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.

March 2004

Running: 32.5 miles Upper body workouts: 5 Lower body workouts: 3 I didn't run at all during March until the 14th, one month after the marathon, when I did the BagelFest 5K. I then proceeded to PR it at 27:11 - not a great time, but over 5 minutes off my ...

Short leg workout

Did a really short leg workout today: Single leg lifts (hamstrings): 90 lbs (+5 from last week) Single leg extensions (quads): 80 lbs (+10) Single leg calf raises: 70 lbs Standing calf raises: 260 lbs (+20) Seated leg press: 230 lbs (+50) Then went back to work, forgetting to do the abductor/adductor additions. I knew ...

Walking the Dog

Well, I'm stuck working from home today as I wait for the painters to come and finish taking care of our doors. So rather than racing to get up to the trail for my seven mile run and to get back - in traffic - I decided to run ...

2004 Capitol 10K

This year, the Statesman Capitol 10,000 drew over 14,000 runners. That's well over one per meter which, if you think about it, is pretty impressive. The start was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined since it was staged - we were in the third corral with ...

Intervals

As I drove out to the trail this morning, it was a nice, cloudy, rainy day. It was raining as I loaded the car, and it got harder as I drove North, still pouring down as I crossed 360. My initial reaction was one of disappointment, but the ...

Leg Workout

Today, Jason and I met up at the Gold's on 183 at lunch for a quick and dirty leg workout. The idea was to be done in under an hour. We started out with 10 minutes on the elliptical, then hit the floor for some exercises, doing 3 ...

7 mile loop gets faster

The good news is that I'm getting faster. My cardio weakness seems to be temporary - indeed, halfway through the run this morning I felt my body start to "remember" what to do, how to run more efficiently. That's the idea! Pity that it took a few ...

Concrete Work

Well, I spent about two hours today busting concrete with Marcus, one of my usual workout buddies. You know something? This is hard work! We alternated between using a 10lb sledgehammer and what feels like a 40 lb "breaker bar" (a 6 foot spike that you pull ...

Upper Body I

Boy, I feel weak. This was the second weak chest workout in a row. And it was hurried, so I didn't to any tricep at the end of it. Started out with two 9 minute miles on the treadmill, then headed over to the weights: Bench press: 2 sets, 35 ...

Speedwork is Fun

Well, I just came back from doing 2.72 miles in 32:05. Hardly a record, but a lot of that was walking. This was on the treadmill in my too-warm office gym, but I had the incline set to 1% to help mimic wind resistance, et cetera. Warmed up, stretched ...


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

Sponsors

  • Amazon - Books, gear, and more
  • Dreamhost - Cheap reliable hosting
  • iTRAIN - Downloadable MP3 workouts
  • Shoes.com - Good prices on athletic shoes, gear
        NEW! Use code GIVE10OFF for a 10% discount!
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 ...

Search

Search the archives by entering keywords or topic strings.

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