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.

3M split

You know, I just can't accept that I ran dead even splits on Sunday, between the course difficulty (started harder, became easier) and my effort (started comfortable, became faster). Looking back through the results, last year's 3M had the midpoint mats at the 6.7 mile point. If I ...

2005 3M Half Marathon

Last night I stayed up until about 11:30 reading, then never really got to sleep. I'm usually a very sound sleeper but for some reason I just dozed in and out until the 4:50 alarm went off and it was time for me to go. Luckily this didn't ...

Tuning Run

I went out to do a comfortable 5-7 mile shakedown run around the park, but called it off after only about three miles. Everything felt "off" - I was sore, tight, and breathing hard even with a 9:30 pace - so I headed back to the house and did ...

No running yesterday

I had a business trip to Dallas and didn't get back home to bed until about 5AM this morning. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired. Still, I've got a couple of days to recover before 3M, and I'm still planning on doing my seven miles ...

Intervals

Tonight I ended up doing a very late, very dark set of intervals for about 6.25 miles. I did a warmup and then ran a 3 minutes fast, 2 minutes slow pattern around the park loop. It felt good, but I was careful not to run the fast ...

Who’s Running Freescale?

I know there are some other folk out there in the RBF who are planning on doing either the half or full Freescale marathon here in Austin. Its just two and a half weeks away now! Since I know I didn't list everyone, how about dropping me a line if ...

Leading up to the 3M Half Marathon

I had planned to do a leg workout today. I may still do one, but it will be pretty late in the evening if I do. Wednesday: 7 miles hard - either fartleks, intervals, or hills Thursday: 3 miles easy (probably with da pup) Friday: 7 miles easy Saturday: ...

Trailing can be beneficial

I wasn't feeling too good on Sunday, and I ended up getting up for real around mid-morning today. This meant that I was going to have to work late, which meant in turn that the likelyhood of getting in an evening long run was slim. So I decided ...

I’m a dope…

I went out with Bear to do my marathon pace run today at about 11:30. Its 65 degrees outside and sunny - still, that's not too hot. Guess what I realized after just 4km? I hadn't drunk a single drop this morning. This hit me when ...

Pictures from the 30K

The first of the 30K pictures are out, so I thought I'd share: This one was taken somewhere between mile 4 - where I dropped my jacket - and mile 6. I know this because if you look closely you can see that I'm still holding a Gu in my ...


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