A Runner’s High Quotes

“Running is a form of escapism; few runners would deny that. The metaphor of running away from one’s problems is hardly allegory, and it was certainly the case for me. Though why is that such a bad thing? Having a release valve allows the buildup of toxic fumes to be vented periodically. On untold occasions I ran out the door with the weight of the world on my shoulders and in the course of 5 or 6 strenuous miles these problems somehow dissipated into the ether. Sometimes I just wanted to keep going, to leave the world behind and just run. But that would be irresponsible. Yeah, it would, which made the idea all the more appealing. Odysseus ventured to faraway lands, yet returned home to his responsibilities and familial duties in due course a renewed man. Running could be at once irresponsible and responsible in this regard, a way to escape the madness of modernity and reemerge refreshed and washed clean.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“At this point twenty-four years ago I emerged from the trail in the middle of the night, battered and beaten, unable to continue only to have my father tell me that I must continue, even if that meant crawling, that I could not stop, that I mustn't ever give up the fight. Today he told me that he was proud of me, and I knew that meant not so much for my current accomplishment but for my perseverance over the decades in remaining true to the man I am. I was doing what I was put on earth to do, and in that there is a certain genuineness and purity. For this my father was proud. It had been a long and oftentimes lonely run, and I was still standing. p233”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Crossing the river under the cover of night was something new to me; never before had I arrived at this juncture without sufficient daylight to make safe passage. Lowering myself down the darkened riverside embankment and cautiously wading into the water, it was unnervingly cold and bracing. The American River was mostly fed by snowmelt from the higher elevations, and the the uninitiated, crossing it could be catastrophic. To those unlucky few, the Western States journey ended at this point when their muscles seized up upon exposure to the whirling, cold-water torrent.
Thankfully, some of us found the occasion just the opposite, renewing. I submerged fully in the chilly liquid, then jumped up and shook vigorously like a wet dog. "Brrr!"
It felt so good I did it again. Once sufficiently doused and thoroughly chilled, I began the crossing. A line was strung across the waterway for safety, and I held tight as I stepped farther into the depths, the waterline rising over my waist. I thought about other races and how Western States compared. To a runner at, say, the Boston Marathon the idea of forging a river midrace would seem preposterous, unimaginable. But here I was, 78 miles into a 100-mile footrace grasping a flimsy rope for dear life trying to avoid being swept downstream. If marathoning is boxing, ultramarathoning is a bare-knuckes bar brawl. p221”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Perhaps the only tragedy approaching that of a young life cut short is a long life left unlived.
I saw this eerie contented discontentment all around me when I was younger working at a large corporation, and it scared the hell out of me. People were simply showing up to work and making it through the end of the day, and every two weeks collecting a paycheck. I didn't know the definition of success, but this didn't seem like it to me. Even a life that was a failure seemed better than a life that was empty. Sure, to dare is terrifying, though the alternative was something worse. Dying, to me, seemed like a better alternative to not fully living.
Thus I decided to navigate my own course through life. p128”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Routine was death of the worst kind, a slow, insidious stripping of soul. Rarely could I even bring myself to run the same route on subsequent days; more rarely did I run at the same time every day. Sometimes I'd venture out first thing in the morning, other times during midday, still others in the evening or at night. I wasn't made to fit the modern industrialized world; my natural rhythms ran contrary to the nine-to-five business cycle. And I didn't always find people the preferred company. Not that I was antisocial, but being by myself wasn't unpleasant. Running alone was something I relished most of my life, even more so as I'd become older. Most runners prefer to run alone, so these habits are not entirely aberrant. The world and its institutions engulf and suffocate us. We runners find our sanctuary in retreating to the roadways and trails, our sacred reprieve. The wonder isn't that we go; it's that we come back.
Our daily outings become purgings and resurrections. We move through this world as spirits, the air and the ground and the sky above absorbing us into something grander, and we disappear from the unbearable heaviness of being. These moments of transcendence cleanse our soul and liberate us from the manufactured and superficial. For a brief, beautiful instant we are as a human is meant to be, free and unencumbered, and this restores us and makes us fresh once more.
And then it's on to the follies of being a citizen, of being a useful and contributing member of society. Back to the fickleness and irrationality of human nature and the roller coaster of modern living, with its spirals and twists, letdowns and disappointments. As soon as there are people involved, things get complicated, and rarely do they go the way you want them to. Over a lifetime, nos greatly outnumber the yeses.
But the strong endure. The lessons you learn from running translate to life. The runner has a strong body and a strong heart. You get knocked down, you pick yourself back up, dust off, and keep going, only to get knocked down again, only to pick yourself back up once more and continue on, arising one time greater than toppling. And in this persistent enduring you acquire endurance. Your permanence is established in this way because you do not unseat easily, you have what it takes to withstand setbacks. You may waver and misstep, but you never give up. No matter how daunting the obstacle, you forge onward and keep chipping away until that barrier is eventually obliterated and overcome. p97”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“That which is most difficult to endure is most satisfying to reminisce.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Panic struck when we reached the car and I tried to open the door. It was locked. He'd locked the keys in the car! Then I realized that Dad simply hadn't unlocked it yet. He pressed the button on the remote, and the car unlocked. But in that instant of absentminded panic it occurred to me that for the past fourteen plus hours I'd been gone from reality, I'd been totally lost in the spell of ultrarunning, I'd been so totally immersed in the experience that nothing else seemed material- not the car remote, not the bills that needed paying, not the politicians in the White House, not the emails that needed sending; all of those things had melted away and vaporized. It was a cleansing of the soul, a physical and emotional reincarnation. After fourteen hours of running I was now someone new. p61.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“I looked at my medal and it had "20 miles, 50K, 50 miles, 100K" printed across the bottom. It didn't matter which of the races you did: everyone who crossed the finish line got the same medal. I loved that. I'm sure someone had struggled just as hard as I had to finish the 20-miler. Why did I deserve anything better? Running is the most democratic of sports, and ultrarunning ever the more so. p61”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“All racers are runners, but not all runners are racers.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“I think we run 100 miles through the wilderness because we are changed by the experience. What takes a monk a month of meditation we can achieve in twenty-four hours of running. With each footstep comes a slow diminishment of self, the prickly edges of ego whittled down until something approaching the divine emerges. Even during a race with no shortage of human folly, great moments of clarity are achieved. Running an ultramarathon builds character, but it also exposes it. We learn about ourselves, we gain deeper insights into the nature of our character, and we are transformed by these things. To know thyself one must push thyself.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“The world and its institutions engulf and suffocate us. We runners find our sanctuary in retreating to the roadways and trails, our sacred reprieve. The wonder isn’t that we go; it’s that we come back.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“Perhaps nothing in sports or in life is as accessible to all as running. It didn’t matter our language, creed, or skin color, running was a commonality we all shared. Two hundred of us ran down that highway as one. So many things in this world divide us, rip us apart, but here was something that united us, that brought us together. The fact that running is available to all doesn’t diminish its significance; it amplifies it.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“You’re either born a runner, or not. Simple as that. And it isn’t the act of running that constitutes this demarcation, but the desire. Running isn’t necessary”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner's High: Older, Wiser, Slower, Stronger

“intrepid outward exploration of the landscape and a revealing inward journey of the self. These are the things that keep me going, the lust for exploration and the quest to better comprehend who I am and what I’m made of.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“And thus I kept doing it. Mile 20 passed. Mile 23 passed. Mile 26 passed. Running an ultra is simple; all you have to do is not stop.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Respect the distance, take each breath purposefully, make every step count, calculate the surges, watch your heart rate, stay hydrated, maintain your calories. Do all of these things continuously while remaining incorruptibly patient. An ultramarathon moves slowly very quickly.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“Runs end, running is forever.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion

“at the end of all our exploring we will arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.”
― Dean Karnazes, A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion