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.

Intervals

So I did some interval running this morning on the seven mile loop. The first mile was a pretty slow warmup, and then I ran three minutes hard, one minute gentle, until I got to the six mile point; a final one mile at a comfortable 9:30 finished things ...

Easy run

I just did an easy 4.3 miles around the trail - the loop from I-35 to the Pfluger bridge. It felt good, although I could tell I was working harder than normal for my speed. When I started out my groin muscles were a little sore. As ...

Lower Body Workout

It felt really good to get back into the gym after yesterday's race. I did a pretty light workout, starting with a three sets of abs going back and forth between the captain's chair (10 reps) and the resistance curls (60 lbs, 20 reps) with no break. I ...

2005 RunTex 30K

What a race! I didn't quite make my goals, but I had a good time and it made for a wonderful training run. This was an out and back - mostly - starting, ending, and benefiting the Hays County high school (see map for details - not to ...

Buda Prep

Well, I picked up my race packet at lunch today - I've got lucky number 843. I also got a $25 off coupon for RunTex, which is pretty darn welcome at this point since I need to get a new pair of shoes to start switching out with for ...

Long Run Addendum

( This refers to my previous entry ). I was waiting to do a full entry about my long run until I had a chance to look over the data in TopoFusion, and I'm actually pretty glad that I did. First, it turns out that I actually did closer to ...

Finally…

Let me start off by saying that I know that I still owe you all a better description of my last long run. And that I should blog more than twice a week. But, well, a lot of stuff has been going on over here, and the fact ...

Twenty Two

I. Am. Tired. But its a good kind of tired. Its the tired that happens after running twenty-two miles (heck, that's only 4.2 miles less than a full marathon, and it didn't cost me a dime). The plus was not happening, but at least the ...

State of the Blog

Well, this week has not been particularly good for my running, among other things. Just in case you were wondering if I'd been out there putting down the miles so fast and furiously that I hadn't been able to write about it - well - I haven't. In ...

It was a dark and humid night

I didn't get down to the trail until about 6:30pm tonight, and it was pretty dark before I started. That wasn't too bad though, even with the washouts from the recent rains its a very familiar place to run. The weather, however, was nasty: mid 70s with a ...


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

Sponsors

  • Amazon - Books, gear, and more
  • Dreamhost - Cheap reliable hosting
  • iTRAIN - Downloadable MP3 workouts
  • Shoes.com - Good prices on athletic shoes, gear
        NEW! Use code GIVE10OFF for a 10% discount!
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 ...

Search

Search the archives by entering keywords or topic strings.

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