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.

2004 Retrospective

2004 was a pretty good year, all told. First, let's do the numbers courtesy of Cool Running: Running: 752.7 miles over a total of 4 days, 20m 16s - a 9:44 average pace Spin: 6h 15m 00s Elliptical: 5h 00m 00s Cycling: 131.1 miles Pretty nice. In comparison, for ...

Workout

I did a really nice workout with Marcus today, which reminded me just how long it had been since I'd done a good full body gym hit. We worked pretty much ever major muscle group, and even got in 20 minutes of fast cardio as a warm up. ...

Lunch Run

There are days when, despite the world being stacked against you when it comes to time, equipment, weather, or whatever, that its possible to have a truly wondeful run. Days when you float over the ground effortlessly, smiling and feeling that mystical "runner's high" kicking in. Then there are days ...

Long Distance Meetings

Sigh - sometimes I think I need a "Not running" category. I had a meeting up in Dallas today which, while it wasn't (quite) an all day affair, became so once you add in seven hours of driving to and from. So what does that mean? Basically ...

Twenty Miles

Well, that went according to plan. Somewhat too much according to plan, to be honest. If you recall, I had decided to move my long run to Sunday in order to not run it in below-freezing conditions. As it turned out, Saturday's weather was perfect for running ...

Clothing, Fuel, and Other Fripperies

I just remembered something that I meant to mention in my last post. I'm not terribly used to running in the cold weather that we've been having here lately, but I was perfectly warm thanks to a little preplanning. I just wore my running shorts under a pair ...

Christmas Running

Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope that each and every one of you had a wonderful run this morning; I know that I did. Bear and I took out bright and (not very) early to head to the park - something that he loves that I need to do ...

Plan change

Well, I checked the weather again. Tomorrow, which is going to be tight for time anyway, is still friggin' cold. Sunday's forecast, however, says, "Abundant sunshine. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the upper 30s." I think that I'll just do my faster 10 miles ...

Gerbil for Six

This has been a lame week for running - and I did so well last week too. I blame a combination of work and the weather, not forgetting that I've made the decision a few times to spend more time this week with my lovely wife rather than running. ...

Long Run Addendum

My entries for the weekend were pretty brief because I was up in Dallas, visiting both my parents, going to a Christmas party, et cetera. I was pretty happy that I was able to get my long run in before we left on Saturday, so that I could run ...


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