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.

Four Mile Tempo Run

This is an occasionally recurring workout, and while some people have fits about it I'm actually coming to enjoy it. Am I weird or what? We started out with a one mile warmup, down to the Pfluger footbridge and back. Actually that's about 1.2 miles starting at RunTex, but ...

Bike Time Trial

RunFar was having their last time trial of the season today, and since I'd never ridden a timed loop before I figured it was a good opportunity for me to check it out. I met up with Marcus and Bill down by the Veloway, signed in at the truck, ...

Seven Miles Easy

Not much to say here. I wasn't too tired from yesterday's 800s, and I ran seven miles at a slow, comfortable pace - generally around a 10:30 for the first five, picking it up a little to 10:00 and 9:30 for the last two.

800M Repeats

The plan for the day was to do 8x800M on the track. I started at RunTex and warmed up to Austin High, did the drills, then got going. I remember having checked out my previous times and aiming to hit these at around the 3:20 point. That's ...

Yet Another Twenty Miler

Can you believe I'm actually getting a little blase about these runs? I mean, for most sane people a twenty miler is a big deal. Before this one I made sure to eat a good sized pasta meal for lunch on Friday, then screwed it all up by ...

Late Evening

I just got back from the Red Cross shelter - we were all ready to head out earlier, and then somebody noticed that one of the phones there had 88 messages that hadn't gone to the central bank. So we made the decision to call them, and I'm glad ...

400M Intervals

I just checked. Six weeks ago, I ran 13X400M at around 95 seconds per lap. I was pretty excited about it - not only was it faster than I was "supposed" to go, it was a solid 7 seconds faster than the last time I had done ...

The Aftermath

I try to keep this blog pretty focused on running and other fitness related activities, but I just wanted to say something here. The people most affected by hurricane Katrina, those who were living in its path, or in the shadow of the levee... some of them have lost ...

10 Mile Time Trial

It wasn't without some trepedation that I got ready to run this morning; I haven't exactly been looking forward to this time trial. Maybe its just because I don't really feel prepared. This is crazy talk to some extent - I'm running faster, smoother, and more consistently than ...

Easy 10 mile loop

This is one of the easiest Saturday morning runs I've had in a long time. We got together fairly late - 6:00 - to do the ten mile lap of the lake. This was a preview of sorts, since we're going to be doing the same course as ...


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