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.

2004 Bluebonnet 5K Addendum

There were a couple of things that I forgot to mention about this past weekend's race. Mainly, this was the first time that I've done a race without walking a single step - and I felt fine. Doing the 7 miler with only a couple of walk stops ...

2004 Bluebonnet 5K

The bad news was that the weather for this morning's race was a little warm, a little humid, and incredibly windless. The good news was that I still managed a PR by 20 seconds. In retrospect, I should probably have done even better than I did, since the ...

2004 Capitol 10K

This year, the Statesman Capitol 10,000 drew over 14,000 runners. That's well over one per meter which, if you think about it, is pretty impressive. The start was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined since it was staged - we were in the third corral with ...

2004 BagelFest 5K

Well, this was it - I hadn't run since the marathon a month ago, and my first time out was to be a 5K. I was pretty sure that it would be a PR, since my previous record was 32:21 (a 10:24 pace) set back before I started running ...

2004 Motorola Marathon

( Jump to mile: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | ...

No writeup yet

I haven't had time to do a proper writeup, but I wanted to go ahead and post this: Yeah! My first marathon medal. Stay tuned for all the details.

I did it!

Well, I did it. Not as fast as I had hoped, and not without some pain, but I did it. I am now a marathoner. I promise that I'll write a full report ... but not today. Right now, the crowds have left the very fun ...

Tracking Information

You can track my progress via emails on Sunday, if you're so inclined, by going to http://www.run-far.com/timing and entering in my information. If you're going to be out and about, you can use your celphone's email->SMS gateway and get updates on the road. Or you can always use ...

RunTex 30K in Buda

Well, I finished. Finally. On paper, this may well go down as my worst race ever - I certainly hope that it does. On the other hand, I did finish, which is more than I can say for some of those people picked up in the sag ...

Turkey Trot 2003

My first race! Well, my first since I started training, that is. Considering that the best I had done previously was a 33 minute 5K, I'd really prefer to think of this as my first, serious event. As I pulled into the parking garage, I was trying to decide ...


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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November 9th 2008
Tags: Running

One Comment

2008 Marine Corps Marathon (long)

I'll say its long - 26.2 miles when you haven't run more than about 16 all year is way too long! Let me recap my training schedule for the last two months, just in case you haven't been paying attention (or I haven't been posting it): September 6: 60 mile ...
November 9th 2008
Tags: Running, Races

No Comments

2008 Gazelle 10 Miler

It was great getting to see everyone today. I wasn't sure that I would race - hell, I knew I wouldn't race, I wasn't sure I'd even bother to show up. Packet pickup had come and gone without me, and I was out 'til late last night getting ...
October 26th 2008
Tags: Running

3 Comments

2008 Marine Corps Marathon (quick)

Turns out that yes, I was ready. Kinda. This was my first marathon since I started triathlon and the cardio benefits really showed - my breathing was always under control and my HR stayed low. My legs were really feeling the fact that I only ran ~25 miles in the ...
October 25th 2008
Tags: Musings, Running

One Comment

Am I Ready?

Tomorrow morning, at 5AM (EST of all things), my alarm will go off. It will go off again at 5:15, 5:30, and 5:45, just to make sure. And its not just one alarm, its a combination of the hotel clock radio, the wake-up service, and my iPhone. I think that, as ...
October 22nd 2008
Tags: Workouts, Swimming

2 Comments

Swim Clinic

My swim times have been, well, let's be nice and just say "abysmal." That's fine for now - at the beginning of the year I could barely make it to the other end of the pool, and just a couple of weeks ago I did a half Ironman. ...
October 5th 2008
Tags: Races

4 Comments

2008 Longhorn Ironman 70.3

Wow.  That was the hardest thing I think I've done - certainly including my first marathon.  The big difference was that I went into this knowing that - if I made the cutoffs - I was going to finish.  No question. And I did - some 45 minutes slower than I'd ...

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Famous Marathon Times

RunnerTimePace
Al Gore4:58:2511:23
Oprah4:29:3010:17
P. Diddy4:14:549:43
Sarah Palin3:59:369:09
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
Haile Gebrselassie2:03:594:44

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