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.

Race Goals

On March 6th I have been planning to do a 5K, my first since ABIA last May. When I did that one I was really excited to finally get below 25:00 (by two seconds), something that remains my official 5K PR today - that's around an 8:00 pace. I need ...

Treadmill 400s

Alright, back to it. My post-marathon blues are wearing off, my life is getting a bit more sorted, and its the season to get fast. Or at least faster. I didn't feel like messing around with the trail today - my leg still feels a touch spotty, and if ...

Finally Running Again

For various reasons, today was the first time I actually went running. I did a comfortable 3-4 miles in the park with my black lab, Bear, and he really wanted to do about twice that. I got tired a bit after two and a half miles, and did ...

Feeling Better

Not good, but better. I'm trying to catch up on some things that have backlogged since I spent the better part of the last 48 hours in bed - not my idea of fun. I've been feeling congested for the last two weeks or so, and I think I'm paying ...

So - how are you doing?

I hope that you're doing well. Me, I'm not so hot right now. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling a little queasy; I figured it was something I ate and didn't really worry about it. Then I started getting a headache and feeling a little dizzy. Hmm. Now this morning I'm running ...

More on the Marathon

I don't have my mile-by-mile results off my watch yet, but I wanted to pull out my official results from the marathon website. My final position was #1962 out of 6330, and I placed 218th out of 443 people in my age group, which means I cracked the top ...

2005 Freescale Marathon

Where the hell did that weather come from? Yesterday was wonderful. Cool and cloudy. Today was nothing like that. Before the race started we had rain - heck, we had a thunderstorm. It cleared off about 20 minutes before the start, and we had wet streets, 95% ...

Stretching

Last night I got to meet VJ and put a face to the blog. She's had some really impressive accomplishments, and is poised to kick some tail at the half tomorrow. I'm sensing a new PR... This morning I hooked back up with the Gazelles as planned for a ...

Freescale Marathon Race Prep

Well, I just got back from picking up my race packet at the expo. Now I have all sorts of goodies, some of which I may even use. And for some reason Orowheat was giving away bags of muffins. I mean, that's cool and all, but a ...

I want to run

I'm feeling good, I've got lots of energy. I want to run. I'm not running. If I'm really good, I get to run 3-4 miles tomorrow. Sigh. Taper madness hits! It may be warm on Sunday - Still, the race goes on. In lighter news, I discovered from reading my logs that I've got the #4 ...


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