Rob Murphy

AM: Three mile walk/jog around the neighborhood. Cool, clear, beautiful. Saving my run for later but I just had to get outside.

PM: Ran a super easy 2 miles and then stopped for a few minutes of stretching. Then I ran 9 miles around Sugar House Park @ 7:20 pace, dodging the springtime crowds the whole way.

Lots of tulips coming up around our neighborhood. I'm betting that's never happened in early February.

AM: 2 mile suburban hike in Sandy, Utah.

PM: Easy 4 miles plus lots of weights in the nifty new Alta High Fitness Center. Treadmills and stair masters coming next week!

Noon Time: Another 2 mile constitutional. Beautiful out.

I'll have to wait until after Andy's parent-teacher conference at 5:45 to squeeze in a run. My #1 frustration in life is that I can't do morning runs when the sun is up. It's my favorite thing and my job won't let me do it. Better than not having a job though. I guess.

PM: 10 miles @7:45 pace circling the neighborhood. Felt pretty good actually which is rare for a run at 6 pm.

AM: Another 2 mile walk. I'm a walker.
 

PM: 8.25 miles in the gully with my team. Ran without a shirt the last three miles. Apparently some quasi-winter weather is coming next week.

Easy four. Think I'll race tomorrow.

Race report...

Woke up at 4 am. Tossed and turned for another 2 hours. Woke up for good at 6. Had a cup of coffee. Argued with girl child about watching the news or one of those nauseating teen shows on the Disney Channel. I have the only 14 year-old in the U.S. that gets up at 5:30 on Saturday. Ate a bowl of Grape Nuts with raspberries. Had another cup of coffee. Took a shower. Walked dog. Dressed for race. Jogged a mile around the neighborhood. 

I always shower before races. Started doing that in high school. Some people think that's wierd.

Hopped into the car, struck out across the West Desert towards the basin that used to hold the Great Salt Lake (it's disappearing). Listened to Social Distortion's "Live at the Roxy" album at high volume. Got to Saltair and parked next to Fritz. Went into the building and registered. Made small talk with lots of runners. Joined the SLTC for what seems like the 10th time in my life. Jogged a couple miles to warm-up. Hit the latrine for a while. Good, quality time there until I noticed no toilet paper in stall. Fortunately I had some in my jacket pocket because I ran my first road 10k in 1978 and I'm a veteran.

Headed to the starting line. Saw Dennis S. there. Crap! Saw Blake too which cheered me up. Gun went off and I motored east with a couple hundred runners. Soon found myself alone in no-mans land running all by myself. Fell about a hundred yards behind Bill C. and Dennis and stayed there the entire race. 

Hit the 5k turn-around in the low 18:30s which was the same time I ran the 5k in 2 weeks ago. Caught Blake there and tried to encourage him. Headed back into a slight headwind. Caught one youngster and passed him at 5 and a quarter but he kicked past me the last .2.

I don't really kick anymore. Just an observation. Need to work on that.

Pretty happy to have averaged 5:59 for 10k. I ran really consistent splits of 5:58, 5:58, 5:58, 6:01, 5:59, 6:02, 1:15

37:11. 15th place. 3rd in 50-54. Sheesh! My time is an age-graded 32:31. Chop off another 60 seconds for the altitude and I ran a 31:30 10k today if I was 25 and at sea-level.

Jogged a couple milles with Bill after and then grabbed a cup of coffee and some free bananas. Bummed that they didn't have any more Great Harvest coupons. Drove home with Mike Ness and Chuck Biscuits on the drums.

I'm hoping to average under 6 for the 15k in 2 weeks if the weather cooperates. Then I'll know I can run a 1:15 screaming downhill half-marathon this spring.

PM: One easy mile just to make it to 50.