Top 17 Don Kardong Quotes

Words matter. These are the best Don Kardong Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.

When I went to the starting line of the 1976 Olympic ma

When I went to the starting line of the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal, it was with the unsettling conviction that some of my competitors were cheaters.
Don Kardong
New nemeses keep racing fresh, but I also find challenge in going longer, with only the distance as foe. I run my first 50-mile race, journey across the Grand Canyon and back, circumnavigate Mount St. Helens.
Don Kardong
Prior to the 1976 Olympics, I was a 5,000m runner.
Don Kardong
The body responds to a calorie deficit by slowing down the metabolism and burning muscle tissue. That leads to weakness, sluggishness, slow times. In girls, it can also result in cessation of menstrual periods, which in turn leads to loss of bone density and frequent stress fractures.
Don Kardong
If an athlete takes a shortcut – literally, for example, by running a street that shortens the marathon route by a quarter mile – he or she doesn’t have an insurmountable advantage. But it’s an unfair advantage, and in a field of equally matched athletes, it’s more than enough to make a difference.
Don Kardong
When I was in middle school, and teachers lectured about World War II, the conflict seemed impossibly distant and irrelevant. And it had only happened 15 years earlier.
Don Kardong
For most teenage runners, the right foods means a varied diet, decreasing the amount of fat found in the typical American diet and replacing those calories with carbohydrates. Avoid saturated fats, such as those found in fried foods, and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Don Kardong
Running at night used to frighten me. Part of it was simply safety, the question of whether level ground would truly appear under each tentative footstep, and whether the temporary but complete blindness suffered while running toward headlights was, in fact, concealing death.
Don Kardong
Beginning runners come in all shapes, sizes and pre-existing conditions, so there’s no magic formula for determining exactly how much basic running is needed before you start speedwork. Most experts, though, recommend three or four months of preparation.
Don Kardong
The Kenyans beat up on the American runners in every road race every weekend of the year, but we’re way ahead of them in the number and quality of our Elvis impersonators. We get our X-Men and gorillas.
Don Kardong
Clearly, there are things a runner does, intentionally or not, that disrupt team cohesion. And there are also things a runner doesn’t do that can cause problems: not trying, showing up late, skipping team-building activities, and ignoring the coach’s instructions.
Don Kardong
Support the athlete, encourage the team, help the coach. That’s what good track parents do.
Don Kardong
There’s always somebody doing something more extreme than you are. It used to be that if you ran the marathon, that was the end of it.
Don Kardong
Cheer for your teammates, regardless of whether they’re fast or slow, veteran or neophyte, varsity or JV. Or rally the spirits of someone who’s had a bad performance. Also, encourage stragglers during tough workouts; jog back to ‘pick up’ a runner who’s behind during a long run.
Don Kardong
Coaches know that a parent publicly scolding his kid after a race will not help the athlete perform better.
Don Kardong
A good teammate is someone willing to get outside of personal thoughts and emotions, a friend who tries to understand, appreciate, and encourage other members of the team.
Don Kardong
Train at the same pace day after day, week after week, year after year, and that’s the kind of running the body adapts to. But break out of that comfort zone with a little speedwork now and then, and the body will learn to deal with the new demands.
Don Kardong