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.

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 runs, I did this at my park where I can check my time every kilometer (just in case I hit GPS inaccuracies from fall foliage), which should be right at 5:08.

Time: 4:55 - 4:48 - 5:12 - 4:57 - 5:11 - 5:08 - 5:14
Pace: 7:55 - 7:43 - 8:22 - 7:58 - 8:21 - 8:15 - 8:25

Not exactly negative splits, eh? Total time was 35:28 for an 8:09 average pace. I went out too fast (with no warm up to speak of), then corrected by going faster, and then had a hard time finding the correct speed as I went on. I should probably do this Sunday’s five-miler on the treadmill just to pound the feeling of 8:15 into my body, even though I hate doing any runs over a couple of miles on the treadmill.

25:14 for 5k when I’m trying to work on long-distance pacing and form isn’t too shabby, though. It gives me some hope that I can meet my 8:00 pace goal for the IBM 10k on the 3rd…

EDIT: Realized that I had somehow missed putting my a km into the time/pace series this morning. At least I had my total down so I could work it out…

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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

7 total comments, leave your comment.
  1. Rickeydad
    Sep 22nd 2004
    9:24 AM

    I’ve been doing so much aerobic base stuff (=slow) that I wonder if I can move that fast anymore.

  2. Sounds like you’re getting back on track real well. happy training.

  3. mark
    Sep 22nd 2004
    10:17 AM

    Could our workouts have been any closer?

  4. “inaccuracies from fall foliage” I’ve never heard of that before. Do you have problems with your gps every time the seasons change?

  5. Dee
    Sep 22nd 2004
    11:48 PM

    Mind if I add you to my site girlfit.com ? Was wondering, how do add the “Referer” listing on your site? Great site!

  6. RickyDad: Considering how much you’ve dropped me in the past, I’m sure you’ve still got it.

    Deene (and others): Thanks! Things are going better than I had expected, to be honest.

    Mark: You’re completely right. Although your “bad” workout was faster than mine… different goals, I guess.

    April Anne: Heh - that park has a lot of overhanging trees, and I get a couple of missed points every run - nothing that can’t be fixed in TopoFusion after the fact, but enough to be a pain if I want feedback over very short distances. Just figured I’d blame it on Fall this time.

    Dee: Thanks - and feel free! I just use a little javascript for the referrers - there are tons out there that you can google for.

  7. Dee
    Sep 23rd 2004
    11:03 PM

    Quick question: How did you get to put your referrals into categories like that? I have looked for a referral system like yours, but can’t find it ;) Thanks!


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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