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.

Easy morning

Just the guys today: Mike, Thon and I met up at what's become our usual 5:45 meeting spot, Barton Springs. Its amazing how crowded it it out there so far before dawn. This time we just did a bit under six miles, running to MoPac, then clockwise around ...

Core Plus

When I say that I do two hours of core every week, that's not entirely true. You see, to Adam, core is anything in the trunk of the body. Er, plus triceps from dips. And some biceps on pull-ups. And then there are all those push-ups... ...

Three Year Anniversary

Three years ago today I signed up with AustinFit. You know the spiel (or maybe you don't): "Run a Marathon, Change your Life." Or in my case, run a marathon, get addicted, and run lots of other marathons. Before AF I was hardly a runner. My 5K PR ...

No Running Today

I had to skip this morning's scheduled fartlek series, unfortunately, due to a personal-life conflict. I'm still planning on running tomorrow but probably won't try to replicate the workout, just do a nice easy seven or eight miles to make sure that I'm moderately rested for Friday afternoon, when ...

Simple little run

After yesterday's aborted recovery I wanted to get a good, simple run in, and that's exactly what I did. I met up with Amy and Thon this morning at Barton Springs and we ran to the trail and did the seven mile Town Lake loop, then ran back. ...

Mostly Easy

Core today was mostly easy, possibly due to the fact that I didn't run much this morning but more likely because we had a large group and ended up taking lots of transition time. The hardest exercise was a set of four, where we went from doing 50 high ...

Recovery Run

On the menu today was a nice easy seven miles.  Once we got to RunTex, Gilbert told us that we should go out for about 50 minutes and be back "by 6:45" for drills, sprints, and yelling.  Sounded reasonable at the time.  I headed off with a pack to do ...

Scant 20 miler (15 weeks to go)

Today was supposed to be the first 20 miler of the 2006-07 training season. We all received very clear directions about where to park, near the East entrance to Barton Springs, yet somehow the bulk of the Gazelles ended up about 1/4 mile away at the other end of ...

Simple little loop

Met up with Thon and Mike this morning, 6AM bright and early, down at Barton Springs. This time we just went out and did the Congress Avenue loop, about 5.6 miles in 55 minutes (with waterstops). Nothing earth-shattering, although we did pick it up a bit to about ...

That’s more like it

Adam was back today and, unlike Monday's class where we were left to our own devices, he drilled us mercilessly. The highlighted exercise for the day? Leg lifts: lay down, pull your head up, lift your legs 6" off the ground (knees locked), and hold 'em there. ...


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