Witty title

First, thank you all for the birthday wishes! The big 2-5 went very well. Wifey surprised me in the morning with breakfast in bed and a book of 25 things I've never done. First thing on the list: breakfast in bed.

Then we proceeded to the Central Park Zoo, had a picnic while on a row boat in Central Park, and we had dinner at this great seafood restaurant called The Mermaid Inn. Sunday, after the hottest 10 miles ever, we went to the Madison Avenue BBQ Block Party (yum!) and then went on a boat cruise all the way around Manhattan.

I've never done anything of these things before, but if you're keeping count, that was only six, there are 19 more events planned for my birthday. Some of which I'm looking forward to (wifey signed me up for trapeze school--SWEETNESS!). Some of which I'm not looking forward to (wifey also signed me up for a pedicure because she says my abused feet will appreciate it--yeah, right).

Stay posted for the continued celebration!

Second, I was tagged by Nitmos to fill out a little running quiz/questionnaire/thingie. Here are the rules:

Each player answers the 5 questions on their own blog. At the end of your post you tag 5 other people and post their names. Go to their blogs and leave a comment on their blogs telling them they've been tagged and to look at your blog for details. When they've answered the questions on their own blog, they come back to yours to tell you.

And away we go:

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Oh, God. Running wasn't even an inkling in my head at that point. I was a freshman in high school and felt extremely uncomfortable in my body. That summer I reached my max weight of 230 pounds and I remember looking in the mirror when I got out of the shower and trying to find some sign of my body losing weight on its own. I was caught in one of those teenage cycles where you want to change yourself but you don't feel like you can.

Exercise wasn't even something I did back in '98. It was something I wanted to do, but I just felt like such a fool doing any kind of physical activity. I also had no coordination, athletic skills, or desire to participate in sports.

This is quickly turning into something I'll have to elaborate on in a different post, so let it suffice to say that running wasn't even a thing to me 10 years ago.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Best: The Long Branch Half-Marathon. I don't think I've ever run as well as I ran this race. I felt spectacular that morning and all the elements were in my favor (dense cloud coverage, no rain, perfect temps, no heavy wind, pancake-flat course). I blew away my PR expectations, which still amazes me to this day.

Worst: The Disney Half-Marathon. It's a tough enough race with the 2am wake-up call, all the waiting, the crowds, the humidity, and the hills that you don't expect. But then I was the hot shot coming off his first Half-Marathon who only trained the four-weeks prior to the race. Yeah, genius defined.

3. Why do you run?

I run (say it with me now) because it makes me feel superhuman. And that is superhuman not in the Superman sense, but more in the "only .0000000001% of people have run long-distance" sense.

Although I've discovered that in talking with other people that running has become my hobby. It's what I do on the weekend instead of tinkering with a car or building bird houses. It's what I do for fun.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running? (I'm reinterpreting this as the best and worst ideas I've had on running.)

Best: focus on breathing, everything else will follow.

Worst: just run through the pain.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

The acronym for my blog (SSR) is the same three-letter combination as my monogram (SSR). And that was not intentional.

For my tags, I'm going to follow Nitmos's lead and mercifully tag only one person. The Laminator: you're next.