About the Author
Recent articles
My Trip to Philly
by Clara Grandt on May 17, 2013
Just a few weeks after the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, I traveled to Philadelphia to run the Blue Cross Broad Street 10 Mile Run. This was my final tune up race before I run the Ottawa Marathon. I drove up a couple days before and I was pleasantly surprised to find Valley Forge National Historic Park along the way since I had a second run to do that day. I ran over the rolling hills, past the historic memorial markers and cabins, even stopping a couple times to read the inscriptions and take in some Revolutionary War history. I could imagine the soldiers ...
Making Strides
by Clara Grandt on April 18, 2013
One week after racing the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, where I finished 10th place among the Americans, I am bent over on the side of the river rail trail coughing up a large bug that flew into my mouth with 4.5 miles to go of a hard 23 mile long run... the farthest I've run in... over a year? Pleased with the outcome of the run and tempo pickup on the end, I expel the bug and regain my composure enough to stagger toward the car and head to the nearby Sheetz to grab some chocolate milk and ice for an ice bath. My younger self may have waited until I got home to have a recovery drink, ...
The Starting Line
by Clara Grandt on March 19, 2013
My racing season is opening this weekend in Virginia Beach at the Towne Bank 8k. I'm looking forward to getting on the starting line in a competitive setting again and seeing the masses of runners who will be there for the marathon that it is associated with it the next day. Something about seeing all the enthusiastic race goers preparing to conquer a goal they've set probably months ago motivates me to be an example as one of the leaders in the race of putting everything you've got into a race.The setting of a road race, and especially one centered around a m...
Fueling a Runner
by Clara Grandt on February 28, 2013
Coming home from my morning runs, I usually look forward to breakfast, something like a bowl of hot cereal with things like cinnamon, flax seed, and some sort of berries added to it. Then at some point throughout the day I have lunch and start some dinner preparations so that most of dinner is ready when Jason and I get home from our evening run. Apart from time running and working out, I realize that I spend a lot of time planning, preparing, and eating. In training, I think the second most important thing next to actual running and working out is eating, followed closely...
Perspective in a Gym
by Clara Grandt on January 23, 2013
Sometimes I think I know one of the biggest, but most obvious secrets to success- a will to work hard. Since my injury this past fall, I started doing a lot of cross training in the gym and have continued to supplement my running with some cross training since then. Runners are used to their gym being the great outdoors where hill climbing mode is built in with actual hills and accelerations occur naturally when crossing a major roadway, but I've found gyms with four walls have many things to offer as well. One of my favorite things that the gym has to offer is&nb...

