Rob Murphy

Seven miles at about 8:10 pace. I did some lifting yesterday, including dead lifts and leg presses, so I'm sore today.

Struck out for our cabin in SW Colorado around 2:00 this afternoon. First vacation road trip ever with the dog. Of course he just puked in the hotel room. Fortunately it's the Robber's Roost Motel and they probably won't notice.

Great dinner, as always, at Ray's Tavern here in Green River.

We love staying in places like this.

Moab, Cortez CO, Mesa Verde NP, Durango tommorrow.

Rob signing off.

Beautiful run through the San Juan National Forrest. Followed a dirt forrest service road up the Piedra River for about 3.25 miles with Abby and then the rest by myself. It's a tough, but beautiful, run.

According to the sign it's 12 miles to the end of the road. Thinking about bringing a bottle and a gu and doing the whole thing tommorrow or Wednesday.

There's also a trail marathon/half marathon in Pagosa Springs on Saturday. I'm thinking maybe. It's called the Turkey Track Trail Marathon and it looks like a lot of fun.

Big upgrade. They have wi-fi at the office here now so I just need to walk a quarter mile from our cabin.

16.5 mountainy miles. First 4.25 with Abby

Signed up for the Turkey Track Trail half this Saturday.

AM: Five miles with Abby. Muddy and slippery after an all-night rain. Raining all day too so I'm hanging out in the Archuletta County Library for a while while Ann and the kids do some running around.

Soaked in the mineral springs here in Pagosa Springs and so I feel about 30 years younger today.

I finally made it down to the end of the road. It more or less is a hump. I start at the cabin which is just a few feet above the Piedra River then I climb the dirt road steadily for about 6 miles. By that time the river is just a tiny ribbon you can barely hear. Had to stop there for a minute to soak in the grandeur of the San Juans and imagine Kit Carson guiding John C. Fremont through here 175 years ago when Carson only halfway knew where he was going. But he was a badass so it didn't matter. Then it's rolling for about four miles and a steep drop with several switchbacks the last two miles to finish right next to the river. Ann and the kids met me there and drove me back.

12.5 miles at 8:10 pace.

Heading out for some fishing with Andy at a lake on the Southern Ute Reservation. It probably won't be good because of all the rain, and a trip to Chimney Rock National Monument.

AM: Easy run with Abby plus four striders in front of our cabin. Ann went fishing with Andy.

I don't even know where to start with this race report but here goes...

I signed up for the Xterra Turkey Track Trail Marathon and Half Marathon intending to run the half marathon. The course is two 13.1 mile loops, hilly and rocky, and about 95% muddy singletrack. After the start, I settled into second place following a Brazillian dude who was running the full marathon. Eventually he built about a 30 second lead on me but I could still see him (I didn't know he was running the marathon). Anyway, we were pretty much all alone and after 3 miles, I figured out why...Brazillian dude missed a turn and I followed him and we got ridiculously lost. When he stopped in the middle of this Forest Service road we began trying to communicate. He was pissed! Talking about how in Brazil trail races are marked every kilometer and such and swearing in Brazillian. He did know the F word in English though.

Anyway, we jogged about 3 miles along the road until I came to a marker I racognized from driving in. We made it back to the start line (also the finish line) and the race directors were sincerely upset and apologetic, one even saying that he had "thought about" putting a person at the turn we missed. Here's where it gets really odd for a mostly road racer guy like me. They offered to do a seperate re-start of the race for the two of us and said they would count the times in the official results. After some thought, the Brazillian took them up on the offer and started out on the marathon again after having already run 7 or 8 hard miles.

I asked them for an entry in the 10k which was a half hour later and they graciously did that for me. So I started the 10k at 10 am, the same time Abby started the 5k. The 10k course went about 2.5 miles downhill on a supper muddy (lots of rain lately in Pagosa Springs) dirt road and then about 4 miles of rolling singletrack with a couple tough climbs. Anyway, once again I settled into second place behind this youngster who really looked like he knew what he was doing decked out in all his Pearl Izumi Racing Team gear and all. So I was in no-man's land once again just after the 5k running some pretty good splits in the 6:20-6:30 range and really enjoying the challenging course when Pearl Izumi dude comes running back towards me.

"Is there a turn-around up there" I said.

"No, we ran off the course". He said.

At this point, I uttered the F word. It just doesn't pay to play follow the leader!

So we started jogging back and I asked him why he thought we were off the course. He said he asked a walking half-marathoner. I asked him why he thought a fat, walking, half-marathoner knew anything about the 10k course. He didn't answer. At this point we encountered the 3rd runner who was a local and assurred us we didn't run off the course.

"Man, you guys came a long way back". He said. 

So we did another 180 and resumed racing but I have to admit, I lost a bit of interest. My goal was to enjoy the run and finish 2nd, which I did. But I finished and Andy was sitting on a log about a quarter mile from the finish with a camera and cheering for me so I spunked up a bit and finished with a little bit of pride.

Ran about 7 miles in 49 minutes.

So I ended up doing about 13 miles of racing today in 2 seperate races. So I guess I raced a half marathon. I am sad that I couoldn't finish the half which was won in about 1:45. I would have run about 1:30 or so on that course. They had just about the coolest trophy I've ever seen.

Sigh...

Spending the night in Monticello, Utah tonight and will be back in Salt Lake tommorrow.

Oh, and congratulations to Abby for being the overall women's winner in the 5k!!!!