Interview questions

I came across a fellow Welsh person in blogland called Mark who lives in the States and who's a big runner. I'm taking part in an interview with him, answers below. This is a fun activity - have people contact you to say that they'll participate and you can respond to them with 5 questions. Let me know if you want to play:)

1. What is it about trail running and the mountains that you love?
It gives me a sense of freedom and wonder. When I'm on technical trails, I feel like I'm a kid again and when I'm out in the mountains, I'm constantly in awe of the raw beauty.

2. With your New Zealand connection, are you a rugby fan?
Yes, but I don't have TV so don't follow it any more. When I was growing up in Wales, it was crazy during rugby season as my Mum is a kiwi and Dad is Welsh. You can imagine the fun we'd have when both teams were competing against each other!! Dad lives in NZ (Mum passed away) but he still flies the Welsh flag every time it's rugby season. Yep, and when he's had a few, he starts singing all his favourite Welsh songs! What's the saying: "you can take the man out of Wales but not Wales out of the man"!!

3. What was your most memorable race/run and why?
My first memorable race was a 5 km in my first year of running. I'd had a bad race the month before so did a lot of work on preparing myself mentally for this one and it really paid off. I've always been quite surprised at the power of the mind, particularly when racing. And my other most memorable race was last August when I completed the Canadian Death Race (125 km). I was very focused during the whole race and broke everything down into sections so it wasn't so daunting; it felt so good coming over the finishing line as I had no clue if I could go that distance.

4. Lots of trail runners dislike road marathons (I've even heard the phrase "friends don't let friends run marathons"). What was it about the Las Vegas marathon that convinced you one was enough?
I quite enjoyed the first half as I'd never seen that many people at a race before and the scenery was quite interesting to start with. But then it just got really boring and monotonous. I found that my legs/feet were getting hammered from that same, constant motion and it was hard to stay motivated. The other thing I disliked was seeing all the garbage; it was amazing (thousands of paper cups and outer clothes that people discarded when they warmed up). I was shocked; it's so very different from trail races.

5. Any goals for 2009?
Race wise, I'm going to try a 100 miler in early August. I don't have that much time to train for it but I'll give it a go.
Fun wise, I have a HUGE solo trip planned running through some local mountains in early July which I thought would also help my training (211 km over 4 or 5 days).
And lastly, my goal is to make the most of every weekend in the summer as it is such a short season here (July-Sept).