Rob Murphy

Four easy treadmill miles here at Ruttger's Birchmont Resort in the North woods plus some weights on some antique Universal Gym equipment from the 70s.

AM: Canoeing with Andy, 6.5 miles on the treadmill, swim - hot tub - swim. Nice morning.

10.5 miles around Lake Bemidji State Park. 100% humidity and warm. Ran mostly on trails early so I was breaking lots of spider webs with my face.

Three easy miles in the AM in North Branch Mn. 

Staying tonight in a little town called Osmond Nebraska. Andy and I went and watched some Little League games which were going on walking distance from the hotel. Ate pizza in the room and then went swimming at the town pool which is open until 9 pm! There must be no lawyers in this town as they have an awesome diving board and a 12 ft. deep end. That and an old school metal playground slide bolded into the side of the pool. We had a blast.

Not much running today but I'm going to try and get out at 5 am for a long run around Nebraska.

Rob Murphy signing off from the Heartland. 

AM: 5 miles in 36:30 running west along U.S. Highway 20 in central Nebraska.

PM: 9 miles in 62:30 around Lusk, Wyoming - much of it around the high school track which might be the nicest high school track I've ever seen. Hot! 92 degrees in the late afternoon. 

I highly recommend the Bestern Western Pioneer Motel here in Lusk Wyoming for any of you road weary travelers this summer. Awesome outdoor swimming pool that's great to jump in after a hot nine mile run.

10.25 in 1:16:40. Final run of the trip. We should be home in 104 degree Salt Lake City by mid afternoon.

Fun! Hats off to Allie and James. Why don't more people run this? It's a great way for an entire family to get involved in running, run some track distances we don't normally run, and just generally be around some great people.

I ran the distance medley 1200 leg. Kevin smoked the 400 in 60 seconds, Fritz ran a solid 800 after running right around 17 minutes for the 5k a few minutes earlier, and Jake kept the BYU team from lapping us.

If this had been a mile I no doubt would have closed in 69 seconds to break 5 minutes.

Abby ran the 800 wearing swim goggles, water wings some kind of Hawaiian skirt, and carrying a pool noodle for a relay baton.

I will do this every year if James and Allie stick with it. 

Thanks to Andrea for the pictures! 

PM: Jogged to the gym, lifted weights, jogged back.