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.

Coors Light comments on the NYC Marathon

Found this on Cool Running today: The New York City Marathon, hosted by the New York Road Runners, has set standards with recent annual records of 85,000 applicants, 36,000 finishers, 2 million spectators and 260 million viewers worldwide. What started in 1970 with 127 runners, who each paid $1 to participate, ...

Swim Time

Not by best swim this evening, but I got out there and put in the meters. I know that I really need more like three sessions a week, but for now I'm just trying to figure out the basics. I swam over at Big Stacy and managed to ...

Shortened Reverse Ladder

Was that a confusing enough title for you? The official workout for today was pretty simple: 2x2000M at marathon pace (1:59/lap), 4x1000M at half marathon pace (1:53/lap), then 4x400M just a little faster (1:50/lap). Compared to my normal speedwork times those should have been no problem at all. ...

Seven Miles Slow

After yesterday's aborted run I decided that I'd better get out to the trail this morning and make sure that there weren't any lingering problems. There weren't. That's always good to know. I showed up at a little after six, right as the Tuesday speedwork group was heading off ...

Short Recovery

Today the plan was for those of us who did 20 (or in Marcy's case 22) miles in 85 degree heat to do the seven mile loop nice and easy, while everyone else was doing 45 minutes of fartleks. Well, I was sore and the miles were feeling far ...

Ouch

Today was a day much like any other. Wake up at the crack of dark (in this case 4:30AM), shower, eat a Kudos bar, drink some Gatorade, drive to RunTex by 5:30. I grabbed a ride with Carrie (for which my thanks) and we were up at the ...

1100M Swim

You know, swimming has to be one of the slowest forms of personal transport available. I could run 1100M in, well, considerably under five minutes. Swimming it last night took me over an hour, with lots of stopping. But I did it. My goal was to ...

Free Road IDs

Need a Road ID? Runner's World is giving away 2,000 of them (1,485 remaining when I wrote this) just for asking. Check it out and pick one up. Can't hurt.

Easy Run

I ended up running alone this morning - I guess everyone I normally run with is cutting back since they're into their tapers. Ah, well. When I got into my car I actually thought, "Hey, its a little cold," but with the radio reminding me that it was ...

Gym Workout

Well, I made it back into the gym tonight for the first time in I don't know how long. Sometimes getting frustrated at the computer can be a good thing - at least as far as incentives go. Anyway, I wanted to do a quick core/leg workout, and ...


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