Rob Murphy

8 miles in 54:27.

Splits: 7:34, 7:04, 6:57, 6:01, 5:57, 6:38, 7:00, 7:14

Gully Long Run in 49 minutes. Garrett Jones showed up and I ran with him. It's always good to see my recently graduated runners before they head off to college.

Achilles hurt quite a bit the first 3 miles (mostly uphill), then less so the last 3. It feels better today just walking around and my running the past four days doesn't seem to have made it any worse.

Andy went downtown with me to turn in my Alta High entries for the Deseret News 10k high school team race. He really loved watching all the construction on the new LDS Mall downtown - can't remember what it's called, but the LDS church owns it. Then we went to the Gateway so he could run in the fountain and got an ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Lots of fun.

pm: 4.25 miles from home to Sugarhouse Park and around the Highland High track a few times. Tried out this new Cramer (TM) ankle support which eliminated much of my achilles pain. THIS MADE ME VERY HAPPY.

5 miles on treadmill in 35 minutes. Worked up to about 6:10 pace at the end.

I was finally able to get my favorite run in. 9 miles from the Goldminer's Daughter Lodge at Alta up the Summer road to the Albion Basin campground and then four laps around the campground. My heart and lungs were really struggling to keep up at 8 minute pace at over 9000 ft.

Soaked the achilles in the creek when finished. This run always reminds me why I moved to Utah.

Took the day off from running to hopefully take care of the soreness in my legs before the race Saturday. Rode my bike for about 8 miles and walked 2 miles.

This morning I ran 5 miles in 36:26. Threw in a handful of 20 to 30 second accelerations. My achilles felt the best it has since the injury. Just a little achy at the end, but I'll be able to race tomorrow.

Not that I'm in racing shape. I was still sore this morning which made me a little cranky. Hopefully some more rest today and a good nights sleep will help. Mostly I just don't feel right - I don't feel fast and smooth like you want to feel before a race. Cross training can definitely help maintain your aerobic fitness, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that nothing prepares you to run a race quite like running.

There, now that I have all my excuses out of the way (oh wait, one more - I've gained five pounds of flab in the last month), it's time to go race.

Well, I have to be thrilled with this race all things considered. Most importantly, I felt no pain in the achilles for the entire race. Although it did ache a little on my jog afterwards.

Arrived at Research Park on the University of Utah campus at 5:20 am for the 6:00 start. I saw Steve Anderson at the start. He's been battling an achilles injury as well so we had lots to talk about. Normally when I see Steve at the start I know I'm racing for second in the masters division and this race seemed no different as he got out quick. Despite my 5:03 opening mile, I couldn't see him. I didn't see any other obvious Masters guys around me, so I assumned I was second. At around the 4 mile mark, I passed Steve walking with a limp down South Temple. Bummer - I don't want to beat him that way! I gave him a slap on the back as I passed. Unbelievably, Steve caught back up with me and passed me around mile 5. But then he had to walk again and I ended up beating him by 20   seconds I think. He's one tough cookie.

Anyway, I was happy with the time. Due to the downhill nature of the first 4 miles, this race really can't be compared to a flat 10k. However, it's the 8th time I've run it and today was a course PR for me which is encouraging as I haven't been running.

Splits: 5:03, 5:15, 5:38, 5:31, 5:39, 7:26 for the last 1.23 which is 6:05 pace.

I was really feeling a lack of fitness the last mile.

The awards were really lame. Just generic medals with no inscription. Also, they felt the need to dispense with any sort of awards ceremony this year. You just showed up at a table and picked up your "award". Such a difference compared to my last race, the Utah Valley Marathon, where they go out of their way to recognize and honor your effort.

I waited around for the marathon finish and ran the last half mile of the course with Steve Ashbaker from the blog and Mark Palamar from New Port Richey Florida who is also a regular here on the blog. Mark ran an impressive 3:10 - not bad for  sea level flatlander. He  had a nice, strong stride the last mile and I'm sure he will crack 3 hours soon. It was great to see lots of folks from the blog.