To the untrained eye, fitness quotes might sound a bit of a cliche. But when you find yourself in the pain cave during a race – think the excruciating last kilometre of a fast 10K, or the seemingly never-ending final six miles of a marathon – recalling or repeating a motivational mantra can help you to hold it together and keep going when every inch of you wants to stop.
Some motivational words of wisdom can also be rather powerful on those days when you really don't feel like lacing up your running shoes.
Here's our favourite motivational fitness quotes to help transform a negative mindset...
1.'Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.' Dean Karnazes
2. 'No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everybody on the couch.' Mick Kremling
3. 'I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.' Ronald Rook
4. 'Endurance is the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop.' Alex Hutchinson
5. 'There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.' Bill Bowerman
6. 'No one can say, "You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that." The human spirit is indomitable.' Roger Bannister
7. 'Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.' Haruki Murakami
8. 'If you don’t have answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you ain’t getting them.' Christopher McDougall
9. 'You must do the thing you think you cannot do.' Eleanor Roosevelt
10. 'If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.' Kathrine Switzer
11. 'We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.' Kenji Miyazawa
12. 'Get going … walk if you have to, but finish the damned race.' Ron Hill
13. 'Never set limits, go after your dreams, don't be afraid to push the boundaries. And laugh a lot – it's good for you!' Paula Radcliffe
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14. 'The pain of running relieves the pain of living.' Jacqueline Simon Gunn
15. 'There's always more in the tank.' Unknown
16. 'If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.' Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
17. 'Strength does not come from the physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.' Ghandi
18. 'When I go to the Boston Marathon now, I have wet shoulders – women fall into my arms crying. They’re weeping for joy because running has changed their lives. They feel they can do anything.' Kathrine Switzer
19. 'You can still make something beautiful and something powerful out of a really bad situation.' Gabe Grunewald
20. 'The body achieves what the mind believes.' Napoleon Hill
21. 'Don't dream of winning, train for it.' Mo Farah
22. 'Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.' Julie Isphordin
23. 'Nature’s arena has a way of humbling and energising us.' Scott Jurek
24. 'Running has taught me that I'm capable of so much more than I ever imagined.' Unknown
25. 'My goal is not to be better than anyone else, but to better than I used to be.' Dr. Wayne Dyer
26. 'You didn't beat me. You merely finished in front of me.' Hal Higdon
27. 'Life is complicated. Running is simple. Is it any wonder that people run?' Kevin Nelson
28. 'The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.' Les Brown
29. '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
30. 'Running allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible. Nothing unattainable.' Kara Goucher
31. 'The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other, but to be with each other.' Christopher McDougall
32. 'Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.' Marilyn vos Savant
33. 'If you train your mind for running, everything else will be easy.' Amby Burfoot
34. 'Someday you won’t be able to do this. Today is not that day.' Unknown
