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 ...

Quick Workout

Its interesting how much you can get in with a half hour to spare at a decent gym. All I really cared about were the legs and, again, everything was explosive push followed by a 3-count relax: Leg curls, single - 10x50, 20x50 Chest press - 10x70, 10x70, 8x70 Leg extensions, single ...

Gym Workout

I think that a few more weeks will make this Monday evening workout a habit. I've started going downtown, and I can get all of the basics in just staying on one wall, which is convenient. It's not a total combination, but for me getting back into a ...

Back to the Gym

Its been months, but I've kept my Gold's membership current (not for any good reason, I'm just too lazy to suspend it even hen I'm not allowed to work out). Today, finally, I got back into the gym thanks to a little prodding from my lovely wife, who was ...

Weights

Well, it had been a while since I hit the weight-room, so when Erine asked me if I was up for a little lifting this evening, I just had to go along with it. We did a moderate amount of core and hit all of the major leg machines; ...

Gym Workout

Well, I made it back into the gym tonight for the first time in I don't know how long. Sometimes getting frustrated at the computer can be a good thing - at least as far as incentives go. Anyway, I wanted to do a quick core/leg workout, and ...

Workout

Today I hit the gym and started things out with my 30 minutes of cardio; this time, following Alex's recent history I did the elliptical machine on level 6 (fairly light) cross training 1 (hill profile), cranking out just over 6,000 steps - that's more than 200/minute. It would ...

Back to the Gym

Well, its only been I don't know how long since I've worked out, so I figure it was about time. I started out with a ten minute warmup on the elliptical machine, then headed for the actual weights, starting with the captains chair lifts. I did two sets ...

Basic Workout

This was a good thing for me to do. I started out by doing the captain's chair ab workout (straight legs), but on my second set of 15 my left quad started to ache as I raised my legs. I stopped to stretch it out, but it still ...

Lower Body Workout

It felt really good to get back into the gym after yesterday's race. I did a pretty light workout, starting with a three sets of abs going back and forth between the captain's chair (10 reps) and the resistance curls (60 lbs, 20 reps) with no break. I ...


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