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" Did you ever run behind a slow pack? You get a trailing wind and a lot of body odor. "
Steve Prefontaine
Behind
Body
Run
Related Quotes:
" To hell with love of country - I compete for myself. "
Steve Prefontaine
Hell
Country
Compete
" American athletes, especially distance runners, are at a big disadvantage against the rest of the world. We're expected to live by all the rules, like not being able to coach, but still train and make our own living. "
Steve Prefontaine
Live
Own
World
" If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me. "
Steve Prefontaine
Day
Race
Good Day
" This is my last year at Oregon, and it means a lot to me. The people have been great to me up there, so if I have to run three races to win the Pac-8 title, I'll do it. Oh, sure, I'll probably be tired, but the people shouting will carry me across the finish line. "
Steve Prefontaine
Great
Run
Tired
" 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
Understanding
People
Look
" I decided that if I was going to continue in track, that I didn't want to lose, that I wasn't going to lose. "
Steve Prefontaine
Continue
Want
Going
" 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
More
End
People
" 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
Race
Work
Win
" 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
Tears
Think
Sweat
" I don't care about being on television. "
Steve Prefontaine
About
Being
Television
" If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that's my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher. "
Steve Prefontaine
Learn
Go
Business
" Nobody likes tainted victories. "
Steve Prefontaine
Victories
Tainted
Nobody
" 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
Having Fun
Think
Myself
" If you can make money with your talents, why not? "
Steve Prefontaine
You
Your
Money
" No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me. "
Steve Prefontaine
Two
Easy
Me
" Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody. "
Steve Prefontaine
Bay
You
Town
" I used to say, 'Hey, man, what kind of a stupid question is that?' to a newspaperman asking me heavy things right after a race when I'm still in an emotional state. Now I at least try to answer. "
Steve Prefontaine
Kind
Man
Say
" 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
Achievement
Always
Back
" 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. "
Steve Prefontaine
You
Go
Competition
" The AAU doesn't care about the athletes; why should I care about them? "
Steve Prefontaine
Care
Should
Athletes
" I like to be able to go out to dinner once in a while. I like to be able to drive my MG up the McKenzie River on a weekday afternoon. I like to be able to pay my bills on time. "
Steve Prefontaine
Go
Like
Dinner
" What I like most about track is the feeling I get inside after a good run. "
Steve Prefontaine
Like
Run
Good
" 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
People
Music
Style
" What does it prove, running in the AAU meet? "
Steve Prefontaine
Meet
Running
Prove
" 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
Artist
Paint
Museum
" If the Olympics come around, and I'm in shape, then I'll compete. But I won't be representing the United States; I'll be representing myself. "
Steve Prefontaine
Compete
Shape
United States
" Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off. "
Steve Prefontaine
Inside
Want
Wait
" 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
Time
Hard Work
Me
" I knew I had to show everybody that I could excel at something. But I didn't know what. "
Steve Prefontaine
Show
Something
Everybody
" It doesn't feel that good when you're ahead the whole way. "
Steve Prefontaine
Ahead
Feel
You