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.

Circuit Training

The good news was that I made it out to my training class today. The less good news was that it just wasn't happening at 5:00 in the morning, so I slept in and went in the afternoon. That's a Texas afternoon, you hear, which means somewhere in ...

Bretby House

Today I got up early and went for a run around Bretby, where my wife and I have been staying for the past few days. The countryside here is absolutely gorgeous - I'm doing my best not to turn this into a vacation blog, but its not easy! I started ...

Catching Up

Sorry for the silence, folks - internet access here is a touch on the spotty side. Still, I'm going to do a couple of notes about my runs here in England, and I'll backdate them, which I know some blogreaders throw fits about. If you don't see them, ...

Speedwork in Queens Park

The closest underground station to us was Queen's Park; in fact I'd been going through the park to get there for a couple of days. That's why when it was time to do some speedwork, that seemed like a natural place to do it. It was only about ...

The London Canal

London is a damn fine place to run. Hell, its a pretty great place for almost everything, with the possible exception of stargazing at night. I'm staying in Kensel Rise (NW10), and decided to go out for a nice long run down to the canal. I forget ...

Its time for Carnival!

That's right, Carnival of the Runners! Derek Rose is putting together a series of the "best of the best" running posts. Have a great post? Send it in! New, past, or written just for the occasion, it doesn't matter. I'll be adding a lot more ...

Beach to Bay

First, I was able to get out and run 4-5 miles today, but it was all done very slowly. Well, I was running at a 9:00 pace, but I kept stopping to take pictures. I'll be able to put together a street-by-street photo diary of my 5km loop ...

Longer Run with Friends

This was nice. A couple of the other folk working over here from Austin are runners, so I hooked up with them and we headed off to the Elbe. I'd done a little river running before, but this time we went almost due South from the Steigenberger and ...

Its the Little Things

Its the little things that you don't notice at first that get you about running in a foreign city. But anyway. First let me say that I got somewhere between 10-15 miles in today. I know its at least 10 because my GPS didn't register until I was 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