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.

Running in Radebeul

So, for the first time I managed to go running! Before I either have been too tired (at first), too busy (more commonly) or it was already dark. Anyway, check it out! I went clockwise, and the slow North straight stretch on the left hand side of ...

Scenic Loop

The plan today was to get to RunTex as 6:30 and head out for no more than ten miles with Shannon, who runs at almost exactly the same pace that I do. And you know what? For once, the plan worked. We were both there, and both ...

Tempo Run

To some people a tempo run starts out slow, builds up speed, and then slows down at the end. Not I. At least, not today. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This morning was pretty nasty to run in; come to think of it, it was ...

Short run and some news

Well, we did four hilly miles today, in the rain. Not a bad rain, it was annoying before I got changed but refreshing as we ran; Alex joined Bryan and I today and we got some good conversation in as we stretched out our legs. Again, the course ...

Back to Wilke

This morning had me driving over to the parking lot of a baseball diamond near Chuy's at 6AM to meet up with most of the other folk doing our regular Wilke climbs. From there its about a 1.25 mile warmup to the hill, rather than almost 3, and Wilke ...

Timeless Progressive Run

Well, not literally timeless you understand, I just left my watch at home. Again. Anyway, I did a seven miler this morning, and it went fairly well. We did our first two miles "slowly" - slowly still being around a 9:00 pace or so. I'll be more specific when someone ...

Early morning run

This morning I had an interesting decision to make - when to run. I'd emailed with Gilbert yesterday and asked his advice, since there was a 6:00 group doing 10-15 miles and a 7:00 group doing 7-10. He said that I didn't need to do anything over ten ...

400M Intervals

I feel like I cheated myself out of this morning's workout by having to leave earlier than I wanted to. The plan was to - after our warmup run and drills were done - do four sets of 5x400M. Each lap had a one minute break of "active ...

Hmm

Well, I ended up working tonight so no running. Tomorrow morning is the 400m repeats, and I don't know how many I'll end up doing. Gilbert still has me working up to the full set, but I've still got an 8AM meeting that I need to get to ...

Mile Repeats at Zilker

Two trips out to Zilker in as many workouts? Its fun to get out into the park and run (on asphalt) because the rolling terrain gives you some good preparation for road races even if you can't go as fast. Still, that's why Thursday's workout (400m intervals) is ...


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