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.

2007 AT&T Austin Marathon

Not a race report per se - I sat this one out. More realistically, I biked and jogged this one out as a spectator. And what a race to miss! The course, while not as easy as in years past, wasn't bad - and the weather was ...

New Year’s Delays

Ah, well. As it stands, our flight is indefinitely cancelled. We're sitting in the airport, waiting another 30 minutes for an update from our friendly gate agent, we're weighing our options. What we've been told may happen:Flight delay - the plane (currently in El Paso) could delay ...

New Skin

Well, I can't run, but that doesn't mean that I have to stay totally static. I decided to get into the spirit of the season and help to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Especially since I had an admittedly brief scare myself a couple of weeks ago. ...

Nothing To See Here…

I haven't done squat (or squats for that matter) since last Friday's Fila Relays. No long run on Saturday, no pace run on Monday, and no recovery run today. I've just been too busy, or too tired from being busy. That gives me all of 21 miles ...

Interesting Happy Hour

Thursday is the new Friday.  Actually, its kind-of the old Friday for me.  You see, every Saturday morning we get up early and run 12-22 miles.  So that means that if we want to go out and have a good time, it happens on Thursday night.  Especially when there's more ...

Updates

Yes, the site is moving. Yes, the old content will return at some point soon, along with some new content (really). Yes, there will be other changes as well. But later. Not now. Soon (probably).

Feeling Fine

I'm feeling totally recovered from Freescale, which is odd because I know that a lot of other people are still talking about having stiffness, etc - and I haven't even had a massage! I'm taking this to be a good sign that I ran well within myself, for which ...

Happy New Year

Happy new year, everybody. While I didn't run long yesterday, I did do quite a lot of dancing. And, er, hydration. So its all good. But enough about that. Its time to check to see how I did against last year's resoltions, and make a ...

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, ...

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 ...


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