Running Like a Girl Quotes

“Lacing up and leaving the house is the hardest moment of any run. You never regret it once you are en route.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“You don't run,' he corrected me. 'But you're more than able.' There was no shadow of doubt in his voice. Hearing it from someone else made me realize: there was nothing stopping me from running but me.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“I was using these runs to give me clarity and focus, to remind myself of what I was capable of, and to spur me on in all areas of my life.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Finally, I could see with startling clarity that the time I had spent experiencing pain on a run was outweighed by the amount of time that I felt good about it. I was aglow. I was invincible. I was thinking I might be able to do it again.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Running would help with the weight, but the weight did not help with running.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“awareness: I was a runner for life. No matter what else was going on around me, no matter how long the gaps between my runs, no matter how high, how long, or how fast my races were, I was a runner. Once you have taught yourself that running isn’t about breaking boundaries you thought you could never smash, and realized that it is about discovering those boundaries were never there in the first place, you can apply it to anything.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run

“I enjoyed having my body praised for what it could do rather than how it looked.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run

“When I first envisioned myself running, I saw myself as Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling in the opening scenes of The Silence of the Lambs. So strong, so focused, so proud. She is utterly confident, completely single-minded about her training run across a terrifying assault course. At one point she runs past a tree with the sign HURT AGONY PAIN LOVE IT stapled to it. She doesn’t care what she looks like; she has shit to do, and she is going to get it done. And yet . . . she is wearing a phenomenally impractical outfit. She is in a heavy cotton sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms and is drenched in sweat. The top is sticking to both her chest and back and looks painfully heavy. She is summoned by a colleague and heads inside past a roomful of people dressed in khaki, faffing around with guns, and then gets into an elevator. All in the heavy, damp cotton. That wet fabric must have gotten incredibly cold the minute she stopped running, and it bothers me whenever I think of the poor woman in that meeting. For years the scene was my running inspiration, yet now I am unable to watch the first hour of the film without worrying about whether Clarice is shivering from the horrors of Hannibal Lecter or because she caught a dreadful chill.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run

“What is a new hobby if not a shopping opportunity?”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Still, I remained loyal to the idea that the perfect running outfit could do a couple of extra miles for me.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Whenever anyone asked me how I'd done it, the answer was simple: I decided to be able to.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“The only way to find out if I was physically or mentally capable of finishing a marathon was to try and run a marathon.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Whether you know them or not, supporters make an incalculable difference when you are running a race.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“The longer a run is, the less it becomes about running. The challenge is dealing with the waves of emotion, keeping the mind from collapsing.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“While you, and only you, can move your legs from start to finish, no one runs a marathon alone.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Correre significa avere la determinazione necessaria per provare a superare l'obiettivo che ci si è prefissate, e la forza di accettare l'occasionale insuccesso. Avere l'intuito per capire quali amici staranno sotto il sole a picco o la pioggia ghiacciata solo per riuscire a intravedervi un attimo, risollevandovi il morale per i prossimi chilometri. Correre vi permette di rendere più profondi certi legami familiari che neanche sapevate di avere. È la disciplina che vi induce a fare il necessario per arrivare alla meta. È il coraggio di lasciare la persona che amate nel tepore del letto, sperando che vi ami ancora quando tornate, un'ora dopo, sudate e insoddisfatte. È la convinzione incrollabile degli altri, sicuri che ce la possiate fare anche quando voi siete convinte del contrario, e il dono di manifestare la stessa certezza quando qualcun altro dubita di sé. Correre è stabilire un contatto con una persona mai vista prima che potrebbe averne bisogno, perché soffre accanto a voi durante una gara oppure in un letto d'ospedale all'altro capo del mondo. È sfidare le convenzioni, decidere chi siete e prendere l'iniziativa di diventare quella persona. È l'abbraccio di uno sconosciuto e la comprensione totale da parte di chi vi ama di più.
Correre vi fa crescere il cuore.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Quando riuscite ad accettare che correre non significa oltrepassare limiti che ritenevate invalicabili, ma scoprire invece che quegli ostacoli non c'erano mai stati, potete applicare lo stesso principio a ogni aspetto della vostra vita.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Solo quelli che si arrischiano a spingersi troppo in là riescono a scoprire fin dove riescono ad arrivare...
T. S. Eliot”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Nell'attimo in cui le mie gambe cominciano a muoversi, I miei pensieri iniziano a scorrere.
H.D.Thoreau”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Più una corsa è lunga, meno il risultato dipende dalle vostre doti di runner. È evidente che dovete continuare a mettere i piedi uno davanti all'altro, e che cuore e polmoni devono dare il massimo. Ma il difficile non è quello: la vera sfida sta nel riuscire a sopportare le emozioni che si provano, nell'impedire alla mente di crollare. Come ben sa chi ha cominciato da zero, sicuro di non riuscire ad arrivare neanche in fondo alla strada, le emozioni che ci trasciniamo dietro per chilometri possono parere più pesanti dell'inferno stesso.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Per sopravvivere, basta continuare ad andare avanti.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“I became proud of my strong thighs. I didn’t care that I would never be as thin as some girls. I knew I would be stronger than many. While compliments are always lovely, I struggled to care when people remarked on how much weight I’d lost. “But have you seen what I can do now?” was all I ever wanted to reply.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run

“Running would help with this weight, but this weight did not help with running. I”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl

“Finally, I could see with startling clarity that the time I had spent experiencing pain on a run was outweighed by the amount of time that I felt good about it. I was aglow. I was invincible.”
― Alexandra Heminsley, Running Like a Girl