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.

September 2004

Running: 65 Workouts: 5 That was a lot better than last month. I'm still not to the point that I need to be as far as making running a regular part of my day, but I'm getting better. I know that I need to get more consistent to help stave ...

Not today

Well, I'm glad that I got my speedwork in last night, because right now I'm sitting in a deserted airport waiting for the 2nd to last flight out of here. So, while I have time (now), its the first time that I've had to run - meaning that I ...

5 x 1K Intervals

I don't know how much time I'll have to run tomorrow, so rather than doing my 3 mile basic today I did my 5 miles of speedwork. That gives me three (relatively) hard days in a row, but it doesn't feel too bad. It was pretty late when ...

Weekly total

Monday: 7 slow Wednesday: 5 pace Friday: spin Saturday: 5 pace Sunday: 8 slow Total running: 25 This week was much better than last week was. I still didn't really do too well when you look mid-week, although getting the five miler in on Wednesday helped a lot. My overall mileage is finally where ...

Eight Mile

First, I just want to say that I really, really don't like running in the heat with the sun baking down onto me. Apparently, though, I dislike getting up early on a Sunday even more. That might explain why I was out running at noon when it was ...

5 Miles

This was a pretty disappointing run for me. I was scheduled to do 8 miles slowly today, but the weather (only 70 degrees but 85% humidity) - or something - was bumming me out. As was the fact that the sky is completely grey outside, just like in ...

First Spin Class

Since I had missed my speedwork yesterday, I was going to do it today instead. That would have given me three hard days in a row though, so I decided on a little cross and did a spin class over lunch - my first one. Spin for Runners Just in case ...

7km at race pace

So this morning I did the run that I was supposed to do on Sunday, which I had rescheduled to yesterday. Hmm. Anyway, it was a pretty basic four miler with the goal of running right at my 8:15 target pace. As usual for the shorter pace ...

7 mile loop

Coming up to the office today, I found myself stuck in traffic as I was getting close to the Riverside exit. Rather than doing my run this evening, I just said, "Screw it," and pulled off to the RunTex parking lot - got changed, and went out for seven ...

Weekly total

Monday: 4 Tuesday: 4 Wednesday: 2 + leg workout Thursday: 4 Friday: upper body workout Well, no running this weekend, and only 14 miles otherwise. Come on, Richard, get it in gear...


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