'I wasn't good enough at that age,' she declares without an ounce of false modesty. 'I was a bit of a late developer. I was okay but I wasn't at the top of my group. When I was 14 or 15 I was winning local races and I was in the team if it was a biggish team. I was always there or thereabouts but not right up there.'
Liz, who holds two Commonwealth gold medals, an Olympic silver medal, a World Championship gold, two London marathon titles and who set the fastest debut time for a marathon in New York in 1991, is matter of fact in her belief that her achievements were not a result of raw athletic ability.
More important, in her view, was her capacity for hard work. This, combined with a passion for running, a relentless determination and meticulous preparation, ultimately proved a formidable combination.
'When someone is naturally talented it is easy to give up because they never really have to work that hard but you get to a level where talent is not going to be enough and that's when you have to start working,' she explains.
'That's when other runners around me dropped out. They weren't used to having to work for it. I was. I've always said I wasn't the most talented runner but I had to work really hard from day one.'
Just listening to her describe her former training regime is exhausting. Liz, who as a youngster even ran to and from races, trained twice and sometimes three times a day, every day. There were no days off. Even Christmas Day included two runs. Throughout the rest of the year Liz's training schedule included 10-mile runs before breakfast, punishing track sessions, circuits and more running.
'When I was running on the track I ran twice a day but when I was running marathons I ran three times,' she says. 'I got up at 5.30am to run and I was in bed by 9.30pm. My whole day was sport but I really enjoyed it and because I was so focussed I didn't miss going out or socialising.'
Liz, who now owns a successful health and fitness centre near her home in Carnoustie, began running at the age of 11 with Dundee Hawkhill Harriers and, although retired from competitive athletics, still runs every day.
Her motivation throughout her career was not, she insists, the pursuit of medals or titles but simply a burning desire to run and to run fast. 'I loved running. I still do,' she says. 'It didn't cost me money and nobody said I couldn't do it. I think I had the right personality too. You need to have a single-minded determination. I had no dreams of becoming a world champion or an Olympic medallist. I just wanted to run fast but it got me to where it did.'
By the age of 22 Liz had won her first Commonwealth Gold with success in the 10,000 metres at the Edinburgh Games in 1986. Her victory, the only track and field win for Scotland, and her celebrations afterwards draped in a Saltire flag also won the hearts of the Scottish public. It was the start of an outstanding international career.
The years that followed brought British records, world records, an Olympic 10,000m silver medal, a World Indoor 3000m silver, a World Half Marathon gold, success on the roads and another Commonwealth gold. But it was at the World Championships in Tokyo in 1991 where her drive and determination were at their most apparent and her reputation as one of athletics toughest competitors was reinforced.
In the 10,000 metres final, just ten months after the birth of her daughter Eilish, Liz put on an awesome display of front running described by former Olympic medallist-turned-TV-commentator Brendan Foster as the 'greatest ever performance by a British distance runner, man or woman.' In debilitating heat and humidity she set a remorseless pace and systematically burned off every other athlete in the field to take the gold medal.
It was a win which resulted in more honours, including an MBE for services to sport and the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
But, while Britain celebrated and the athletics world marvelled at her ability the new World Champion was already moving on to the next challenge and an opportunity to run even faster. It was a single-mindedness which must have terrified her opponents but which Liz now admits allowed her no time or space to appreciate just what she was achieving.
'Looking back it would have been a good thing to live in the moment a bit more, but at the time I was on a bit of a bandwagon,' she says. 'Runners at their peak have a very short time and I was very aware of that. I wanted to do as much as I could so as soon as a race was over I moved on. The World Championship in 1991 was like that. I never really thought about being world champion. I just focussed on my next race and running faster.'
The problem with having such a sharp focus is that anything falling short of the target of absolute success can seem like failure. The Seoul Olympics in 1988 proved just such an experience for the Dundee athlete. Still aged only 24 she finished just seconds behind Russian Olga Bondarenko to take second place and the silver medal. She was now among the elite athletes able to call themselves an Olympic medallist. But the focus had been on gold. The medal going home to Dundee was the wrong colour and therefore in the eye's of such a driven competitor not worth having.
'I was devastated to only get silver,' she admits. 'I went out there aiming for gold but I was beaten in a sprint. I was so annoyed I threw the medal in a cupboard. It wasn't until I watched Paula Radcliffe running in Athens in 1998 when she dropped out of the race, I thought she's trained all these years and she's going home with nothing. It was only then that I realised maybe silver wasn't so bad so I dug it out of the cupboard. It had lain there all that time. That was the first time Eilish had ever seen it.'
Ten years on her daughter Eilish, now nearly 18, is one of Scotland's most promising young athletes and one of the team of prot�g�es providing a new focus for Liz's energy and drive.
The former world champion is candid in admitting she found it difficult adapting to life out of the competitive arena and welcomed opportunities to stay involved in the sport which has defined her life. So she turned her attention to coaching and nurturing a new generation of talent as well as heading up Scottish Athletics as their chairperson for two years between 2003 and 2005.
'I wasn't ready to stop competing when I did,' she explains. 'I wanted to keep on running but I was diagnosed with arthritis in my foot. I thought it would take maybe six weeks to get back but it was three or four years later that I had to accept it was over. I felt that running competitively had been taken away from me and I wasn't ready to stop. But I just had to shift my focus and I did that by concentrating on my coaching, my business, my family and my work with Scottish Athletics.'
For a woman so familiar with success it is hardly surprising the athletes she now coaches are already making their mark.
Middle distance runner Graeme Oudney, a Dundee University accountancy graduate, is the current 800m Scottish champion. Lynsey Sharp, daughter of former Olympic sprinter Cameron Sharp, is one of Britain's best young 800 metre runners and Morag McLarty, another Dundee graduate, this time in medicine, is a junior Commonwealth and European gold medallist. Daughter Eilish is also forging her own path as a talented middle distance runner, having already reached the qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Each one is considered an outstanding prospect and, with the guidance of one of athletics most dedicated and experienced advocates, there could be exciting times ahead.
With London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympics and Glasgow hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games there is certainly much to strive for.
'I think it is fantastic that these events are coming to Britain,' says Liz. 'To be just starting out and having that to aim for is so motivating. Winning in front of a home crowd is amazing.
'I know what it feels like. Winning the 1986 Commonwealth Gold was the best experience of my life. The roar in the stadium was electrifying. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. It was my proudest moment and to be honest nothing really ever topped it.'
With a talent for spotting talent, however, and a team of some of the brightest stars in athletics already under her wing the potential for a few more proud moments in the not too distant future seems a distinct possibility