Boston Bound: A 7-Year Journey to Overcome Mental Barriers and Qualify for the Boston Marathon Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on May 13th 2016
Genres: Health & Fitness, Sports
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
Have you ever wanted something so badly that your own mind became your biggest obstacle?
Elizabeth Clor wanted nothing more than to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon. Dead set on achieving this goal, she found herself bound up in a vicious cycle of perfectionism and anxiety that thwarted her at every turn, despite making significant gains in her physical abilities over seven years.Boston Bound is the story of how Elizabeth discovered that her own brain was the culprit, and explains the steps she took to completely overhaul her mindset about her running and her life.
For anyone seeking to realize their full potential, physically or otherwise, this story provides specific tools and a useful framework to identify and remove mental roadblocks.
I was on Twitter one evening just getting caught up, and I noticed I had a message from someone named Elizabeth Clor. She asked me if I’d be interested in reading her book, Boston Bound. I deliberated about it for a whopping half a second and said yes. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. I had never heard of Elizabeth Clor. While I’ve completed more 5ks and 10ks than I can count and I’ve completed over 30 half marathons, I’ve never run a full marathon and know for a fact that I’d never qualify for Boston since I’m one of those “back of the pack” runners.
The book arrived right about the time I had 20 other books to read. I picked it up a few times and just couldn’t seem to get past the first page. I thought it was the book at the time. I picked this book up again yesterday, and by the time I had to leave the house I realized I had read half the book. I was definitely hooked. So now I’ve decided it was definitely me, and not the book.
The author shares her routine of hours and hours of up-at-dawn workouts, all of the time away from family to train and the painful foam rolling. She also shares all of the experimentation with the right nutrition/hydration combos with no guarantee that any of it was successful in the end.
Firstly, I will say this: I can’t even imagine how hard it is to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but as a runner myself, I’ve heard the “horror stories”. Ms. Clor shares the path she took over her many years of working toward achieving her goal. As she shares the lessons she learned from her experience, readers can benefit in setting and reaching their own personal goal whether running related or not. She shares her story of suffering bouts with depression and anxiety and how she moved forward to overcome these obstacles. As a runner I have learned that being mentally tough is the hardest thing to achieve as an athlete. Through her story, Ms. Clor gives readers the techniques that worked for her.
Ms. Clor’s message is inspirational, not only for us runners, but for everyone. The author’s great writing style made the book a page turner and I loved the fact that she included her Boston Marathon recap at the end of the book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone hoping to qualify or who just enjoy a great book about running.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elizabeth Clor is an endurance athlete who runs competitively at all distances from the 5K to the marathon. She made the transition from treadmill/fitness runner to road racing in 2005 when she unexpectedly won first place at her college reunion 2-mile race. Since then, she has run over 100 races (including 20 marathons), and was ranked 6th in her age group for the Washington, D.C. metro area in 2015 by Washington Running Report.
She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English Language and Literature and is a full-time marketing professional. She authors the popular running blog Racing Stripes and is a regular contributor to various running and marketing publications.
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