Maniac questionnaire
May 30, 2006
Name David England
Maniac #281
State you live in – British Columbia, Canada
How many marathons / ultra marathons have you run? 9/0
What was the first race you ever ran? (Any distance) Way
back in High School, I remember participating in 800 Metre and Relay
events. But that was so long ago that
I may be just hallucinating now…
What was the first marathon you ever ran? What year did you
run it? Did you have fun that day? Honolulu
Marathon, Dec 8, 2002 was the first.
One of my most memorable days ever!
(I was definably not hallucinating.)
How long have you been a runner and why did you start
running? In 2000 my employer downsized across North America, throughout
Canada and the US. I was made redundant
and suddenly had an enormous amount of free time on my hands. After I finished
painting every wall in every room (and ceiling) in our house I realized that I
had to find something else to do to retain my sanity…so I started running at
the gym on a treadmill. I did this in
ugly beat up and paint spattered old running shoes… until I could comfortably
run for half an hour. Once I reached
that point, in February 2001 I signed up to run in the “2001 Kajaks Ice Breaker
8 K” in Steveston, BC. I finished… feet
hurting due to the shoes, but I was hooked!
Why did you decide to become a Maniac? Or what inspired
you? I was looking at
www.marathonguide.com one day trying to decide what marathon to run next. I was surfing around, following various
links when I think I ran across a link to Marathon Maniacs. (Again, I may have been hallucinating…there
may not have been a link…although I’m relatively sure there was.) After viewing the Maniacs website I
understood that I had some sort of problem with “needing” to run more marathons. I also recognized that there truly was a
group that supported this type of “need”!
After reading about some of the members I become conscious that I was
inspired by these
”Maniacs” and also “needed” to become a Manic…
Of all the races out there in this world, which one would
you most like to run? I have no
favorite really…there is so many and so little time…
If you could run a marathon / ultra accompanied by anyone
either living or deceased, who would you choose and why? I think that it would have to be my
father…because you don’t know how much you miss someone until they’re gone.
What was you most memorable marathon and why? Every Honolulu Marathon so far has
been the most memorable to me. It’s not
the place to make a PR as there are so many participants, but the starting
time, people, location, weather, all combine to make it a run that’s hard to
beat….
If someone asked you to pick a race for him or her that they
could run a PR at, which race would you suggest? Newport, Oregon.
Flat, fast, friendly, fantastic food and fabulous beer at the end.
What was the furthest you’ve ever traveled for a race? So far it has been Honolulu, Hawaii
from Vancouver, BC.
Do any of your non-running friends or family members thing
that you’re crazy for running as much as you do? What are some of their
comments to you? Yep, most people
that don’t run don’t understand “distance” running at all…the biggest comment
seems to be “why”? Come to think of it,
even those people I know that run shorter distances don’t understand it either…
If personal obligations or finances were not an issue, how
many marathons would you run in one year? 52! But I don’t have the finances, time or genetics to do this!
From what race did you receive your favorite finishers
medal? Victoria, BC, October
2003. Medals almost as big as a saucer,
and with the terrible weather during that race it made the medal all the more
worthwhile!
Where do you keep your finisher medals? They live in a scrapbook, in
chronological order with the race results, hotel info and other memorabilia
from the race. (Yes I know, very anal
but someday, when it’s raining, it will be fun to sit in front of a fire, with
some wine and muse over this stuff…in order, you know, about the good old
days…you get my drift right…)
Do you wear your
race t-shirts? What do you do with the ones you don’t wear? I wear all my race shirts, but usually only
around the house or when I’m with other runners… A quilt is the long-term plan…once I find the time to learn how
to do that…
If you could put on a marathon anywhere in the world, where
would you have it? I think that
it would be somewhere tropical…not exactly sure where just as long as there are
palm trees nearby…
Maniac Yellow, or Maniac Black? Yellow. (But I
think I’ll get a black one too…because variety is important!)
What is your favorite pre race meal? Post race meal? Pre: Costco Multi Grain Bread,
(toasted) with Starbucks French Roast.
Post: peel and eat shrimp, edemame by the bucket, Calamari, Dry Ribs,
and beer, lots of beer…
What is your energy gel of choice? Sport drink of
choice? Gu…any and all
flavours…water, no sports drink!
Which race would you never run again and why? I’ve not had a bad experience yet…I
could do them all again.
What was the most challenging race or combination of races you’ve ever done and why? So far the most challenging race has got to be Victoria, BC in October of 2003. Terrible windy rainy weather…I asked myself many times why I was really doing this run…
What is a typical training week like for you? How many miles
do you run? Any cross training? Average
distance seems to be from 20 to 40 miles per week. I don’t seem to find time to cross train.
Do you have a training partner? If so, who is it? I tend to run alone…
What kind of shoes do you train in? Do you race in a
different shoe? I train and run
in Asics Gel Kayanos.
What are your short-term running goals? To stay uninjured as much as possible.
What are your long-term running goals? To do as many marathons and ultras as
time, money and life will allow!
Assuming you have time, what do you do for fun other than
run marathons? Again, so much to
do and so little time…UVic, Home Improvements (never ending it seems), travel,
reading, eating…oh yes, and I do work as well…
Who is your favorite "James Bond?" Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan. Sean…these others are hallucinations.