Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

Every once in a while I think, 'What am I doing out here running, busting myself up? Life could be so much easier. The other guys are out having fun, doing other things, why not me?'

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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...?'

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

I knew I had to show everybody that I could excel at something. But I didn't know what.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

Nobody likes tainted victories.

Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

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.