understand. Some days you just feel ‘off.’ As hard as it is to accept a bad workout or race when there are valid reasons, it’s doubly challenging when there appears to be no reason at all. I used to worry about this, but now I just shrug it off as the quirkiness of the body and mind. Don’t invest in it or over think it. Move on.”
– Greg McMillan, in Gibson’s Daily Running Quotes

8. “A bad run is better than no run.”
– Unknown

9. “The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy…It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.”
– Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

10. “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

11. “I never feel more alive than when I’m in great pain, struggling against insurmountable odds and untold adversity. Hardship? Suffering? Bring it!”
– Dean Karnazes, ultramarathoner and author

12. “Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually pain passes and the flow returns. It’s part of racing.”
– Frank Shorter, Olympic gold medalist

13. “Pain is temporary, pride is forever.”
– Seen on a marathon spectator sign

14. “Get over it – If you have a bad workout or run a bad race, allow yourself exactly 1 hour to stew about it-then move on.”
– Steve Scott, coach and former U.S. record holder in the mile

15. “Don’t get too high about your good runs or too down about your bad runs.”
– Unknown

16. “There are times when you run a marathon and you wonder, Why am I doing this? But you take a drink of water, and around the next bend, you get your wind back, remember the finish line, and keep going.”
– Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple

17. “No matter how far you walk, how hard you work, or how bad it hurts, you’ll always get to where you need to be.”
– Unknown

18. “There will be days you don’t think you can run a marathon. There will be a lifetime of knowing you have.”
– Unknown

19. “If you feel bad at 10 miles, you’re in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you’re normal. If you don’t feel bad at 26 miles, you’re abnormal.”
– Rob de Castella, on running marathons

20. “If you never have a ‘bad’ day, you’re probably doing something wrong; if you never have a ‘good’ day, you’re definitely doing something wrong.”
– Mark Remy, Runner’s World columnist

21. “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

22. “Some days it just flows and I feel like I’m born to do this, other days it feels like I’m trudging through hell. Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I’ve got, and to try and be better. My advice: keep showing up.”
-Des Linden, Olympian and 2018 Boston Marathon champ

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Running coach, avid runner, and fitness writer Christine Luff is an RRCA-certified running coach and ACE-certified personal trainer. Founder of the website Run for Good and author of the book Run for Good: How to Create a Lifelong Running Habit, she coaches runners, from beginners to advanced, who are training for races, from 5Ks to marathons.