Rob Murphy

AM: Got to the gym at 6 AM ahead of our flight this morning. Did an easy warm-up on the treadmill and then a very hard weight/core workout.

Beautiful morning here in Simi Valley. Heading to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum with the kids now. Really excited about touring the real Air Force One they have there.

I'll probably do a few easy miles on the beach this afternoon. The hotel where we are staying is on a cliff overlooking the ocean and there's this very long set of wooden stairs going down to the beach. I'll probably run those a few times as well.

Planning on about 18 miles tomorrow with a few miles close to race pace just to get a feel for sea level running. 

PM: Six miles up and down Pismo Beach. 

Nice night. We had Abby babysit while Ann and I went down to Del's - "a Shell Beach tradition since 1973"- to pick up a pizza. We had a glass of chianti at the bar while we waited. A 30 minute date! Del's is an old school Italian restaurant. Red checkered table cloths, candles, heavy on the red sauce entrees. No Northern Italian Tuscan #!*& for Del! You can envision Deniro,  Pesci, and the Rat Pack dining there.

Nice run this morning from Pismo to Avila Beach and back. 16.25 miles in two hours. Lots of hills that I ran fairly hard.

Taking Abby to Moondoggie's Surf Shop now to start three days of surfing lessons.  

PM: Four miles on the beach in 32 minutes just to work up an appetite before dinner. 

AM: Easy 4.25 on the treadmill. Weights/core at the Pismo Beach Athletic Club.

I fell in love today. With the treadmill at the gym. It's a brand called Woodway and it's truly awesome. I plan to do a longish MP run on it tomorrow. It will be hard to go back to the 24 Hour Fitness POS after this.

Clam chowder for lunch today from the Splash Cafe.Served in these huge bread bowls with the cut out piece for dipping. Yum!

Ten miles with three at 6 minute pace and one at 5:40

Last run here at Pismo Beach. 10.25 miles with a couple at 6 minute pace.

Heading down south now to get close to the airport for the flight back tomorrow. Hope to show the kids the house I grew up in in Anaheim. 

Sitting at the airport in Long Beach now and checking the 10 day Boston forecast...

High of 63, Low of 47, cloudy, on race day. Not too bad although I'd rather see a high of 53. 

Probably no run today. Up at 4:30 to get to the airport, Ann has to work tonight. Maybe get in a few laps around the block after the kids go to bed.

I think I'm going to pack it in for a while after Boston. Probably take a couple years off of serious training and racing. The training (more precisely, the worrying and fretting about the training) is starting to wear me down and there are some professional and family issues that need attention.

I'll be back when I'm fifty.