Rob Murphy

My good friend Bret Jardine (bret.fastrunningblog.com) just broke 3 hours at the London Marathon. Bret needs lots of congrats when he posts a race report.

15.25 miles. Started at my house, circled around Sugarhouse once and then dropped down to Liberty Park to do the last 10 miles on the wood chip. Liberty Park was working on a new record for crazy this afternoon. There was about one parking place opening up for every four cars that wanted it. Hundreds of thumping car stereos. Tempers were running high. I felt certain that if I circled the park enough times I would see a drunken Tongan shoot a drunken Redneck or vice versa leaving their pit bulls to fend for themselves. Good times!

Rested

AM: Easy run in the crisp morning air around suburban Sandy, Utah. Very enjoyable.

I took the day off of work to hang out with my mom who is in town for the week. So I was able to do a late morning run around Sugarhouse.

10.25 miles plus some striders on the grass at the park.

Mom graciously offered to pay for a room at the spiffy Spring Hill Suites at Thanksgiving Point Friday night. So I'll be staying down there prior to the race on Saturday.

I'm almost through with Bill Rodger's new book. There are a couple things about it that separate it from the standard sports/runners bio in a good way. I'll try to post a detailed review in the next couple days.

One thing I didn't know about him was that his 2:09:55 win at Boston in 1975 was a 10 minute PR.

Why has Rob Rhode deleted his blog? One of my favorites to read.

Took myself up to the gully today for some trail running. Did about 7 and a quarter. 

Went to Fiddler's Elbow for dinner with Ann. Had a Bacon, Tomato, and goat cheese pizza. Pretty tasty. 

Today is my son Andy's adoption day. It was on this day seven years ago that the State of Utah declared him legally ours. We will celebrate, as always with a huge dinner at Bucca di Beppo in downtown Salt Lake.

I'll do a short, easy run and some striders this afternoon ahead of the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon tomorrow at 7 am. 

I picked up my race packet before checking into the hotel last night. I'm bib number 5. Clearly the race organizers have a high opinion of my abilities. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that they transferred Jake Krong's entry to me.

Checked out the course a little last night. Not fast. It's also pretty windy out but I don't usually notice that in a race. Temperature seems perfect. I had no idea this race had almost a thousand runners.Pretty big expo and all. Half marathons these days!

OK. Good race. Loved the course after I adjusted to the fact that a fast time was not possible. I've never run a cross country half marathon before today. Lots of twisty paths, golf course etc. I only ran three sub six minute miles the whole way. First mile in 5:59, Third mile in 5:57, and 13th mile in 5:52.Most splits were in the 6:15 to 6:20 range with a couple 6:30s. I stopped worrying about them after a while. That fast last mile made the race a pretty good workout but the hills in the middle beat me up a bit as I was dueling it out with Kassie for a while.

Won the Masters division. Thanks to everyone for not showing up. $300.00 cash in an envelope after the race is nice! Thanks again to Jake for the entry.

This is a great race. I will put in on my calendar every year.

PM: 3 mile walk around the neighborhood. Beautiful day. I love walking. If and when my running days come to an end, I will be a good walker.