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.

Weight Loss

One side effect of something that I’ve been doing has been some pretty nice weight loss. For a while I’d been hovering in the low 170s - I check my weight out of habit every morning, but I don’t log it or do anything different because of it - and now I’m in the 166-169 range. This, even though I haven’t been doing much running over the last couple of weeks and I’ve been eating like a pig.

Seriously. One evening while I was working I nibbled my way through close on a quarter pound of fudge (orange cream, from Rustlin’ Robs in Fredricksburg). Worse, I went there last week - they carry all sorts of goodies, and everything’s open for sampling; you can easily eat a full meal while browsing. I’ve been eating full meals lunch and dinner, often past the point where I should stop, eating until I was more than full. Hey, ’tis the season to be eating, right?

Hmm. Eat yourself thin. New weight loss book idea?

Its probably just my running catching up to me. Whatever it is - I like it! Unlike many folk I don’t really have a goal weight, but I know that I could still stand to lose some body fat. Now I just need to get my ass into the gym and make sure that I’m not losing lean tissue as well.

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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

8 total comments, leave your comment.
  1. And didn’t you just log 100 miles last month? I’m thinking that had something to do with it. Watch that fudge though…evil stuff. :)

  2. vj
    Dec 2nd 2004
    11:41 AM

    Oh, yeah, the amount of working out that you’re doing is probably the key here. That’s great though. I wish I had your metabolism!

  3. vj
    Dec 2nd 2004
    11:43 AM

    Oh, and I was reading that a lot of times, the reason why diets fail is that the user/dieter eats too little. So yes, there may well be a book there. (Though, without the fudge, it sounds like the Abs Diet). Fudge Your Way Thin? The Miracle Fudge Diet?

  4. Mark
    Dec 2nd 2004
    12:42 PM

    Well look at you Mr. Skinny pants!

  5. Nice work on the weight loss! My weight loss has stalled at about 165; I’d like to get a little below 160. I’ve been eating pretty good (not great) but I thought my level of activity would burn more calories. Oh well, I’ll just take it as it comes.

    While I’m commenting here, I wanted to respond to a comment you left on my blog (I can’t find your e-mail address or I’d e-mail you). I don’t get down to Corpus too often, only about once a year. My wife’s aunt and uncle live there so she goes more often than I (she’s a stay at home mom so she and my daughter sometimes go when their schedules allow). I’d love to do the Beach to Bay relay but I don’t know if I can find enough interested parties. I wish the relay legs were longer so you could recruit fewer people. I might ask some of my wife’s lazy, good-for-nothing relatives if they want to train and race with me. We’ll see!

    Take care and nice work on your training and weight loss.

  6. I know what you mean about gaining weight. I have been highly concious of it since being sidelined!!

  7. dude, slow it down or you’ll catch up to me, weightwise. Speedwise, you’d blast by in about two seconds!

    I’m barely out of Clydesdale/Athena weight class; in some races, I still qualify. My weight has very slowly inched upward (maybe 4 pounds total) in the 8 months I’ve been actively training for White Rock, but I’ve gotten smaller. Except for this week. I feel YOOOGE! this week, probably because I’ve cut mileage down. That and the cheesecake. Yep, the cheesecake. I’m going to be ROLLING down Swiss Avenue if this keeps up.

  8. Bex
    Dec 2nd 2004
    9:24 PM

    It’s okay to reward yourself with some fudge sometimes. I mean, one reason why you run is so you can eat the good stuff, right?! At least, that’s the way it is for me. I eat chocolate every day - just a small two-bite size portion - but I do not deprive myself.


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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
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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