Marathon

Marathon, marathon, marathon,
Eternity’s dawn!
O kindling, streaming flames
Of great Olympic Games,
O Greece-world vision-height,
Cosmos-oneness-delight!
Humanity’s transcendence-race,
Divinity’s supreme Grace.

Bill Rodgers

Bill Rodgers, Bill Rodgers, Bill!
O runner world’s Himalayan thrill.
Bill Rodgers, Bill Rodgers, Bill!
O king of the road,
O hero of the race,
Sun-joy treasures
Your heart, your face.

Don Ritchie

Don Ritchie, fastest ultra soul-delight!
Your silence-heart, your volcano-vision-eyes,
Your lightning-speed, your soundless-skies
Pierce the veil of stark ignorance-night.
Speed is your life, endurance your excellence-height.
Champion runner, champion teacher, champion leader-force!
In you the runner’s world finds its perfection-source.
Victory within and victory without, your progress-light.

The New York Road Runners Club

I am a member of the New York Road
Runners Club; indeed!
Promise, courage, newness, closeness,
Oneness-perfection I feed.
Quality my progress-choice,
Quantity my success-voice.
Himalayan pride, Atlantic light
With me every day run.
President Lebow, the world’s temple-body
Salutes your wisdom-sun.

One Hundred Miles

One hundred miles in a fleeting week!
Who says I am hopelessly weak?
Imagine, although I fail to imagine!
No wonder why so much commotion and din.
A bullock-body is drawn by a lion-soul.
No doubt mine are the slowest feet,
But they are perfectly clean, perfectly neat.
I shall ever reach my transcending Goal!

Emil Zatopek

Emil Zatopek, Emil Zatopek!
Teeming world records in a beaming deck.
O birthless, deathless will-power;
In endurance-life, Everest-tower.
Emil Zatopek, Emil Zatopek!
Breathless interval training-pioneer;
A sure oneness-heart far and near.

London-to-Brighton Runners' Race

O Grand Marshall of All Time

O Grand Marshal of all time!
Your flower-heart has blossomed in every clime.
The child in you is pure and strong.
Around you cosmos-joys throng.
[Dedicated to Emil Zatopek]

Ted Corbitt

Ted Corbitt, Ted Corbitt, Ted!
Runner-world revolution-head.
O softness-runner-saint,
Measureless miles your legs did paint.
A brave champion is found
In Heavenly Silence-Sound.

I Am Running Around the Clock

I am running, I am running around the clock.
My Lord Supreme has aroused my sleeping lock.
Twenty-four hours I have been running,
Challenging my capacity-world and transcending
My power-friend sun, my beauty-friend moon,
My friends planets, stars and sky.
Here on earth, there in Heaven
My soul-bird and I fly.

Toshiko D'Elia

Toshiko D'Elia, Toshiko!
Inspiration-flood, aspiration-sea!
Your glory’s banner is flying
On the masters runners’ tallest tree.
Helpless children in you have found
Sweetness, fondness and oneness-home.
You and your compassion-heart
Around the globe roam.

Allison Roe, Allison!

Allison Roe, Allison!
O lightning wonder-speed,
O soaring energy-light!
You are your dauntless soul.
In you, a fount of delight.
New York sings Auckland’s Victory-Song.
O champion of champions,
New Zealand’s thunder-gong!
[Allison Roe of New Zealand was the 1981 winner of the Boston and New York City Marathons. In the NYC Marathon, she set a new world record of 2:25:29.]

Zatopek, Mount Everest Czech!

Zatopek, Zatopek, Zatopek!
O Mount Everest Czech!
Your body was earth’s tearing cry,
Success vast and progress high.
Your running knew no beguile,
Your soul was Heaven’s beaming Smile.

I Am Running a Marathon

I am running a marathon.
Self-pity, self-doubt, all gone.
The golden Goal is beckoning me.
I am now ecstasy-flood-sea.

He Runs

He runs like a man who has just been stabbed in the heart.
[Words by a European coach describing the running style of
Emil Zatopek]

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens, Jesse Owens, Jesse Owens!
O deathless jump, O breathless speed,
Eternally, athlete’s world you will feed.
Dictator Hitler’s Aryan supremacy
Surrendered to your Himalayan ecstasy.
Champion of champions, Hero of heroes!
In your service-heart America glows.
In Berlin, four gold medals winner;
Eternity’s diamond-heart owner.

Roger Bannister

Roger Bannister, Roger Bannister, Bannister!
Sub-four-minute pioneer-miler!
Impossibility bows low,
A stupendous ecstasy-flow.
Mother earth, Father Heaven together dance
And bless you with their victory’s lance.

Stan Cottrell

Stan Cottrell, Stan Cottrell, Stan Cottrell!
You are the Christ’s victory-bell.
Saviour’s compassion-flow,
Saviour’s satisfaction-glow.
East coast, west coast together boast:
Your heart’s smile is their ecstasy-host.
O greatness-life, goodness-soul,
You are your blessedness-role.

Gayelene de Castella

Gayelene, Gayelene de Castella, Gayelene!
A brilliance-soul, inner core hyaline!
A tender swimmer won Naiad’s heart;
Victory’s glory-crown her journey’s start.
Years advanced with Mercury’s blessing-speed;
Success-progress-worlds feed her, feed.

Robert de Castella

Robert de Castella, O splendid runner, indeed!
The runner’s world you unreservedly feed.
Deekas gracious, Deekas precious, Deekas!
Aussie’s journey’s start is crowned with triumphs enormous.

Tom Fleming

Tom Fleming, Tom Fleming, Tom Fleming!
O marathon-speed-lightning!
Within, without, a stoic soul,
Beyond the sea of dole.
Sub-2:20 marathon-king!
Your triumph-songs we sing.

Gary Fanelli

Gary Fanelli, Gary!
O heart soulful and merry!
Champion-runner, humility-lover,
Deer-speed and dove-soul,
You live in Oneness-Goal.

Terry Fox

Terry Fox, Terry Fox, Canada’s hero supreme!
Humanity’s Everest death-conquering dream.
O immortal of immortals, O Eternity’s pride,
Perfect man and content God no more shall hide.

Saumitra Werner Haubrich

Saumitra, Saumitra, Saumitra,
O good friend, O true friend, O universal friend!
A German mind and Indian heart
In oneness-blend.
My coach, my friend, my joy, my pride.
In our flower-soul-chariots we ride.

Jay Helgerson

Jay Helgerson, Jay Helgerson, Jay!
A giant player in God’s Cosmic Play.
Seven fleeting days you appear, reappear,
O tireless, selfless train, for a whole year!
Impossibility — a false reality.
Courage-prince, patience-king, joy-emperor —
In the soul-world, the body-ambassador.

Brooks Johnson

Brooks Johnson, Brooks Johnson, Brooks Johnson!
Champion-coach of promise-dawn.
Your oneness-heart is amazingly strong;
All speed-lovers before you must throng.

Nina Kuscsik

Nina Kuscik, Nina Kuscik, Nina Kuscik!
A heart-thrilling, a life-blossoming music.
No more her race shall lag behind;
For all, she smites ignorance-blind.
Man and woman towards the selfsame goal
Fulfil their equality: satisfaction-role.

Arthur Lydiard

Arthur Lydiard, Arthur Lydiard,
O father-hand
Of slow joggers’, fast runners’
And champions’ land!
O coach of coaches,
Fearless and endless wisdom-light!
In you the final, happy death
Of our ignorance-night.

Marcy Schwam

Marcy Schwam, Marcy Schwam, Schwam!
O conqueror of sleepless energy!
March Schwam, March Schwam, Schwam!
We strike your victory’s stupendous drum,
Here and there and everywhere,
O world-crown’s glory-treasure!

Craig Virgin

Craig Virgin, Craig Virgin, Craig Virgin!
Teeming victories’ streaming origin.
The deer-speed and the lion-roar:
American runners’ treasure-core.
A doleful weakling is now a twinkling star —
Glory within and without, near and far.

Cahit, Cahit

Cahit, Cahit, Cahit, Cahit!
His company, a great profit.
Cahit, Cahit, Cahit, Cahit!
Love, concern, compassion lit.
In the runners’ world, a wisdom-sea:
His life a soulful ecstasy.

O Marathon Runner

O marathon runner,
God the Smiler-Winner!
Bondage-body’s supreme victory
Challenged life’s summit glory.
You claim today for every day
In the Captain’s cosmic Oneness-Play.

Run and Become

Run and become.
Become and run.
Run to succeed in the outer world.
Become to proceed in the inner world.

Run (1)

Run, run, run

Run (2)

Run, run, run

Twenty-Six Miles

Twenty-six miles I am running,
Smiling, dancing, no crying.
I am a marathon runner:
Body’s ignorance-hunter.

O, Grant Me the Fastest Speed

O, grant me the fastest speed
To feed my champion hunger-need.
O, grant me the green courage-light.
I must win the victory’s delight.

O Great Champion

O great champion, O great champion!
You are your achievement-sun.
Endless energy, sleepless speed
Feed our running hunger, feed.

Coamo Race

Coamo race,
A child-heart’s face.
Coamo race,
Spontaneity-grace.
Country’s beauty-crown,
Ecstasy renown.
Island’s blue-gold throne,
A oneness-telephone.

At One Time

At one time I was so confused by various doctors’ good advice that I almost died of hunger and thirst. If you come to think of it, you never see deer, dogs and rabbits worrying about their menus, and yet they run much faster than humans.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

Children Play for Joy

Children play for joy; adults play for medals.
Medals are the means to promote sports,
but the goal is to contribute a healthy, happy
and harmonious life to man.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

If One Can Stick to the Training

If one can stick to the training for many long years,
then will-power is no longer a problem. It’s raining?
That doesn’t matter. I am tired? That’s beside the point.
It’s simply that I just have to.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

I Shall Learn to Have a Better Style

I shall learn to have a better style once they start
judging races according to their beauty. So long
as it’s a question of speed, then my attention will
be directed to seeing how fast I can cover the ground.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

It Was My First Competition

It was my first competition in Olympic Games and I was
surprised to come to Olympic stadium and to read most
important things about the Games: “Not to win but to take
part.” What — not to win? Ah, but I wish to win!
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

Great Is the Victory

Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

There Is a Great Advantage

There is a great advantage in training under
unfavourable conditions.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

You Must Be Fast Enough

You must be fast enough. You must have endurance.
So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

Winning

Winning is as beautiful as it is useful to lose.
But one learns more from defeats than laurels.
[Words of Emil Zatopek]

He Ran as if Tortured

He ran as if tortured by internal demons.
[Words of Kenny Moore referring to the running style of Emil Zatopek]

A Scorpion in Each Shoe

He ran every step of a race as if there was a scorpion in each shoe.
[Words of William Johnson referring to the running style of Emil Zatopek]

He Looked As If

He looked as if he might be having a fit.
[A critic referring to the running style of Emil Zatopek]

I Have Found God

I have found God, but that does not mean I cannot lose Him.
[Words of Jesse Owens]

I Never Tried to Cheat Anyone in My Life

I never tried to cheat anyone in my life, your Honour —
except possibly Jesse Owens, so help me God.
[Words of Jesse Owens]

Two Unmatchable Teammates

Two unmatchable teammates:
My wife of almost fifty years, Ruth,
And the Nazi
Who fought Hitler with me,
Luz Long;
Three unique leaders:
My father,
My mother,
And Charles Riley.
But, most, and most humbly,
To the Great Referee.
[Words of Jesse Owens]

The Human Struggle

No athlete better symbolised the human struggle
against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry.
[Words of President Jimmy Carter about Jesse Owens]

Ron Clarke

Ron Clarke, Ron Clarke, Ron Clarke, Ron Clarke!
O runner-world’s pinnacle-spark,
Australia’s pure treasure-light,
The world salutes your champion-height.
In distance-speed a stupendous soul.
With seventeen crowns, yours is the goal.

Speed Is a Skill

Speed is a skill. Some appear to be born with it.
Others can acquire it.
[Words of Brooks Johnson]

My Record Will Go

My record will go, and that will be good. I like to see
records broken, even if they are my own. That is what
running is all about.
[Words of Bill Rodgers]

I Don't Know of a More Exciting Athlete

You Cannot Go Out Fast

You cannot go out fast and expect to maintain it.
You have got to start the marathon feeling that you are running within yourself.
[Words of Allison Roe]

I Respond to Pressure

I respond to pressure. I enjoy it. I feel that every race
is a performance, and this is my theatre.
[Words of Craig Virgin]