The Quotable Runner: Great Moments of Wisdom, Inspiration, Wrongheadedness, and Humor

Rating:
Summary: Spark the Runner in Your Life
Review: "The Quotable Runner: Great Moments of Wisdom, Inspiration, Wrongheadedness, and Humor" is a gift book, but for the runner, it is a fun gift.

Runners aren't known for effusive Knute Rockne sorts of locker room speeches, or Yogi Berra witticisms, but, as seen here, they should be.

Quoted here are great runners and writers about running, from Shakespeare to high school mile record holder, Alan Webb.

Read what Lasse Viren, Emil Zatopek, Bill Bowerman, and Steve Prefontaine all had to say.

Readers of "Runner's World" may know many of these names, but there are some unexpected voices. Oprah Winfrey is there more than once, including, "I'm never going to run another marathon."

There's honesty. Distance star Rob de Castella on marathoning, "If you feel bad after 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."

There's wit. Don Kardong frankly said about registering a race with hills, "You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot."

Then there is the curious odd quotes. Finland's great Olympic marathoner, Lasse Viren enthusiastically revealed his secret to racing success, "Reindeer milk!" Whatever might be dubious about Viren's claim is difficult to argue. Viren won four gold medals.

A treat at the end is a few lines on each person quoted, a sort of mini-bio. I enjoyed learning the new names, and accomplishments of those quoted.

I fully recommend, "The Quotable Runner." It'll put a spark in your day as you head out on the lonely road on runners know.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: Well intended, but ultimately uninspiring.
Review: I ended up returning this one to the bookstore after trying to push through the first few chapters...I've had easier marathons.

Most of the quotes in here are long winded personal accounts that don't provide the pithy punch and true quotability I was looking for from the title.

Rating:
Summary: Need some inspiration?
Review: I just finished this book and it has been such an inspiration!! It is boiling over with insight and wisdom about what we all feel as runners. It touches the human spirit in the struggles and triumphs related to the experience of running and everyday life. Each chapter is filled with quotes from famous runners about such subjects as: The Starting Line, Coaches, Training, Fear, Racing, Hills, The Marathon, The Mile, Mind Over Matter, Pain, The Olympics, The Finish Line, Victories and Defeats. This book really captures the SOUL of running!

Rating:
Summary: Need some inspiration?
Review: I just finished this book and it has been such an inspiration!! It is boiling over with insight and wisdom about what we all feel as runners. It touches the human spirit in the struggles and triumphs related to the experience of running and everyday life. Each chapter is filled with quotes from famous runners about such subjects as: The Starting Line, Coaches, Training, Fear, Racing, Hills, The Marathon, The Mile, Mind Over Matter, Pain, The Olympics, The Finish Line, Victories and Defeats. This book really captures the SOUL of running!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book! It's been a great source of inspiration for me.
Review: If your a runner...and even if you're not this book will inspire you to do things that you never thought possible. It will help you make goals...and then gradually surpass them. This book describes running as more than just a sport, but a way of life. Thumbs up to Mark Will-Weber on putting together a book that defines the greatest past-time in the world.

Rating:
Summary: Everything memorable ever about running.
Review: The Quotable Runner is a beautiful hardcover gift book perfect for any runner. It's chock full of all the wittiest, pithiest, most incisive words spoken about our great passion: running.

Runner's World says: "Keep this book close to you at all times. It can't help but improve your spirits and your running."

"Words to run by . . . Open it at random and you'll find gems. . . . A refreshing change from the standard diet of training books." -- Newsday

"The book is a wonderful way to get inspired, whether it's for tomorrow's run or for the marathon of your life." -- Austin American-Statesman

Some samples:

"Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible." -- William Shakespeare

"Start slowly, then taper off." -- Walt Stack

"Long distance running is particularly good training in perseverance." -- Chairman Mao

"Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." -- Olympian Don Kardong

"Mental will is a muscle that needs excercise, like the muscles of the body." -- Lynn Jennings

"If you want to win a race you have to go a little berserk." -- Bill rogers

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

"Mind is everything -- muscles, pieces of rubber. Everything that I am, I am because of my mind." -- Paavo Nurmi

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." -- Juma Ikangaa

"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness." -- Dostoyevsky

"If the Lord had meant man to run, he would have given him four legs, or at least made him late for a bus." -- Red Smith

and hundreds more!

Rating:
Summary: A must have book for runners
Review: This book was given to me by a training partner a few days before my first marathon. Just flipping through the book, I found quote after quote that I connected with. Others gave me great inspiration. They were so good, I decided to read the book from cover to cover and couldn't put the book down. I love Mark's comentary on each subject "Training", "Coaches", "Fear", "Pain", "The Marathon". I want to stock up on this book so I can give it as gifts to my running friends!

Rating:
Summary: A must have book for runners
Review: This book was given to me by a training partner a few days before my first marathon. Just flipping through the book, I found quote after quote that I connected with. Others gave me great inspiration. They were so good, I decided to read the book from cover to cover and couldn't put the book down. I love Mark's comentary on each subject "Training", "Coaches", "Fear", "Pain", "The Marathon". I want to stock up on this book so I can give it as gifts to my running friends!

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun
Review: This is a great book written by a great guy. I should know, Mark Will-Weber was my college track coach. A very insightful book, The Quoteable Runner would make a great gift for someone else or for yourself. Read and Enjoy!!!

Rating:
Summary: This is an inspirational book for runners...
Review: When I was almost finished this book, I thought: "Nobody is going to like this stuff expect running fanatics like me!" Since then, almost 30,000 people have read "The Quoteable Runner" & it's been translated into Japanese! I had a lot of fun writing it....my main goal was to give something to runners that wasn't about "how to" run...But why we SHOULD and why we MUST!!