"My favorite quote is 'When it starts to hurt, that's when you get to show how tough you are.' My coach said this to me before a marathon once and it's stuck with me ever since. I always use it in training and races to get me through tough patches. It makes me excited for the hard miles, rather than scared of them!"
—Rose Harvey, professional marathon runner for Puma
"'There is nothing more satisfying to the spirit, more defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.' This is from President Barack Obama's inaugural address in 2009. It seemed to sum up my career as an athlete, but I soon found out that it relates to so much of life. I rely on this quote for encouragement all the time, or offer it as strength to others who are going through a challenge."
—Deena Kastor, Olympic marathon medalist, former American record holder in every distance from the 5K to the marathon, and advisory board member of the Team Milk's Every Woman's Marathon
"The first quote is from a Shel Silverstein poem: 'Anything can happen child, anything can be.' I read this in the lead up to my first Olympics, London 2012, then promptly forgot it. During the race, the line "anything can happen child, anything can be" popped up in my head during the second half. I repeated it over and over and ended up finishing as the top American, as a 21 year old, and running a big PR. That quote is a reminder to not place limits on yourself.
"Another quote I think of is, 'Make your future self proud.' I want to work every day to put myself in a position where, no matter what the end result is, I can look back and know I did the work. I don't want to regret that I left something on the table. I've trained and competed at a high level for over 15 years and the consistency in work is so important to sustain a long career. If you are consistently doing good work, you give yourself the best opportunity for success but if you fail, you can look back and know it wasn't for lack of effort."
—Emma Coburn, professional runner for New Balance, 3000m steeplechase world champion, and Olympic medalist
"The quote 'There is no failure; you either win or you learn' reminds me not to be too hard on myself. Whether it is during training, mothering my daughter, or building Saysh, any failure is a lesson. It empowers me to take more risks, knowing that the worst thing that can happen is I walk into an opportunity to learn and grow." —Allyson Felix, 11-time Olympic medalist in track and field, and founder of women's running shoe company Saysh
