Inspiring Cross Country Quotes to Fuel Your Passion for Running

"Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did."

- Nelson Mandela

"If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you."

- Fred DeVito

"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

"I love controlling a race, chewing up an opponent. Let’s get down and dirty. Let’s fight it out. It’s raw, animalistic, with no one to rely on but yourself. There’s no better feeling than that."

- Adam Goucher

"Train smart. Train hard. Have fun!"

- Matt Wilpers

"Whether a mile or a marathon, you get there the same way… one step at a time. Such is life."

- Baylor Barbee

"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 and Michael Dove

"We are designed to run, and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so."

- Jeff Galloway

"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."

- George Sheehan

"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

"Don’t compare your chapter one with someone else’s chapter six."

- Ally Love

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."

- Oprah Winfrey

"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 muscle."

- Mina Samuels

"Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you."

- Desiree Linden

"You can’t be upset at the results you didn’t get for the work you didn’t do."

- Jess Sims

"Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and of course, physically."

- Bart Yasso

"What I've learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you're hurting like crazy and you want to give up. … Success is often just around the corner."

- James Dyson

"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

"When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting."

- Doris Brown Heritage

"The start of a World Cross Country event is like riding a horse in the middle of a buffalo stampede. It’s a thrill if you keep up, but one slip and you’re nothing but hoof prints."

- Ed Eyestone

"In many ways, a race is analogous to life itself. Once it is over, it cannot be re-created. All that is left are impressions in the heart, and in the mind."

- Chris Lear

"Don’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get."

- Michael Phelps

"If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."

- African Proverb

"If your legs are tired, run with your heart!"

- Tobias Heinze

"It was being a runner that mattered, not how fast or how far I could run. The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination."

- John Bingham

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body."

- Lynn Jennings

"The pain you feel today will show itself as strength tomorrow."

- Tunde Oyeneyin

"I’ve learned that it’s what you do with the miles, rather than how many you’ve run."

- Rod DeHaven

"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

"The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

- John Bingham

"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 don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days."

- Ronald Rook

"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

"Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running."

- Julie Isphording

"Don’t dream of winning, train for it!"

- Mo Farah

"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

"Take control of your workout and make the decision to succeed."

- Matt Wilpers

"We told our guys to hold on for 30 minutes of agony for 12 months of glory."

- John McDonnell

"Good things come slow—especially in distance running."

- Bill Dellinger

"For something to hurt that bad, and feel so good, it’s just inexplicable."

- Adam Goucher

"The freedom of Cross Country is so primitive. It’s woman vs. nature."

- Lynn Jennings

"Different people have different reasons for racing, but one is simply the incentive to get out and run, increase mileage and feel good."

- Hal Higdon

"You didn’t get this far to only go this far."

- Ben Alldis

"Cross country will test your will, your courage, and ultimately your discipline."

- Nick Steele

"There is no time to think about how much I hurt; there is only time to run."

- Ben Logsdon

"Cross Country is like poker. You have to be holding five good cards all the time."

- Rollie Geiger

"Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too."

- Pat Tyson

"Embrace the mud. The dirt. The grit."

- Nike

"Some want it to happen, Some wish it would happen, Others make it happen."

"Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best."

"You can’t be as good as, you have to be better than."

"For a sprinter the thrill is going fast, but for a distance runner it is the journey in between the start and the end."

"What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger."

"The gun goes off. I am the bullet."

"It’s not how good I am, it’s how good I can be."

"If you’re not the lead dog, the view remains the same."

"The wishbone will never replace the backbone."

"All Out, All Game, All Season."

"Respect All, Fear None."

"Refuse to Lose."

"Whatever it takes."

"Sweat plus Sacrifice equals Success."

"Intensity is not a perfume!"

"My Sport Is Your Sport’s Punishment."

"There’s no traffic on the extra mile."

"We don’t yield to pedestrians."

"Live to run, run to live."

"Run for your life!"

"Kick grass!"

"Eat. Run. Sleep. Repeat."

"Somewhere in The World Someone’s Training When You Are Not."

"When You Race Him, He Will Win."

"Don’t worry about the map…we’ll show you the way!"

"Running begins not with the feet but with the mind."

"Pass them, don’t pace them."

"Slow down? Yeah right!"

"To run fast, you must run fast."

"Don’t worry about the map. We’ll show you the way!"

"There are two roads in life. Run both."

"Obsession: A word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated."

"There is no limit to what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit."

"It hurts a lot less when you win."

"All it takes is all you’ve got."

"Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect."

"Unity in Adversity."

"Hustle and heart set us apart."

"Run like you stole something."

"Go hard or go home!"

"Never let good enough BE enough!"

"Championships are won at practice."

"Race with the best or run with the rest."

"When I race, my mind is full of doubts…"Who will come in second? Who will come in third?""

"It’s rude to count people you pass…out loud."

"The road to hell is paved."

"Heat, hills, fast pace…Deal with it!"

"Slower traffic keep right."

"If you can read this, we’re just warming up."

"You will never know your limits until you push yourself to them."

"In a world of give and take, give what it takes."

"The faster you run, the quicker you get done."

"Some have hopes and dreams. We’ve got ways and means!"

"You ask me why I run? The same reason I breathe."

"Our endurance comes from training, but the good looks are natural."

"Don’t look back…you’re not going that way."

"Strength doesn’t come from what you can do, it comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t."

"Don’t bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself."

"You know you ran the best you possibly could when you barf and then pass out."

"Believe & Achieve."

"Some call it obsessive compulsive. We call it Cross Country."

"Finish lines are just another reminder to stop."

"We’ve got more legs than a bucket of chicken."

"Dude, Run! We’ve got a bad case of the runs."

"To show good sportsmanship, please refrain from making little racecar noises as you pass your fellow opponents."

"Real athletes run miles, not yards."

"Eat, run cross country, sleep, repeat."

"Cross country is all about sportsmanship. Until you try to pass me."

"May the course be with you."

"If cross country was easy, it would be called track."