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.

4 Mile Tempo Run

So this time, in run camp, we ... didn't go to AHS. Yeah, I know. Anyway, I get to RunTex a little before 6:00 as always, and do a little stretching. The night before I had taken a hot bath to help relax my calves, but afterwards I didn't ...

Weekly total

Tuesday: 6.1 Thursday: 8.4 Friday: 2 Saturday: 4.25 Sunday: 3 (+ 3.5 fast walking) Total: 23.75 Workouts: 1 upper body Hey, at least it was over 20 miles. Stopping when I know I should remains difficult, but I just need to listen to my body and respect it. Sometimes, at least. UPDATE 5/19: I ...

Unpleasant Cramping

Well, after doing my 4.25 yesterday afternoon, I needed another 9 today. So I set off this morning to do a lap around Town Lake, from MoPac to the dam (10.1 miles). That didn't happen. Instead, I ran from the Riverside bridge to about halfway between I-35 ...

Neighborhood Loop

This time, I remembered not to take Bear with me. I took my wife instead, which worked much better! She rode and I ran for the 4.25 long loop around our neighborhood. I left my watch up at the office, so I don't know my exact pace, ...

Just a walk in the park

Well, alright, more like a run in the park. Nothing much, just hooked up with my wife after work and took the pups to the park. Stephanie walked with Sabrina, while Bear and I did two miles of running. He even had to break into a trot ...

Another workout

Today's workout was fun. Hooked up with Marcus and Jason at Gold's, and did some simple upper body stuff. Did a little running to start, including a few spurts at a 6:00 pace which felt really fun. I want to do that more, and soon. Kept ...

1000m Intervals

The good news is that my times today were pretty consistent. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We started out as usual by meeting at RunTex, doing a little stretching, and running over to Austin High. It was raining a touch, but nothing too bad, just a ...

Sunstroke Summer Stampede

Frank just announced the creation of the Sunstroke Summer Stampede series of races here in Austin. We're going to be doing twelve 5K races (one per week) on Wednesday afternoons starting on the 26th of this month, on alternating courses. Each one is chip timed, and the whole ...

800m Circuit

This time I did the afternoon workout rather than the morning one. I was still pretty tired, getting into Austin at around 3am the night before and only catching about 4 hours of sleep will do that for you. Still, I didn't want to miss the workout. ...

Gazelle workout

Well, having got back to Austin at 3am this morning, I decided that getting up at 5am for an intense workout was probably not in the cards. I managed to get a little over four hours of sleep, and I'll hook up with his afternoon group. Its supposed ...


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