Frank Shorter Quotes

“The potential elite runner must realize that hard means hard, easy means easy and they must patiently seek out what combinations work for them. They have to learn to be persistent and patient with their training and racing.”

— Frank Shorter

“To put it another way, Michael Jordan was a gym rat.”

— Frank Shorter

A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over, even in victory, to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time.

— Frank Shorter

So, in a way I was hedging and saying that if the Olympic stuff doesn't work out at least I can be a lawyer.

— Frank Shorter

“Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually it passes and the flow returns. It's part of racing.”

— Frank Shorter

“For the novice runner, I'd say to give yourself at least 2 months of consistently running several times a week at a conversational pace before deciding whether you want to stick with it. Consistency is the most important aspect of training at this point.”

— Frank Shorter

“The irony of that is, what makes it kind of ironic, is when you do become successful as a professional athlete in particular, a lot of the young children who are emulating these stars do have a different perspective.”

— Frank Shorter

When you are caring about your children perhaps you always have to remember at what point you can become over involved because of something you need rather than something the child needs.

— Frank Shorter

“Hills are speedwork in disguise.”

— Frank Shorter

“Because running fast is more fun than running slow.”

— Frank Shorter

“I admire runners older than I - they are now my heroes. I want to be like them as I grow older.”

— Frank Shorter

Again, racing for me was about energy management.

— Frank Shorter

“You don't run 26 miles at five minutes a mile on good looks and a secret recipe.”

— Frank Shorter

“In other words we have marketed our way into this health crisis.”

— Frank Shorter

The weather is perfect. The gods are shining on us.

— Frank Shorter

It is not the time spent with the child at their activity that is going to produce the highest level athlete. It is in supporting the child in an organized activity - and Bill alluded to this - so the child can find what they truly like to do and let them go.

— Frank Shorter

“Really, I think that going out and playing with your friends is kind of becoming a lost art, with the kids in the neighborhood.”

— Frank Shorter

“Running with others can help get you out when you might otherwise blow it off.”

— Frank Shorter

Intervals and other types of speed work are essential to improve running speed.

— Frank Shorter

My goal is to break three hours in a marathon.

— Frank Shorter

There's obviously some validity to it. But I think it also points out that you obviously can do it on your own because people have been doing it long before they had the stuff.

— Frank Shorter

“I think it is that parents just don't kick their kids out the door as much as they used to. I think the demise of sandlot sports has had a lot to do with it.”

— Frank Shorter

“It is just called Continuing Legal Education. You can go to lectures, you can even listen to tapes on airplanes - they want you to stay current. So you do have to stay current to maintain your license even if you are not practicing.”

— Frank Shorter

The marathon is all about energy management. I had planned to run it like a track race with strategic surges to blow up my competitors by putting them into oxygen debt, so that is the way I prepared.

— Frank Shorter

I think the secret of my light, quick, foot strike is related to the fact that I have fragile feet.

— Frank Shorter

“Yes, winning the gold medal was undoubtedly the biggest day of my career - mostly because I won the way I had prepared to run it. It was a totally satisfying experience.”

— Frank Shorter

“I started in law school in '71 and graduated in '74. So I was training for the Olympics, running or averaging around 20 miles a day and going to law school full time.”

— Frank Shorter

“As I've been able to once again gain the benefits of speed work, I'm enjoying my running more and more.”

— Frank Shorter

“Being in school is the best place to be if you are an athlete because you can structure your own time.”

— Frank Shorter

“What you did was live on very little. I think all of us that were competing - Bill is the same way - you don't need much to live.”

— Frank Shorter

“I think he had a wake-up call. It's a different kind of race, and I think maybe he didn't take it quite as seriously as he might have, but you can bet he learned a lot of lessons.”

— Frank Shorter

I plan to be running as long as I can and have no plans to stop.

— Frank Shorter

I was actually going to law school in 1972.

— Frank Shorter

“Right now, after having had back surgery, I am finally back to running again.”

— Frank Shorter

“When I am totally race fit, I don't worry about breathing or technique - they take care of themselves.”

— Frank Shorter

You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.

— Frank Shorter

“Running a marathon is just like reading a good book. After a while you're just not conscious of the physical act of reading.”

— Frank Shorter

“Be willing to move forward and find out what happens next.”

— Frank Shorter

“You train best where you are the happiest.”

— Frank Shorter

“You have to know your body. It's part of the beauty of the training process, and once you've determined how much your body and mind can take, you can then begin to reach your potential.”

— Frank Shorter

“There's always the feeling of getting stronger. I think that's what keeps me going.”

— Frank Shorter

“My goal has always been to slow down as slowly as possible. It's as simple as that.”

— Frank Shorter

“I want my time spent running to serve as a reward.”

— Frank Shorter

“You can actually suffer a little bit more going slowly than when you're going really fast. A faster marathon might even be easier than a slow one, in terms of what it takes out of you mentally.”

— Frank Shorter

“Why couldn't Pheidippides have died at 20 miles?”

— Frank Shorter

Three half-mile repeats on the track at 5-K race pace with a short recovery jog in between shouldn't scare anyone away-and it will improve your speed.

— Frank Shorter

“The thing that makes [Bob] Kennedy so good is that he doesn't have a fear of losing. He was willing to go to Europe and get hammered.”

— Frank Shorter

“When you first run up First Avenue in New York, if you don't get goose bumps, theres something wrong with you.”

— Frank Shorter

Numbers don't lie. You always seem to remember your workouts as being a little better than they were. It's good to go back and review what you do.

— Frank Shorter

“How did I know you ran a 4:30 mile in high school? That's easy. Everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school.”

— Frank Shorter