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.

Evening workout

This evening I didn't get around to leaving the house until well after 7, so I knew ahead of time that tonight's workout would be brief. As usual, we parked a few blocks away and walked to the gym to get some free warm-up time in, making sure that ...

Doctor’s Orders

Nothing until my back stops hurting. Not a damn thing. Luckily, I'm used to that. Then, once there's no pain, I have a week of core exercises to do. Then I can get back to running, with a couple of restrictions. First, no dogs. ...

Soda is bad for your health

Even diet soda. Especially Fresca. You see, my back was almost back to normal until I wandered around our small grocery store, carrying a 12 pack of the stuff for 2-3 minutes. Standing at the checkout it hurt a little, and I kept adjusting the weight. ...

Yet Another Weekend Update

On Monday I went to the Heart Hospital for my nuclear stress test. If you've never had one of them, well, its an interesting experience. It started out, after a wait, with an injection of technitium. The only weird side effect was an odd smell that lasted ...

Weekend Update II

Alright, let's see now. First, I'm still not running. I am feeling better than I have been though, although its a sliding scale. At my doctor's orders, I've taken the last couple of weeks very easy. Lots of sleep, lots of rest. My body temperature is now ...

Bad Day and a New Symptom

Yesterday was not a great day. I had a business meeting to go to, and it was in San Antonio. Not a huge deal most of the time. I drove over there in the early morning, and settled in at 9:00 for what was going to be ...

Latest Status

I had another doctor visit today; turned out to be a reasonably long one, but somewhat productive. The results from my latest labs had come back. I don't have Hep, HIV, West Nile, or anything else significant that was tested for. However, I did have some elevated ...

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. ...

This sucks.

I was actually feeling pretty good this week. My fevers had been down (although I'm still running below-normal temps quite a bit) and I was getting a little more energy; I'd actually noticed that I was able to go up and down the stairs three times in a row yesterday; ...

Still Can’t Do Much

Yesterday I managed to tire myself out. Twice. The first time was pretty simple; after getting up just before 9, I went out and had breakfast with some friends, then my wife and I (without taking a nap) went to the supermarket! I know! I mean, ...


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