I still bother with runners I call hamburgers. They’re never going to run any record times. But they can fulfill their own potential.
The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart.
The idea that the harder you work, the better you’re going to be is just garbage. The greatest improvement is made by the man or woman who works most intelligently.
Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.
Everything you need is already inside.
The athlete makes himself, the coach doesn’t make the athlete.
If at the end of a race you know yourself that you have done your best, you’re a winner.
Don’t give anything away. Never make it easy for the guys you are trying to beat.
If you have a body, you are an athlete!
There is no bad weather, just soft runners.
Now to explore the limits of the one competitor above everyone else you’ve always loved to face: Steve Prefontaine.
It’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.
God determines how fast you’re going to run; I can help only with the mechanics.
I think people can handle 150 to 200 miles a week. But something has to give somewhere. If he’s a student, how’s he going to study? He may be at the age of chasing and courtship, and that’s an important form of sport and recreation, too.
Several of my critics have said, ‘Bowerman just tacks up a piece of paper in the locker room and turns his runners loose.’ They’re partially right. I do give the athletes a relatively free rein and for good reason. One of my principles is? ‘Don’t overcoach.’
A teacher is never too smart to learn from his pupils.