The Liebster Award

Reading through my RSS feed, as I am want to do, I discovered that the lovely Shruti over at Missy In The Mirror (whom I guest posted for not so long ago) has nominated me for the Liebster Award! I was very touched and a little bit excited.

In essence the Liebster Award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers in order to get them more noticed and give them recognition. There's no prizes or anything like that, no voting or bigging up required, but it's lovely nonetheless. In return for the nomination you write a blog post (much like this one) telling the world 11 things about yourself, then answer the 11 questions the person who nominated you gave, then nominate 11 more people and give them 11 more questions to pass along! Tagging back is sort of frowned upon.

  

Sounds like fun to be, and a little bit different so here goes... my 11 things:

1. I'm 32 years old.
2. My favourite colour is purple and I actively avoid pink, especially if it's featured on sports gear.
3. I've been vegetarian since I was 10 years old.
4. I have three degrees and use none of them in my work. I also have a diploma and am studying to become a Personal Trainer. I think I'm addicted to learning.
5. When I was about 16 I had my jaws broken and reset to rectify an overbite. I had my jaws wired, went down to 9 stone (which is majorly thin on someone who's 5'10") and have had metal plates in my jaws ever since.
6. I catalogue my CDs alphabetically (by surname or band name, ignoring "The") and compilations by genre. I refuse to go digital.
7. When I was little, being forbidden to read at bed time was the worst punishment.
8. I have a half plot allotment.
9. My favourite dessert is sticky toffee pudding, but have been disappointed by many.
10. I have a habit of trying out new recipes/dishes on people I invite to dinner.
11. My favourite film of all time is The Blues Brothers

The 11 questions I was set by Shruti are:

1. Why did you start your blog? What motivates you to continue writing regularly?
• I started it when I signed up to climb Kilimanjaro for charity, as a way of telling people what I was up to and keep track of my training. I stopped writing so much afterwards but then revived it for this year's charity challenge and have no intention so stopping again. It gives me an outlet for all my health and fitness enthusiasm so I don't bore all my friends and family to tears with it!
2. What is your holy grail skincare product?
• Probably Orange Flower Water from Neal's Yard which I use as a toner/cleanser. I love the smell and the freshness of it.
3. What is your favourite holiday destination (so far)?
• Chicago. Definitely. I am just in love with the city, the vibe and the sheer variety of things you can do there. Plus it's the setting for my fave film and my bestie lives there so, you know... Otherwise Cornwall, my heart belongs in Cornwall (sigh).
4. Cream blush or powder blush?
• Powder, preferably mineral, although I'm very fond of Benefit's Benetint.
5. If you could only take 3 beauty products with you on a deserted island which ones would you take?
• Sunscreen, Molton Brown Lip Saver and a bar of Lush's solid shampoo.
6. What's the one beauty product that you covet most dearly?
• I don't really... I'm not much into "products" but I think some more Touche Eclat would be amazing. It's a pig to track down and I can't quite seem to part with the money.
7. What is your favourite mode of transport?
• Driving. I adore my car, it's like a sanctuary and gave me some of the Independence that I constantly sought. I also had one of the best holidays ever driving my mum around Cornwall in a VW campervan called Wilf. Happy days.
8. What is the most insane adventure you have been on?
• Climbing Kilimanjaro. I went out there with a group of people I had never met, to do something I wasn't sure I could do and experienced so much. It was wonderful and difficult and something that feels like a lifetime ago now.
9. What is the hardest thing you have done?
• Hmmm, not sure. Kili ranks pretty highly as I never made the top, as does the PhD I never finished, but the London Marathon probably wins by a hair. The training was HARD and there was real emotion and pain on the day. Best day ever though.
10. What is the most you have spent on a beauty product?
• I'm not sure I've ever spent more than £20 on a single product. I can't justify it.
11. If you could change one thing about your blog, what would it be?
• I'd love to have more interaction from my readers.

My 11 nominees are:

1. Amy at Murdoch She Wrote
2. Morning of Magicians
3. Louise at Abradypus
4. Rachel at FairWeatherRunner
5. Iona at Iona Running Blog
6. Jemma at The Pig and the Pen
7. Cassie at Travelling Hopefully
8. Lucy at Lucy Lemon
9. Stuart at The Adventures of the Ninjabread Man
10. Sarah at So Am I Really Running?
11. Vicky at Just Plod It

My 11 questions are:

1. How do you display your race bling (if at all)?
2. What event would you most like to take part in?
3. How do you recover/relax after a race?
4. Hot or cold?
5. What scares you most?
6. Can you play a musical instrument?
7. Where would you like to go next on holiday?
8. Do you have any habits you wish you could break?
9. What do you daydream about?
10. If money was no object, what would you do as a job (assuming you had to do something)?
11. What's your favourite dessert?

Even if I haven't tagged you, feel free to post your answers to some or all of these questions in the comments box below. It'd be really good to hear from you :)