Interviewed by Maritza & Single digit miles!

Have you been following the Interview game? I think it's so fun to learn more about each other. I wanted to play along so I asked Maritza to interview me....

5 Interview Questions from Maritza

1. If you had to get rid of all your make-up/beauty products except for one item, what would that item be and why?

Yikes! I think I would have to say eyeliner. A year ago I would have said foundation. But in the past year, I started wearing eyeliner everyday and now I feel I look really tired and dull if I don't have any on my eyes. Also, normally, I wear a creme or gel-based eyeliner with a brush but I'm assuming that counts as two items so if I had to pick one only, I would pick the MAC penultimate eye liner in rapidblack. Even a clutz like me can manage that one.

(On a side note, I'm still comfortable to be bare-faced for morning runs and what not. I'm always surprised by the number of women with full make-up on during the 8AM Nike training runs.)

2. Has running changed how you see yourself and why?

Absolutely! To borrow from Obama, running definitely reinforces the "Yes, I can!" attitude in me. I was one of those late bloomers when it came to running. I never really exercised until I was about 27 (isn't that sad?) which is when I first discovered I could run a mile straight. Sure it took me about 12 minutes or so (maybe longer) but I did it!

And with some hard work and careful planning, I ran that one mile and added 25.2 more! TWICE! I never thought I could be a marathoner but now I know anything is possible if you really believe in yourself.

3. Name the one website you couldn't live without.

Well, my Google reader of course! How else would I keep track of all my wonderful bloggers?

4. Tell me about your most perfect race experience and why it was everything you hoped for.

From a performance perspective, I think that would have to be the US Half Marathon in 2006. My very first half marathon was Nike in 2006 - it was hard but I loved it and I found myself crying at the end when I finished from both sheer exhaustion and happiness. I could not wait to do it again. So I decided to run the US Half two weeks later.

It was a similar course in terms of difficulty - started by Aquatic Park then went all the way across the Golden Gate bridge and back. The hills getting on and off the bridge were brutal. But I really wanted to push myself. Nike was like a test run and at the US Half, I wanted to really push my limits to see what I was capable of. I remember being just really pumped and on fire throughout the entire race and pushing myself the entire time - energy that I typically only have in the final stretch of races these days.

Sometimes I wish I could bottle up that "passion" and have it with me for all my race days. I ended up improving my Nike time by five whole minutes (just two weeks later!) for a finish time of 2:08:34. My PR is technically 2:08:13 from the SFM Half in 2007 but I always consider the US Half my real PR since it's only ~20 seconds different on a much harder course.



5. If you could meet one celebrity, who would it be and what question would you HAVE to ask him/her?

Ooh... that's a hard one! OK, I could spend days thinking about this but since I don't have days, I will throw out a stupid answer which I think at least Maritza would appreciate. And that answer would be... Robert Pattinson. And it's not like I have the hots for him as a person (although I thoroughly enjoyed his performance as Edward Cullen *wink, wink*), I just honestly think he seems like a very funny and goofy (and sometimes slightly awkward!) kid. My question for him: "Would you dazzle me?"

Thanks for the fun questions, Maritza! It was a fun way to procrastinate from work :)

If you'd like to play along, here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

*****

By the way, I never got a chance to update my runs from last week. I had some good ones!

Wednesday, I did a quick treadmill run again before doing some weights. This time I remembered to add an incline.

ORN:
1.5mi
0:14:54
Avg pace: 9:56 min/mi
Incline: 1.0

And then I had a freaky fast Friday, well fast for me anyway. I managed to consistently log three sub-10:00 miles!

ORN:
3.0mi
0:29:09
Avg pace: 9:44 min/mi
Avg hr: 178bpm

1: 9:52
2: 9:36
3: 9:43

Then on Saturday, I decided to go for a more leisurely 4 mile run.

ORN:
4.0mi
0:41:38
Avg pace: 10:24 min/mi
Avg hr: 165bpm

1: 10:50
2: 10:44
3: 10:14
4: 9:50

But this week, not so much running... yet. Definitely want to participate in the Freakishly Flexible 5K this weekend!