Vanessa Runs > Quotes

“There's not enough said about winter runing. Running in the winter is like not giving up when the road gets hard. It's about willpower and perseverance and being faithful to your sport.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“If it's a nod from society you're looking for, run a marathon. But if it's a life-changing experience of personal strength and perseverance that you want, finish an ultra.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“I think the whole world has essentially been brought up not to be a girl. How do we bring up boys? What does it mean to be a boy? To be a boy really means not to be a girl. To be a man means not to be a girl. To be a woman means not to be a girl. To be strong means not to be a girl. To be a leader means not to be a girl. I actually think that being a girl is so powerful that we’ve had to train everyone not to be that.”
― Vanessa Runs, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports

“I'd rather be the last runner who saw a cool thing that everyone else missed, than to be a speedy runner who had a miserable experience.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“Today when I run, regardless of what I’m going through, all is well. My life sorts itself out. Ideas are born, and I find the tools to make them reality. My mind races, yet I feel calm. My legs move quickly, yet I am still.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“Running an ultra is like living an entire lifetime in the span of one day. You go through good times, bad times, happy times, sad times. It’s truly a journey and every race changes you. It’s an accomplishment that nobody can take away.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“In the book Run Like a Girl, Mina Samuels writes: We run like girls when we run for ourselves and inside ourselves. We run like girls when we tune out the negativity that might come our”
― Vanessa Runs, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports

“The truth is, if you are a woman and you have completed an ultramarathon, or even a marathon, you are in a very small, elite percentage of the general population. Your body has accomplished something athletic. It has done something extraordinary. To turn around and criticize your body for every dimple or pocket of fat is almost like being saved from a burning plane by a superhero only to tell him his cape doesn’t match his socks. Nobody cares about that.”
― Vanessa Runs, The Summit Seeker

“All women begin as a bundle of bones lost somewhere in the desert. A few of us— the lucky ones— will live to howl the songs of our souls from the depths of our wild, wild hearts.”
― Vanessa Runs, Daughters of Distance