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.

Leg Workout

Alright, so its another quick workout. I almost didn't do any lower body strength this week, but I had about 45 minutes after my Town Lake Trail Foundation meeting and Stephanie getting home, so I hit the Gold's on 290. Gold's may not be a great gym, but ...

Less than Wonderful

Hmm. Where to begin? Probably yesterday. I was planning on eating a pretty small dinner, so I had a nice lunch (Vietnamese noodle bowl with veggies and tofu) instead. Then I find out that an out-of-state friend is in town, and wants to have Mexican food ...

2004 Bluebonnet 5K Addendum

There were a couple of things that I forgot to mention about this past weekend's race. Mainly, this was the first time that I've done a race without walking a single step - and I felt fine. Doing the 7 miler with only a couple of walk stops ...

Training Issues

So what do I do now? I was planning on doing about 10 miles today, but I ran a 5K instead. I'm thinking I should go ahead and do some distance tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure. To add more to the mess, I skipped my speedwork ...

2004 Bluebonnet 5K

The bad news was that the weather for this morning's race was a little warm, a little humid, and incredibly windless. The good news was that I still managed a PR by 20 seconds. In retrospect, I should probably have done even better than I did, since the ...

Wednesday Leg Workout

We took off for a (very) late lunch and did 10 minutes on the elliptical (at resistance 12) followed by a pretty brutal leg workout. But you're not interested in the timing, just the weights, so here they are, with sets of three: Seated leg press: 200 lbs (+20 from ...

Slow Wet Run

Be careful what you ask for, you may receive it. Today was a cloudy, messy looking day. I hit some light rain on the way up to the trail, but nothing too serious - it was sprinkling when I started my stretch. And that's the way it ...

Upper Body II

Did you know that the last time I did this workout was three weeks ago? Neither did I. Turns out that I didn't lose much of anything during that downtime - but I didn't gain much either. Go figure. Lat pulldowns, narrow grip: 3 sets, 110 lbs Lat pulldowns, ...

Nice morning run

It was hard with the time change, but I met Alex down at the trail for a 6am run today. Just five miles, the MoPac to Congress loop, but it had been a while since I'd been out. If I want to get faster, I need to do ...

Rocky Hill Ranch

Riding at Rocky Hill has to be one of the most entertaining ways to kill off an afternoon that I know of. This ride was no exception - although it might not have ever happened. There have been rumors going around for a while that the ranch is going to ...


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