Liebster Award

Good morning! I hope your weekend was good. I didn’t have an opportunity to check in yesterday – work was pretty crazy and after work we went to pick up our new furniture! As soon as we got home we got to work on assembling and setting it all up but we are hardly finished. To say our house is a disaster area of boxes right now is pretty accurate!!

I’ve also been working to get some posts ready for you for next week. I’m going to be out of town with the hubby for the week (relaxation and sunshine, heck yes!) but didn’t want the blog to be too stagnant so I have a post scheduled from myself and am also getting together a few guest posts!

In other news, I have some exciting news this morning! I was recently nominated for a Liebster Award by Piloting Paper Airplanes! The Liebster Award is one that is passed on from blogger to blogger and is meant for smaller blogs. There are no judges, no scoring, you just answer the questions and nominate some of you favorite small bloggers to participate! The Liebster Award is also a method to also discover new smaller blogs to follow.

Here are the questions from Piloting Paper Airplanes that she wants me to answer:

1. If you could be best friends with anyone, current or historical, who would it be? Bart Yasso.  I have met him a few times and here’s what I find so interesting. He is very famous in the running world, and yet he is the nicest most down to earth person. He knows he has the best job in the world (traveling all around to speak or participate in races) and doesn’t let it go to his head. He even followed me on twitter after I tagged him in a tweet. He just seems so down to earth and like a really nice person to grab a beer with. I’m sure he has a ton of stories to share.
2. Coffee snob or tea–litist? I’m not really either. More of a water drinker to be honest. Occasionally I’ll grab an iced coffee if I need some caffeine  and in the winter I drink tea when it’s chilly. But my go-to drink is water. 🙂
3. Favorite workout? Running. duh. 
4. Favorite recipe? My husband and I decided to re-make the famous Primanti Brothers sandwiches from Pittsburgh, PA. It was pretty easy and we make them every now and then for a special treat. They are so so good!
5. Coolest place you’ve every been. (Can be as extravagant as a tour of Europe or simple as the best hole–in–the–wall café ever). Magens Bay in St. Thomas. hands down.
6. Why did you start blogging? I felt that as a back-of-the-pack runner there may be other runners out there who felt like they couldn’t relate to some of the more mainstream, faster, running bloggers. “Diary of a Slow Runner” always stuck in my head, and I ignored it for a while and then eventually gave in an decided to share my perspective on running and racing.
7. One thing that automatically makes you smile. Thinking about funny times that I’ve had with my husband.
8. Tell us one of your dreams or goals, why, and what you’re doing to pursue it. I am a very goal-oriented person so I always have a few goals I am working towards. Right now I am working towards a PR in the 10k distance though.
9. Which do you  dislike most: emailing, texting or talking on the phone. Talking on the phone. 🙂 Email and text is way easier and less immediate. I like to think about my responses before I respond.
10. Would you describe yourself as a thinker, communicator or doer and why? Doer. I like to take actions and move things towards their finished state.
11. Finish the sentence: If I could do anything with my life from this point forward, I would… live happy and healthy and show those I care about how much I care about them.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. When I was younger I used to be able to do the human pretzel, with my feet behind my head. 
2. I took dance classes for 11 years from 1st grade through High School. I loved it. I dropped it in college because the college dance team thing just wasn’t for me.
3. I rarely eat pears, but when I do I LOVE them. I just never think to buy them.
4. I’m not a huge magazine reader (except for maybe Runner’s World) but when I go on vacation I feel the need to buy a big stack from a convenience store to read on the planes.
5. The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. It signifies summer to me and I really love summer.
6. When I have plans that require booking a hotel, I like to book the hotel as soon as possible to avoid rate hikes and selling out. It’s one of my OCD-like qualities.
7. You know all those non-pershible food goodies you get post-race? trail mix, protein bars, etc. I rarely eat them after the race (I tend to stick to bagels, bananas and gatorade) and always take them to work to add to my snack drawer. I have basically created my snack drawer without really buying any food for it. It’s all race freebies or leftovers from home.
8. I love wearing running skirts. I find them a lot more comfortable than shorts, capris or tights.
9. I am trying to get in the habit of brushing my teeth after lunch every day. It’s been really tough though. My success has been spotty at best.
10. My alcoholic drink of choice is wine. I don’t know how I did the hard liquor in college… does this mean I’m getting older?? ha.
11. I know there are differing opinions about themed races (color runs, foam runs, zombie runs, warrior dash, etc) but I sort of love them.

11 questions for my nominees:

1. Are you a morning person or a night person?
2. If you could make any type of  burrito, what would you put on it?
3. If you could have any job what would it be?
4. What is your dream vacation?
5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
6. Dog person or cat person?
7. What is the one dessert that you will always indulge in if you have the opportunity to eat it?
8. What is the best book that you have read recently?
9. What was your favorite childhood toy?
10. Desktop computer or laptop?
11. What is your favorite color?

And here are my 11 nominees in no particular order.

Side note: I have no idea if these folks have <200 followers (per the Liebster requirements), but I enjoy their blogs so I wanted to nominate them. 🙂

1. Megan at Elbowglitter
2. Danielle at It’s A Harleyyy Life
3. Jen at Marathon Mom
4. Lindsey at Run. Stretch. Repeat.
5. Tanya at Run Turtle run
6. Suzi at Confessions of a Fitness Instructor
7. Mizunogirl at Mizunogirl’s Blog
8. Holly at Running & Baking, oh my!
9. Mindy at Road Runner Girl
10. Jamie at From Couch to Ironwoman
11. Melissa at Eat on the Run