Rob Murphy

March 29, 2024

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Location:

Salt Lake City,

Member Since:

Feb 11, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

I had some success in high school and college. Winner 1985 Rod Dixon Run 

Had a fair amount of success as a Masters runner for most of my 40s. 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Have fun with running, explore more trails, stay healthy.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep running and racing consistently for as long as I can. Find what is sustainable for me over the long run.

Personal:

I teach AP European History and other courses at Alta High School. I coached the track and cross country teams at Alta for 16 years.

Married, two kids - Abby and Andy

My Twitter  @murphy_rob

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Miles:This week: 31.75 Month: 142.00 Year: 396.22
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.007.500.000.0010.50

Very, very hard run today. The kind you just have to grind out.

First, I ran at 4 pm as I had a cross country meet this morning with my girls team - more about that later. It was 92 degrees and windy with gusts up to 40 mph, a hot, dusty, desert wind coming from the South. There was never a point in the workout when I felt good or happy to be out there.

I had planned on a progression run with each mile faster than the previous mile. Here's what happened...

10.5 miles in 1:08:00 (6:29 pace)

7:34, 6:46, 6:31, 6:27, 6:23, 6:03, 6:05 (1.02 miles), 6:03, 6:49 (massive melt down), 6:13, 3:04 - all on the hilly Sugarhouse Park road loop.

All in all I am happy about the workout and from a purely masochistic standpoint I probably got something out of it.

Now, to the super fabulous Alta Hawks cross country girls who finished second overall at the Grass Relays in American Fork today. This is a unique race with each team's top five girls running a 2 mile relay leg. The two mile course includes a total of 28 hay bales that must be jumped including "the gauntlet" - a grouping of seven hay bales in succession. The Alta girls defeated the defending 3A state champs, Park City and the defending 5A state champs, American Fork. Only perennial national power Davis High School beat my girls. We were in 8th place after the first relay leg even though my #1 girl (Carolyn) ran our fastest time.I guess a lot of teams put their fastest runner on the first leg. The duel between Alta and Park City was especially thrilling. At one point the Miners had a 35 second lead on my girls. Celeste, running our #4 leg cut it to 15 seconds, and Sierra Murri, running our anchor leg, closed with the Park City girl and got her by about six seconds.

The meet typically draws 25 to 35 teams. I'll have to check the final results to see how many were there this year.

So congratulations to Carolyn Webber, Sierra Knapp, Tiffany Morris, Celeste Gutzman, and Sierra Murri.

 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments
From allie on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 22:38:41 from 174.23.163.253

well, your description of the weather during the run definitely sounds uncomfortable, but you got it done. nice job.

as for your team, congratulations to them! looks like you have a strong team with an exciting season ahead.

From jtshad on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 08:34:35 from 69.20.183.178

Congrats to the Alta Hawks girls team!

From Teena Marie on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 09:51:07 from 174.52.45.85

Insane run by you!

You girls team: WOW!!! A huge congrats to each one of them and their coach. Impressive. :)

From Steve on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:07:54 from 173.135.33.239

Congrats to the team. Wish I lived there and could come and support a few races. My high school running (only one year as a senior) gave me lessons that have carried through life. There's nothing that contributes as much to kids as what you are doing.

Keep it up!

From dugco on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 09:55:40 from 199.44.94.60

Great run, Rob - and congrats to the girls on what must have been a real thrill to kick off the season. Is this a non state sanctioned meet? Florida doesn't allow anything fun like hay bales or streams or real cross country courses during the season. I will keep track of your girls this year - good luck!

I take it Sierra is a popular name in them parts? We had 3 Dougs on the FSU squad when I ran there - two good ones and then me.

From Bret on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 10:43:31 from 64.128.133.66

Good job grinding out that workout Rob. They say that "character building" training like that will help get you through adverse racing conditions much better. In a cycling context I recall Lance beating Jan Ulrich in a time trial in the TDF in the rain, because Jan was hated to train in rainy or snowy conditions and never left his hotel to do a practice ride of the course before his turn that day for the time trial - whereas Lance claims he endured horrible weather in his training and rode the day's course before his turn to see what it was like with the wind and rain. Result of course is that Lance won and Ulrich actually crashed not realizing a particularly slick spot required a very slow approach through the turn. Anyway - next time you show up to a race in sub-optimal conditions, I suppose you can remember you've endured worse in your training.

Love the hay bale race story. The kids must have really had a blast. Congrats to them all.

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