Steve Prefontaine Running Quotations

What I want is to be number one.

I like to make something beautiful when I run ... it's style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.

The idea of losing the three at Hayward Field and the idea of losing my specialty to someone who wasn't running his specialty. Mostly, the idea of losing in front of my people. They haven't forgotten about me.

No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me.

I run to see who has the most guts.

Kids made fun of me because I was a slow learner, because I was hyperactive, because of a lot of things. Running gave me confidence.

If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me.

As far as being a coach, it's always fascinated me. It's a greater responsibility than most people give it credit for because you're dealing with people.

Running gives me confidence.

I've been in international competition, and now I know what the big boys can do. You don't go out and just run. There's an offense and a defense.

Every once in a while I think, 'What am I doing out here running, busting myself up? Life could be so much easier. The other guys are out having fun, doing other things, why not me?'

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.

I don't just go out there and run. I like to give people watching something exciting.

Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.

How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races? All my life people have been telling me, 'You're too small Pre', 'You're not fast enough Pre', 'Give up your foolish dream Steve'. But they forgot something, I HAVE TO WIN.

What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?

I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.

What I like most about track is the feeling I get after a good run.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.

Don't let fatigue make a coward of you.

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.

No matter how hard you train, Somebody will train harder. No matter how hard you run, Somebody will run harder. No matter how hard you want it, Somebody will want it more, I am Somebody.

No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me.