Do you have a passion for running on open-air terrains and challenging weather conditions?
If so, you’ll love to read a collection of cross country quotes I rounded up in this article!
I’ve read plenty of cross country sayings and quotes on the internet.
Below you’ll find the ones I liked the most.
Let’s start!
Top 10 Cross Country Quotes
1. “Cross Country: No half times, no time outs, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport.” — Chuck Norris
2. “Cross country is like poker. You have to be holding five good cards all the time.” — Rollie Geiger
3. “I love controlling a race, chewing up an opponent… It’s raw, animalistic, with no one to rely on but yourself. There’s no better feeling than that.” — Adam Goucher
4. “The start of a World Cross Country event is like riding a horse in the middle of a buffalo stampede. It’s a thrill if you keep up, but one slip and you’re nothing but hoof prints.” — Ed Eyestone
5. “If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far… There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” — John Bingham
6. “The five S’s of sports training are Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill, and Spirit; but the greatest of these is Spirit.” — Ken Doherty
7. “Different people have different reasons for racing, but one is simply the incentive to get out and run, increase mileage, and feel good.” — Hal Higdon
8. “Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.” — Oprah Winfrey
9. “In many ways, a race is analogous to life itself. Once it is over, it cannot be recreated. All that is left are impressions in the heart, and in the mind.” — Chris Lear, in Running with the Buffaloes
10. “If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.” — Priscilla Welch
Cross Country Motivational Quotes
1. “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” — Julie Isphording
2. “Somewhere in the world, someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.” — Tom Fleming
3. “The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” — Roger Bannister
4. “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” — Jesse Owens
5. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
6. “What I want is to be number one.” — Steve Prefontaine
7. “Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute – sport, like all life, is about taking risks.” — Sir Roger Bannister
8. “Don’t dream of winning, train for it!” — Mo Farah
9. “When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.” — Paul Brown
10. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” — Muhammad Ali
11. “Don’t bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
12. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing the things people say we cannot do.” — Walter Bagehot
13. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” — Dan Gable
14. “All it takes is all you got.” — Marc Davis
15. “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” — Will Rogers
16. “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” — Haruki Murakami
17. “The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.” — Juma Ikangaa
18. “Don’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” — Michael Phelps
19. “Cross country is all about sportsmanship. Until you try to pass me.” — Unknown
20. “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” — Steve Prefontaine
Cross Country Running Quotes
1. “Running is my private time, my therapy, my religion.” — Gail W. Kislevitz
2. “Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best.” — Michael Johnson
3. “Running cross country is the closest man will ever get to flying.” — Joseph VanderStel
4. “Cross Country — Finally a practical use for golf courses.” — Unknown
5. “A lot of people run a race to see who’s the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.” — Steve Prefontaine
6. “In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did.” — Nelson Mandela
7. “Running is the basis of all the training that I do… it’s like an escape.” — Ellie Goulding
8. “The freedom of Cross Country is so primitive. It’s woman vs. nature.” — Lynn Jennings
9. “To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who’s never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind.” — Jerome Drayton
10. “A good laugh and a long run are the two best cures for anything.” — Unknown
11. “The footing was really atrocious. I loved it. I really like cross country; you’re one with the mud.” — Lynn Jennings
12. “Go in any direction… seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.” — Paula Radcliffe
13. “Good things come slow, especially in distance running.” — Bill Dellinger
14. “You know you run cross country when you are freakishly good at estimating distances.”— Unknown
15. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” — Abe Gubegna
16. “I’ve always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners.” — Sebastian Coe
17. “It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.” — Brooks Johnson
18. “One thing about racing is that it hurts. You better accept that from the beginning, or you’re not going anywhere.” — Bob Kennedy
19. “We told our guys to hold on for 30 minutes of agony for 12 months of glory.” — John McDonnell, Arkansas Cross Country Coach
20. “We are designed to run, and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so.” — Jeff Galloway
Inspirational Quotes About Running
1. “One run can change your day, many runs can change your life.” — Unknown
2. “Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run.” — Jumbo Elliot
3. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” — Lou Holtz
4. “No marathon gets easier later. The halfway point only marks the end of the beginning.” — Joe Henderson
5. “One of the first lessons running teaches us about success in athletics and in life is that there is no one else. No one else can do your workouts for you.” — Adam Goucher
6. “The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle.” — Unknown
7. “Real athletes run miles, not yards.” — Unknown
8. “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” — John Bingham
9. “All great achievements require time.” — Maya Angelou
10. “Runners just do it – they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.” — Unknown
11. “For a sprinter, the thrill is going fast, but for a distance runner, it is the journey in between the start and the end.” — Unknown
12. “Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once.” — Julius Caesar
13. “Just stick with it. What seems hard now will one day be your warm-up.” — Unknown
14. “You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.” — Steve Prefontaine
15. “I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” — Ronald Rook
16. “When you have the running spirit, you look forward to life. I firmly believe that I wouldn’t have lived as long or as happily as I have without running.” — Max Popper
17. “Don’t look back…you’re not going that way.” — Unknown
18. “When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.” — Doris Brown Heritage
19. “Wear running shoes, and don’t forget the cross country race.” — Unknown
20. “What I’ve learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you’re hurting like crazy and you want to give up. Success is often just around the corner.” — James Dyson
See also: 220 Best Proverbs About Success To Give You Inspiration
Famous Cross Country Quotes
1. “Running is my meditation, mind flush, cosmic telephone, mood elevator, and spiritual communion.” — Lorraine Moller
2. “For something to hurt that bad and feel so good, it’s just inexplicable.” — Adam Goucher
3. “My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold.” — Bill Rodgers
4. “Just shut up and run.” — Kenrick Sealy
5. “The purpose of running isn’t to win the race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart.” — Bill Bowerman
6. “Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine.” — John Trautmann
7. “It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect. It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise.” — Eminem
8. “It started to become what I looked forward to most; it was the only time I got to be in my own head.” — Rob Riggle
9. “School cross country runs started because the rugby pitches were flooded. There was an alternative: extra studying. This meant there were plenty of runners on sports afternoons.” — Gordon Pirie
10. “The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.” — Bill Squires
11. “There is magic in misery. Just ask any runner.” — Dean Karnazes
12. “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” — George Bernard Shaw
13. “I love running cross country… on a track, I feel like a hamster.” — Robin Williams
14. “Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you.” — Desiree Linden
15. “You know you are a cross country runner when your shoes have more mileage than your car.” — Robin Williams
16. “Harvard was the first college to introduce cross-country as a training event for track and field in 1880.” — Skye Arthur-Banning
17. “Embrace the mud. The dirt. The grit.” — Nike
18. “Not just running! Something that needs endurance! Something that needs stamina! Like, long-distance running! Cross-country running!” — Coach Calhoun (John Travolta), ‘Grease’
19. “Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too.” — Pat Tyson, Track and Cross Country Coach
20. “There is no time to think about how much I hurt; there is only time to run.” — Ben Logsdon
To Conclude
I hope you liked my collection of cross country quotes and that you found them as inspiring as I did.
Visit our page to discover some more motivating content!
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