A Mini Survey of Utmost Importance

I've been tagged (for the first time ever!) by IronSnoopy, from whom I borrowed my post-title too. So, here goes.

The Rules:

Tagging is easy. Just copy the following onto your post. The rules of the game are posted at the start of your blog post. In this case, I'm asking you 5 questions about running. 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. Got that? (Stolen in it's entirety from Flo by way of Irene ;)

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Non-existent. Running and I very new friends really and I haven't yet decided how fond I am of this new friend. We're taking things slow.

2. What is your best/worst running experience?
My best running experience was the very first time the "run" portion of my c25k was "easy". Something just clicked and I felt like I could run for miles. I couldn't, actually, but the feeling was incredible. I believe that was around Week 6. My worst running experience was when I first started and would get shin-splints all the time. I hope if this tag goes around next year I will have a race event to talk about like all the other cool answers I've seen.

3. Why do you run?
To see if I can, to challenge myself, to get in better shape, to burn calories. Maybe not in that order, but close. I started out wanting to do a 5k because that just seemed so impossibly challenging, and now I'm signed up for a Sprint Triathlon! So I guess I also now run so I don't embarrass myself too badly, so I can actually finish the Sprint and so I'm not the last person to cross the finish line.

4. What is the best or worst piece of running advice that you've been given about running?
I think the advice from coolrunning.com's Couch to 5k Running Plan, to take it slow, to build up gradually, to rest in between running days, to focus on endurance (not speed). Oh! And to invest in decent running shoes. I think those shoes went a long way to solving my shin splints problem. I just realized I have never posted a picture of my beloved Adidas Running Shoes...until now :) They look so new and pretty because they've hardly been out in the real world. They are spoiled gym-rat running jogging shoes.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
Well, it's not necessarily surprising but at least I know no one knows because it was only in my head. Today at the gym while trying to get through Mile 2 of my tougher-than-usual run I started chanting in my head, "You can do this, run, run, run" and then went to "You will do this, run, run, run" and I finally settled on "I will do this, run, run, run" over and over. Today my run was suddenly hard again and I had to break it up with three walk breaks. I really like what Flo said about Just Keep Moving in her answer to these questions. That's what I did and I totaled up 3 miles of jogging by the end.

That's it! Thanks for tagging me IronSnoopy, that was fun. Now I'm going to tag The Forty Project, BikiniBound and Jessica Slow & Steady.