A running poll

Here is a secret about me: While I complain loudly about those surveys that get e-mailed back and forth between forward-happy friends, I actually relish those surveys — both filling them out and reading others’ responses. I’m not sure why I feel like I know my friends better after reading about their preferred ice cream flavor (mine’s Ben and Jerry’s brownie batter frozen yogurt—obviously), or learning the make and model of their first car (1992 Chrysler LeBaron convertible).

So when Lara at Saturday Morning Zen tagged me with the Beautiful Blogger award, which requires me to tell you seven things about myself …

… you better believe I jumped at the chance. I’m not going to tag anyone in particular (you never know who actually means it when they say they don’t like these surveys); consider yourself tagged if you want to play. Let me know if you do — I’d love to read your responses!

I’m actually combining this with a running-themed survey from Lindsay at Chasing the Kenyans to make my seven items running-specific.

1. I’ve been told by physical therapists I’m miserably malaligned, a hilariously dire-sounding term that refers to the angles in the bones in my legs. If I could, I would run 70 miles per week. But my aparently-weird body likes it better when I’m closer to 15 or 20, and reminds me of that with flareups of my hip and ankle injuries. I compromise by using the FIRST training plan, which calls for three quality days a week of running per week. I’m also religious about my core- and hip-strengthening routine.

2. My first race was a high-school cross country 5K in 1994. I ran cross-country for two years before I gave it up to devote more time to swimming. Racing never really clicked in high school — I always clocked better times in cross-country practice and choked during actual meets, so I didn’t really miss running as a competitive sport. I didn’t get serious about training for running races again until 2007, when I ran the Five Points of Life Half-Marathon and the Nashville Country Music Marathon to cope with Steve’s deployment.

3. My last race was the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Turkey Chase 10K in November. Writing that makes me realize I need to sign myself up for another race!

4. My favorite distance is the half-marathon. It requires some serious training and commitment to even finish — you can’t just call it in the way you can with a 5K or 10K. But it doesn’t mess with my body in the same way the marathon does. Training for a half makes me feel like I can challenge myself without totally screwing with my metabolism, sleep patterns and social life.

5. I struggle to find shoes that fit my narrow feet and my orthotics. I’ve been in Brooks Adrenaline 9.0′s for my past few pairs.

6. Unless I’m running in a group, I run to music. Partially because I think it boosts my performance, partially because I love music, and think most activities are improved by a good playlist.

7. My mantra for any race is the Eleanor Roosevelt quote: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” It applies whether you’re chasing a PR or just trying to stay in the race. In either case, it challenges you to do the thing that scares you, which seems like a very healthy state of being.