A: Buffalo Bayou in Houston. Sentimental favorite--Houston is not known for its scenic running, so pretty much all long runs go by the bayou. This is where I trained for my first marathon and many memorable long runs happened right there with the mosquitoes and the fire ants.
Q: What is your favorite SLR trail (if different from favorite running trail)?
A: I like the Cathedral/Clintons route, but I also agree with others about Ross Drive.
Q: What SLR trail should Max and other course planners never have charted and exposed unsuspecting runners to?
A: Well, the very first time I ran with SLR, I hadn't been running all winter and was coming from very flat Houston, so I was not ready for the Potomac Overlook/Marymount trail run. Yikes! That was not fun, and I'm still amazed that I returned to SLR the following week. Now, though I have learned to love the hills, I still don't like that course....
Q: What's on your race schedule this year?
A: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, New Haven Road Race 20K (another sentimental favorite), and a fall marathon, probably Chicago.
Q: What's your favorite marathon?
A: Chicago.
Q: What would you say was your most memorable race?
A: Honolulu Marathon--my first. Recovery involved swimming in the cold Pacific right off Waikiki Beach.......I'm not sure I would have been hooked if I had run a different first marathon (see Run from Hell below).
Q: My Run from Hell, or the Run I Should Never Have Embarked Upon, is....?
A: New York City Marathon--it was so bad I was hoping my knee would blow out so that I wouldn't have to finish. To add insult to injury (or lack thereof), P. Diddy ran the City 45 seconds faster than I did.
Q: What's your best marathon time?
A: 4:05 in Chicago.
Q: What is your average mile pace during SLR runs?
A: 9:00 to 9:30.
Q: What's the best running shoe you've ever worn?
A: Mizuno Wave Alchemy.
Q: What do you currently run in?
A: Same.
Q: How many pairs of running shoes do you use per year?
A: 3 or 4.
Q: What is the funniest thing about your current job? (No need to divulge any classified information :))
A: The new "Customer Intimacy" initiative. Very Dilbert.
Q: What's the worst job you have ever had?
A: After Enron collapsed (no, not my worst job), I went to another energy company in Houston, where I worked with a guy who chewed tobacco all day long. One day his spitoon tipped over and spilled out.......I lasted only 6 months.....
Q: Name your favorite pizza.
A: Anything from Modern Apizza in New Haven, CT (my home town!)
Q: What is the most recent book you've read?
A: "Justice" by Georges Simenon.
Q: Who is/are your favorite Nobel prize winner(s)?
A: Jimmy Carter.
Q: If you were a car, which car would you be?
A: What was that BMW in the James Bond movie? Z3?
Q:Caribbean Cruise or Appalachian Trail Hiking? Why?
A: Appalachian Trail. I have nothing against the Caribbean, but cruise ships tend to be terrible polluters....
Q: Preferred Starbucks espresso drink?
A: Gingerbread Latte, available only around the holidays. I really overdosed this past season, though, so the fixation may be over.
Q:Top three movies ever seen?
A: Favorites vary, but lately:
1. "North by Northwest" with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.
2. "The Fog of War" about Robert MacNamara. Everyone I run with has heard me babble about it ad nauseum.
3. "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with my all-time favorite cowboy, Clint Eastwood.
I'm also obsessed with James Bond movies.
Q: What's your preferred (or least repulsive) Gatorade flavor?
A: Anything tastes good after SLR!!
