Grete Waitz Quotes

#1. I am a private person and that has always been my personality.

Grete Waitz

#2. One day you are happy and laughing and the next you are crying.

Grete Waitz

#3. Sustained motivation is essential to achieving your potential.

Grete Waitz

#4. What Fred Lebow went through was an inspiration for me. You have to set goals for yourself.

Grete Waitz

#5. For a couple of days after chemotherapy, food tastes really bland, even the best foods. I haven't been sick, but have been a little tired. I haven't lost any weight.

Grete Waitz

#6. I tried to keep it secret, but the story got into the newspapers. It was more difficult for my family, who couldn't understand why the media wouldn't leave me in peace.

Grete Waitz

#7. Contrary to a common myth, while there are general guidelines, there is no exact 'right' way to run ... I am amazed by the many ways people move forward.

Grete Waitz

#8. What spurs a person to get more serious is highly individual, but I have found that no matter what a person's level of ability, motivation must come from within, or it will not last.

Grete Waitz

#9. Some people feel 'transformed' from the first day they begin running; others feel that it's just plain hard work. Most of us realize it is both. I know how great running can feel, but I also know it can feel not so great, even downright awful! It can be fun, but it takes work to have that fun.

Grete Waitz

#10. I'll never do that again!

Grete Waitz

#11. Spend at least some of your training time, and other parts of your day, concentrating on what you are doing in training and visualizing your success.

Grete Waitz

#12. I am about to get involved with the biggest cancer hospital in Norway. They are building a fitness center to work with patients. I will be a consultant.

Grete Waitz

#13. My basic philosophy can be summed up by an expression we use in Norwegian: hurry slowly. Get there, but be patient.

Grete Waitz

#14. In terms of fitness and battling through cancer, exercise helps you stay strong physically and mentally.

Grete Waitz

#15. There is something about the ritual of the race - putting on the number, lining up, being timed - that brings out the best in us.

Grete Waitz

#16. I love running. It's as simple as that ... it has given me endless rewards: physical, emotional, and professional. The benefits of running are lifelong. I ran as a child, and I intend to run into my old age.

Grete Waitz

#17. My goal has always been to introduce other people to running. They might accomplish something they never thought they could.

Grete Waitz

#18. For every finish-line tape a runner breaks
complete with the cheers of the crowd and the clicking of hundreds of cameras
there are the hours of hard and often lonely work that rarely gets talked about.

Grete Waitz

#19. I am living in Norway, where I am under the care of the best cancer doctor in Norway and I can be closer to my family.

Grete Waitz

#20. To suddenly be a hero on a world basis was hard for me to understand. God gave me a gift. I got the chance to use it. I didn't think I deserved what people were saying. My talent is just more visible than theirs.

Grete Waitz

#21. Every day I spend time on the treadmill. I am walking faster, stronger and harder than I was two months ago.

Grete Waitz

#22. Another inspiration that has helped me get through has been Lance Armstrong's story. My cancer is not nearly as bad as his, but I believe in staying motivated and keeping as fit as you can.

Grete Waitz

#23. I don't think I would have been such a good runner if I hadn't enjoyed it.

Grete Waitz

#24. I work out for my head as much as I do for my body. I'm a thinker. A lot of my ideas come to me more easily when I am running. That is why I like to run in the morning, when there are no distractions ... Now some of my best ideas are born on the run.

Grete Waitz

#25. I'm never going to run this again.

Grete Waitz

#26. The worst injury I ever had was a stress fracture from running.

Grete Waitz

#27. You go into the disease as one person and come out of it as a different person. It has changed my perspective on everything. Things that used to upset me no longer do.

Grete Waitz

#28. When I came to New York in 1978, I was a full-time school teacher and track runner, and determined to retire from competitive running. But winning the New York City Marathon kept me running for another decade.

Grete Waitz

#29. You've got to look for tough competition. You've got to want to beat the best.

Grete Waitz