30+ Running Quotes for Beginner Runners

Are you a new runner looking for some motivation? Here are some running quotes from professional runners and other famous people that beginner runners can definitely use for inspiration.

1. “If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.”
-John Bingham, running writer and speaker

2. “Anybody can be a runner… We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It’s the easiest sport.”
-Bill Rodgers, winner of four Boston marathons

3. “Make sure your own worst enemy doesn’t live between your two ears.”
-Laird Hamilton

4. “Running should be a lifelong activity. Approach it patiently and intelligently, and it will reward you for a long, long time.”
–Michael Sargent

5. “If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.”
-Priscilla Welch, British marathon runner

6. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
–Unknown

7. “I always tell beginner runners: ‘Train your brain first. It’s much more important than your heart or legs.'”
–Amby Burfoot

8. “Allow yourself to be a beginner. No one starts out being excellent.”
–Unknown

9. “There is more to failing than picking yourself up out of the dust, brushing off the grime and trudging onward. For every defeat, there is a victory inside waiting to be let out if the runner can get past feeling sorry for himself.”
-Ron Daws, The Self-Made Olympian

10. “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, New York City Marathon co-founder

11. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
-Unknown

12. “Most people don’t run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.”
–William James

13. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
–Thomas A. Edison, American inventor

14. “Be somebody nobody thought you could be.”
-Unknown

15. “Running has taught me, perhaps more than anything else, that there’s no reason to fear starting lines…or other new beginnings.”
–Amby Burfoot

16. “You are truly your own hero in running. It is up to you to have the responsibility and self-discipline to get the job done.”
– Adam Goucher, U.S. Olympic distance runner

17. “Running reminds you that even in your weakest moments…you are strong.”
-Unknown

18. “When you have the running spirit, you look forward to life. I firmly believe that I wouldn’t have lived as long or as happily as I have without running.”
-Max Popper in The Essential Runner

19. “Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
–William Faulkner, American writer

20. “Feel your run. Feel your race. Feel the joy that is running.”
-Kara Goucher, U.S. Olympic distance runner

21. “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

22. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
– Jim Ryun, first high school athlete to run a sub-4:00 mile

23. “No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch.”
-Unknown

24. “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, best-selling running author

25. “Some people feel ‘transformed’ from the first day they begin running; others feel that it’s just plain hard work. Most of us realize it is both. I know how great running can feel, but I also know it can feel not so great, even downright awful! It can be fun, but it takes work to have that fun.”
– Grete Waitz, in her book, World Class

26. “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.”
-Matt Biondi, U.S. Olympic swimmer

27. “The run is a chance to clear my mind, work through problems, be creative, and think about everything or think about nothing. I need the run to get in the right head space for my day.”
–Des Linden, 2018 Boston Marathon women’s winner

28. “When I get tired, I remember those who can’t run, what they would give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them.”
–Unknown

29. “Too many people have refused to begin running or have quickly dropped out of running programs because they ‘have no talent for it.’ Ridiculous. Talent has nothing to do with it. The only thing that matters is mental discipline.”
-Amby Burfoot

30. “Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself.”
-John Bingham

31. “Be fearless in trying new things, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional, since being afraid can challenge you to go to the next level.”
-Rita Wilson, actress

32. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
-Arthur Ashe, tennis legend

33. “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
–Walt Disney

34. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.”
-Suzuki Roshi, Japanese Zen master