Elizabeth Clor's Blog, page 29

Generation UCAN Review

I'll preface this post by saying that I hardly ever review products on my blog. Companies do not send me free products to review and I only write about products that I'm passionate about, like the Mizuno Elixir replacement. My blog is mainly focused on the journey to achieving my running goals, so I only review products that I believe will help me get there. I'm pleased to present this Generation UCAN review!
Generation UCAN prize pack
Last July, the McMillan Running company named me their athl...

4 Miles in 91 Degrees

Last night I ran the =PR= Twilight Festival 4-miler. This was my 4th time running this race, previous years were 2007, 2008, and 2015. Having run the race just last year, I remembered it pretty well. One of the benefits of keeping a blog is that when I repeat a race, I can look back on my report to remember the course.
Greg and me at the start line
Last year, it was 85 degrees, and I thought that was extraordinarily hot. This year, it was 91 degrees, maybe even a bit hotter at start. I alw...

The Boston Marathon Course Revisited

About three weeks after running the Boston Marathon, I returned to Boston for a business trip. I was honored to be speaking at a marketing conference on the topic of social media, and my hotel was enticingly close to the Boston Marathon course. So instead of opting for the hotel treadmill, I took a short Uber ride to Newton-Wellesley hospital, which on Marathon Monday is better known as mile marker 17.

My training plan called for a 60-minute run, and my original plan was to run for 30 min...

How I Ran the Boston Marathon

[image error]I wanted to write this post about a week after the Boston Marathon, but I was on vacation at a resort in Mexico. The Saturday following the race, Greg and I flew to Mexico and spent a week doing nothing but relaxing: eating, drinking, reading, sleeping, and soaking up the sun. It was just what I needed, both mentally and physically. We purposely planned this vacation for right after Boston as somewhat of a celebratory trip, and so that I wouldn't be training for a race while we were there. It...

The Soaking Semper Five K

Rain, rain, go away!The actual name of this race is the Semper Fi 5K, but I took the creative license to change it to Semper Five K in the blog title for the fun of it. I had never run this specific race before, but I had run this course a number of times. It's an out-and-back course that's pancake flat with no other turns aside from the turnaround point.

One of the reasons I chose to run this race was because I wanted to run three locally "ranked" races before the end of June, and prior...

Launching My Book: Boston Bound

As many of you blog readers know, I spent seven years of my life tortured by repeated failed attempts to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

At first, my failure to qualify for Boston was simply a matter of bad luck, or so it seemed. But after four years of continued failures, I realized that anxiety and perfectionism were the root of the problem. I spent the next three years facing my demons head-on, with the help of a sports psychologist, and I ultimately qualified for Boston in March of 2015.

I...

Mother's Day 4-Miler Race Report

This morning I ran the Mother's Day 4-Miler in Reston, VA. I had never run this course before, and typically I run the Angel Kisses 5K on Mother's Day, but that race no longer exists. Ideally, I would have had a few more weeks to recover from the Boston Marathon and get some speed workouts in before racing again, but my coach told me it was okay to race this anyway.
2015 Washington Running Report Rankings
In 2015, Washington Running Report ranked me #6 for women ages 30-39. That happened uninte...

My Boston Marathon Debut

It finally happened. After setting my sights on Boston in March 2008, I finally ran the race, 8 years later, and 10 years after running my first marathon in 2006. The Boston Marathon was my 20th marathon finish.

Ready for my Boston Marathon debut!

The Journey to Hopkinton
Race morning arrived, and after a semi-sleepless but restful night (not sleeping, but laying completely relaxed and still) I got ready for the race. I made my UCAN gel, applied massive amounts of body glide, applied sunscreen,...

Before the Race: The Boston Experience

Typically when I write my race reports I include a section called "Before the Race." In the case of
Boston, I think "Before the Race" deserves its own blog post.

In front of the #RunBold wall at the ExpoFriday
Greg and I left our house shortly before noon on Friday. I put on my jacket for the first time to actually wear instead of just trying it on. I love this jacket! We had lunch, drove to my mom's house, and she dropped us off at National Airport. We had a slight hiccup with our flight, in t...

Boston on the Brain: Final Thoughts

With just five days until the Boston Marathon, I've been doing some serious reflecting on what got me here.

Some History
I first decided that I wanted to qualify for Boston way back in 2008. I missed my 2008 attempt because I got sick, and then in 2009 I ran a really hot marathon (in which I totally fell apart), followed by one where I ended up with hypothermia. And then I got injured in the fall. In 2010, I had my first DNF at a hot marathon, and the downward spiral continued from there.

In 201...