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.

Eight miles in Florida

You know something? The Garmin Forerunner is a pretty incredible gadget. Its especially useful when you’re running in an unfamiliar place. Unfortunately, its pretty useless when you forget to press “Start” at the beginning of your run. Luckily, I did the same basic route that I did yesterday, with the middle section repeated a few times. At least that way I knew how far I was going.

So I did about eight miles in about 1:15, nice and easy. That did include a couple of stretch breaks and a PowerAde stop. Not too bad, really, especially considering the humidity (which I’ve been told gets a lot worse).

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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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Activity

5 total comments, leave your comment.
  1. Reba
    May 29th 2004
    11:17 AM

    Richard, when I was doing some summer work-up training in Borden, ON some years back it was, by my standards, an incredibly humid location. I was there for 3 months. I felt like a sluggish ball of mucus! However, when I returned back home I was very noticeably faster and stronger by far. Because my breathing was so good my stride was better, my endurance was leaps ahead of where I had been and I seemed to stay hydrated easier. ~tilts head curiously~ It was incredible! The training program wasn’t that much more upbeat than I was already used to either. Not sure what the connection was because ON is a much lower altitude than AB so I would have guessed the opposite to be true. Maybe the humidity will be a bit of a boost for you too! Here’s hoping. ;)

  2. Alex
    May 29th 2004
    12:41 PM

    Richard, just remember to bring your A game when you come back. It sounds like Tuesday is probably going to be hilly. It was pretty humid here today too. I struggled to get through my seven miles, and it was especially tiring because I was working on my form and using a bunch of muscles that I hadn’t used much before. And then Gilbert showed up at the stretching thing saying how he was a little tired since he had done two laps this morning. I guess I never really thought of the whole hike and bike trail to be a “lap” before!

  3. Its like altitude training, only wetter. :)

    You guys are making me wish I had a Forerunner. Maybe I can find the money somewhere.

  4. Okay, so I don’t have a forerunner, but I HATE it when I forget to start my heart rate monitor when I begin exercising….. or when I’ve ridden 10 miles on my bike, and I look down and realize I forgot to reset my cyclometer. It makes me so mad! They need to make those things so they’re like, telepathic or something. Anyway, good job on your 8 miles. It sounds like you’re having a great time on vacation!

  5. Thanks for the advice Alex, even if I didn’t check my comments in time. I don’t think I brought my A game, but I give myself a solid B so that’s not too bad. For those of you from somewhere other than Austin, a “lap” of the trail is 10.1 miles. Two of them would be quite the morning warmup.


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Famous Marathon Times

RunnerTimePace
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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