Running Towards Fitness

Personal Awareness
The ancient Greeks used to believe that a healthy mind and a healthy body not only went together, but were both critical for happiness and a successful life. They were also intertwined, meaning that a weakness in either area would affect the other. When I started this transformation I was overweight and full of excuses. And by overweight I don't mean just a few pounds - I weighed over 70 pounds more than I do now. I finally took my life into my own hands and started exercising. At the time, I had no idea where it would lead - to a stronger body, a happier, more nimble mind, and a chest full of race medals. Healthy mind, healthy body, indeed! It hasn't been easy, or without issues, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

7 mile “optional” run

Officially, we had 7 miles to run today. Also officially, the program wasn't meeting. About half the remaining participants met anyway at 7:15 for a nice, short run. This lets us drop down to about half the distance of the previous weekend's 20K, and gives those of ...

Turkey Trot 2003

My first race! Well, my first since I started training, that is. Considering that the best I had done previously was a 33 minute 5K, I'd really prefer to think of this as my first, serious event. As I pulled into the parking garage, I was trying to decide ...

Hitting the Gym

Well, I guess there's time to hit the gym one last time before Thanksgiving... So I met up with Jason and we were off to the Gold's downtown. This was a pretty solid workout - they always are with him. Elliptical: 30 minutes Bench: 3 x 10 x 30lbs Fly: 3 ...

Halfway There

Today was the end of Week 13/26 of the AustinFit training. That means its Benchmark time! By now, we should all be able to do a 20K run - about 12.5 miles - at our target pace. So we all turned up to see if we could. Well, ...

3.6 mile easy run

So I got up this morning, feeling good, and decided to take da pup out for an early morning run. Well, what with one thing and another, we don't leave until after 7am. Then when we get to the park, he's more interested in sniffing the night smells ...

Riding Walnut Creek with Marcus

Well, its Sunday - time for a little cross-training. Actually, more than a little. Met up with Marcus, and hit the trails out at Walnut Creek. This was one of the first time that I'd really been riding this season - had done Rocky Hill back in ...

9.2 Miles

Ah... I'm back, and my feet have that nice warm "I've been running" feeling. We did 9.2 miles today in 1:38 or so including breaks - which was pretty fast for me, at least historically. Felt really nice, though. We headed West down the trail, got ...

Time for new shoes

I'd been getting this little blister on my right pinky-toe the last couple of long runs. Upon investigation, it seems as if I've worn through the lining of both of my shoes in that spot - not good. So its off to RunTex for a new pair. ...

Friday Workout

So today I met up with Marcus and Jason, we hit the 183 gym for a while at lunch. I got there a bit early, grabbed a powerbar (300 calories and didn't taste too bad for a change), then did about 10 minutes of treadmill work (7.5 pitch at ...

Welcome

Well, its been an interesting week. I've always been a little skeptical of blogs, seeing them as nothing more than the expected evolution of the "My Favorite Links" type of homepage. Then I spent last weekend reading Hollie's Marathon Training Log. And you know something? It ...


About

I'm Richard Stanford, a fit, happy runner. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Dip into the archives to follow my progress from couch potato to sub-four hour marathoner.

I also like to cook, write, code, and play with power tools...

Personal Records

DistanceRaceTimePace
Marathon2006 Freescale3:54:078:56
20 Miles2006 RunTex3:00:089:00
30K2005 RunTex2:42:448:45
Half M2006 3M1:42:577:51
20K2005 Decker1:40:428:06
10 Miles2005 Pervasive1:20:138:01
10K2005 Dublin Dr Pepper48:437:51
5 Miles2005 Turkey Trot37:017:24
5K2005 Margarita Run22:327:15
4K2006 Fila Relays17:247:15
1 Mile2006 Congress Ave6:236:23

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May 20th 2007
Tags: Running, Races

One Comment

2007 North Trail Half Marathon

I'll start out by saying that this wasn't a PR.  Not even close.  It was, however, a really fun race, taking place in the middle of a fun weekend, surrounded by fun friends. Fun! Going into it I knew that I wasn't going to PR.  To be honest, I was more than ...
May 19th 2007
Tags: Running

No Comments

Update

Well, so much for keeping the blog current, eh? I've been doing pretty well, most of the time. I'm currently in Dallas just a few hours away from running in a small half marathon (400 people, give or take) - and I've only managed to get up to 10.5 miles ...
April 10th 2007
Tags: Running

No Comments

Lunchtime Ladera

This was my third time to run Ladera Norte, and its actually getting easier.  I walked once, about 3 minutes into the hill, for a minute (timed), then ran the rest of the way.  Not that I was fast - the remainder took me a solid 5 minutes - but I ...
March 4th 2007
Tags: Running, Races

9 Comments

2007 BagelFest 5K

I'm very glad that I did this race.  I almost didn't - the idea of doing something where I know that I wasn't going to come close to a PR was not terribly enticing - but I've done it every year since I started running, and its been a whole ...
March 1st 2007
Tags: Running

One Comment

Unplanned 3 Miler

Well... I know that I said that I wasn't goint to run today... but I did anyway.  You see, at lunch today Thon offered to run his 3 mile hill loop with me this evening.  Naturally I stuck to the gameplan and told him that I wasn't running until Saturday.  ...
February 27th 2007
Tags: Running

One Comment

Rollingwood Revisited

I went to Rollingwood for the second time - or at least the second time since my recovery - and while ended up running a slightly different course due to inattention, it was a fantastic run.  Last time I averaged a 9:41 pace (9:54, 9:30, 9:46) around the hills, and it felt ...

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Famous Marathon Times

RunnerTimePace
Al Gore4:58:2511:23
Oprah4:29:3010:17
P. Diddy4:14:549:43
Will Ferrell3:56:129:01
George W. Bush3:44:528:35
John Edwards3:30:188:01
Carrie Sapp3:29:067:59
Boston Qualifier3:10:597:17
Lance Armstrong2:59:366:51
Gilbert Tuhabonye2:23:075:28
Paula Radcliffe2:15:255:10
Paul Tegat2:04:554:46

People I Train With

Alex - Addicted to Exercise
Carrie - Tri to be Funny
Erine - Thousand Miles
Frank - Running Blog
Gilbert - Gilbert's Gazelles
Jay - Leotian Blog
Mike - BROTH