Steve Prefontaine Quotes

Steve Prefontaine offers fierce, racing-fire reflections that feel like a sprinting heartbeat urging you to push past limits.

42 quotes

1. 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. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself.

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

3. 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.

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

5. I hate having those people back there sucking on me.

6. I run best when I run free.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

10. Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off.

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

12. The real reason to run a race is not to win the race but to test the limits of the human heart.

13. To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.

14. What I want is to be number one.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. What does it prove, running in the AAU meet?

18. When people go to a track meet, they're looking for something, a world record, something that hasn't been done before. You get all this magnetic energy, people focusing on one thing at the same time. I really get excited about it. It makes me want to compete even more. It makes it all worthwhile, all the hours of hard work.

19. I'm the one who has made all the sacrifices. Those are my American records, not the country's.

20. The AAU doesn't care about the athletes; why should I care about them?

21. Running gives me confidence.

22. To hell with love of country - I compete for myself.

23. People say I should be running for a gold medal for the old red, white and blue and all that bull, but it's not gonna be that way.

24. My philosophy is that I'm an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.

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

26. It's not who's the best - it's who can take the most pain.

27. I decided that if I was going to continue in track, that I didn't want to lose, that I wasn't going to lose.

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

29. Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody.

30. Don't let fatigue make a coward of you.

31. If you can't win your race, make sure the guy ahead of you breaks the record.

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

33. I have a positive mental attitude, and I think I'm divine, but I also think it takes a heck of a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

34. Having a true faith is the most difficult thing in the world. Many will try to take it from you.

35. If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that's my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher.

36. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself. But if it's a slow pace, and I get beaten by a kicker who leaches off the front, then I'll always wonder, 'What if...?'

37. World records at 19. I don't want that. Later, yes. And when it comes, I'll learn to live with it, but it won't be my first love.

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

39. It's hard to run a mile when you're not a miler and to kick when you've led all the way.

40. 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.

41. If the Olympics come around, and I'm in shape, then I'll compete. But I won't be representing the United States; I'll be representing myself.

42. You probably choose x-country because you were too small to play football.