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" You probably choose x-country because you were too small to play football. "

Steve Prefontaine

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" 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

" 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

" 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

" It doesn't feel that good when you're ahead the whole way. "

Steve Prefontaine

" 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

" People say I should be running for a gold medal for the old red, white and blue and all that bull, but it's not gonna be that way. "

Steve Prefontaine

" Nobody likes tainted victories. "

Steve Prefontaine

" 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

" I don't care about being on television. "

Steve Prefontaine

" 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

" 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

" 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

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

Steve Prefontaine

" The AAU doesn't care about the athletes; why should I care about them? "

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

" 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

" 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

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

Steve Prefontaine

" 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

" 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

" If anybody wants to beat me, let them run a world record. "

Steve Prefontaine

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

Steve Prefontaine

" I know places you better speak low if you've been to college. Men will come across the room and cold-deck you if you hold your glass wrong. "

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

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

Steve Prefontaine

" It's hard to run a mile when you're not a miler and to kick when you've led all the way. "

Steve Prefontaine

" Why shouldn't I do what I want to do... I'm an American citizen. "

Steve Prefontaine

" To hell with love of country - I compete for myself. "

Steve Prefontaine

" What does it prove, running in the AAU meet? "

Steve Prefontaine

" Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody. "

Steve Prefontaine