Kara Goucher Quotes

Whether you’re an elite or a first-timer, that’s the magic of marathoning, the recognition of your own potential that had been there all along.

Race day is fun, but training gives you moments of the extraordinary in the ordinary.

The thing is, there are a million reasons why you can’t achieve your goals. All it takes is focus and determination to find the reason you can.

Training, doing something for myself, makes me happier and more appreciative of the time I have with my son. Being a runner makes me a better mother, and being a mother makes my running better.

First, if you set a BIG goal (and you should), you’re going to need a solid plan in place. Second, that plan can almost always be broken down into smaller goals that serve as milestones along the way. This can help to keep you motivated and focused as you work toward what you want to achieve.

My mom thanked him for being such a force in her life, my sister told him how much she loved him right before his breath slowed down, my sister thanked him for being our dad, and I just said, ‘Say hi to our dad and to all your brothers,’” she says. “As horrible as it was, it ended very beautifully.

Running as family. One of the best experiences of my life.

Finding a balance between running, family and work.

So much of performance is about staying in the now. Active words like “focus” and “execute” can help pull you into the moment to concentrate on the task at hand.

A growing number of elite runners — including Kara Goucher, Doc Patton, and Paula Radcliffe — are proving that it’s possible to balance a tough training schedule with a family. In fact, some say that having a baby has actually helped them achieve better balance.

How to juggle training and family, as well how to find a few moments of "me time" in your schedule.

Running is a head game. When you’re running, there are two options: let your mind wander or focus. To compete, you must focus.

What would happen if we took the time each day to quietly celebrate our accomplishments and focus on the positive?

It fills me with joy to encourage women to come together, to build a community focused on the positivity and beauty in running, and committed to helping each other to become our best selves—as runners and as women.

Focus on effort. I never know what’s changing around me. Opportunities can open up when we least expect them. Stay focused on goals.

Goucher is writing above about her goals for her upcoming race in Houston and how her priorities have shifted. “It’s not about the time. It’s about the love of putting in the work and then putting one foot in front of another.

My priority right now is the baby. Running comes second.

Study after study has shown that the strength of social connections directly correlates to general happiness. In my own life, I make it a priority to nurture my connections with family and friends. These include the strength of connections in my running family, where my bonds with my training partners have stood the test of time.

I asked Kara to record one good thing she did every day in her workout. Her journal reminded her that she had done the work, and deserved to toe-the-line with everyone else. Recorded consistently over time, a confidence journal can lead to a champion’s mindset.

The truth is, running often attracts a personality type that gets high off extreme discipline.

We wanted to cheer and scream at the same time when Olympic athletes Alysia Montaño, Kara Goucher, and Allyson Felix broke their nondisclosure agreements to tell the New York Times about being paid less by their sponsor, Nike, after they gave birth. We only wanted to scream when white male legislators in Alabama and other states voted to effectively ban abortion. Thousands of women came forward in response to publicly share their own experiences of ending a pregnancy—but why should it fall to women to share their most personal stories in order to defend a right we’ve had in America for more than forty-five years? What’s more, why are legislators focused on limiting reproductive choices rather than solving the real challenges pregnant women confront?

It destroyed me, but I loved the feeling of doing something like that again completely on my own terms.

I think you are the most honest with yourself when you are on a run. The friends I have made through running know me so well. It is crazy the things I have shared with people while out on a run. Things I would never share just sitting around having a cup of coffee. But you are out on a run, and you are just so open. —Kara Goucher

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that change starts when good people refuse to stay quiet.

When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.” —Adrienne Rich