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.

April 2004

Mountain Biking: 16 miles Running: 44 miles Upper body workouts: 2 Lower body workouts: 2 You know - that's really pretty pathetic. I'm almost living up to my April fool's prediction. Still, seeing it down here makes me realize just what a lousy month for regular workouts this has been. ...

Pathetic Workout

Alright, so its been a few... weeks... since I've done an upper body workout. But even so, I put in a pathetic performance today. Bench press: 10x25, 10x35, ~3x45 Incline press: 10x25, 6x25, 6x20 Lat pulldown: 3 of 10x110 Row: 3 of 10x80 Flys: 10x100, 10x90, 10x90 Delts: 10x100, 10x90, 8x90 Medial shoulder raise: 3 of ...

Speedwork

This was the second Thursday in a row that I was able to get out and do my speedwork; that makes me happy. Its probably also my last solo speedwork for a while, since next Tuesday I'm joing up with the Gazelles. Got out to the trail at ...

Race Planning

Alright, so I'm currently hoping to get into the NYC lottery to do my next marathon on 11/7/04. I've also filled out my race schedule up through the beginning of July. That would give me a little over four months to train up for the marathon, which should ...

No running today

Well, I didn't run this morning. I may get a run in this evening - but I may not. This past weekend we were out shopping for a hammock stand to go with our hammock (a wedding gift we'd never used). L&T were out, so we went ...

2004 Schlotzsky’s Bun Run 5K

That was a mess - but a fun one, and a fun race. Bun Run 2004 was the first race I'd ever entered that actually had a K9 entry option. Since I love running with da pup, he'd never had a chance to race, and he always gives me that ...

Speedwork

Well, the last few weeks I always had something come up when it was time for speedwork. I hadn't run since Saturday this week, but I managed to get out to Austin High to do my first ever track workout. Its pretty fun, don't'cha know. I started ...

ITB Flare Up

Maybe its because of the extra distance that I did last weekend, or just my general stress level right now. Who knows. But this morning, when I got up at 5am for my Tuesday 7-miler, my ITB was tight. Really tight. Tight as in I could ...

Morning Run

I haven't been able to get much running in lately - too busy between my work commitments and my home life. So my long run for this week was only 8.5 miles when I really wanted 10. At least that's better than nothing... We had some house ...

Healthy Eating

Okay, so I'm trying (recent lapses ignored for now) to be more healthy in my eating habits. I'm mainly trying to cut back on the number of calories I consume, but I'd also like to just get a little healthier in general. Here's my thinking. My weight has been ...


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