Unbelievable, incredible, inspiring, amazing! We couldn’t choose the adjective; they all apply to Robin St. Clare!
On March 5, at age 73, Robin completed the Tokyo Marathon in 4:40 minutes! That achievement alone is enough to celebrate, but, as we’ve realized, Robin doesn’t go for the ordinary. She goes for the extraordinary! By finishing the Tokyo Marathon, Robin completed her goal of achieving the coveted Sixth Star in the prestigious Abbott World Majors (Chicago, New York, Berlin, London, Boston and Tokyo) and qualified, once again, for the Boston Marathon. Robin gets all of the credit but we’re so happy that she used Fluid Running throughout her training to help her obtain this special goal.
Like most runners, Robin’s journey involves determination, grit, disappointment, and joy. A veteran of marathon racing, St. Clare has run on every continent other than Antarctica and South America and has qualified for the Boston Marathon eleven times. Although she admits to losing track of how many, St. Clare estimates she’s run over 44 marathons from Boston to Barcelona, racking up impressive results.
At age 66, she broke her personal record at the California International Marathon with a 3:34:43 finish. And in 2015 and 2016, she placed second in her age group at the Boston Marathon. But, in 2018, what had always seemed easy to her began to feel hard. She continued to run but with less ease and joy. In 2021 she was forced to stop altogether because of a stress fracture and feared she might never achieve her goal of completing the World Majors.
However, in retrospect, she might admit that the injury was a blessing because it was during recovery that she found Fluid Running. Without hesitation, St. Clare will tell you that Fluid Running saved her. She began incorporating the deep water running workouts provided by Fluid Running into her marathon training.
St. Clare credits Fluid Running with getting her to the Tokyo Marathon. Plagued by a foot injury at the end of last year that continued into 2023, St. Clare ran solely in the water for five weeks. She sometimes ran for as much as 3 hours at a time to get her long run in. Led by her Fluid Running Coach Jen Govostis, she incorporated Fluid Running into all aspects of her training. Robin immediately followed her long runs with a Fluid Run to flush out inflammation and lactic acid build-up to help her body recover more quickly. She performed her “speed work” in the pool because it reduced the risk of injury and danger of falling. During inclement weather, she would Fluid Run to keep safe and at the same time eliminate the impact of high land mileage training on her joints. After getting her foot assessed by her doctor, she added land runs back into her training but continued to do about 40% of her runs in the water.
“Fluid Running saved me! I am excited to think that by doing Fluid Running and land running combos, I may be healthy enough to run a couple more marathons!” said St. Clare. “I will only need South America and Antarctica to finish marathons on all seven continents. Then I will retire!”
Robin St. Clare, we can’t wait to watch you continue to reach for the stars and reach your goals! Congratulations on your fantastic finish and on fulfilling your dream of completing the Majors!
