Rob Murphy

Woke up this morning with a fair amount of soreness in my legs following yesterday's race. Definitely a sign of the lack of consistent mileage in my legs. By comparison, I ran the Salt Lake Half in April in 1:15 plus seven more miles after the race, and had no soreness the next day.

Ran 7.25 in 55 minutes around Sugarhouse Park.

Drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon with the family and did a lot of hiking in the mountains around Snowbird. It was unbelievably quiet and beautiful up there.

Hmmm...maybe not. I just checked my blog from April and apparently I was sore the day after Salt Lake. I guess I'm just old. Or maybe half marathons run hard are simply hard?

am: About two miles at cross country practice in Murray Park. Mostly measuring a course with my Garmin and timing intervals.

pm: Three miles on the elliptical plus some fairly hard lifting and plyos. Good workout.

After the gym I went to Maggie Moos with Abby and Andy for ice cream and then to the playground at Fairmont Park. Grillin outside tonight with some of the neighbors.

Managed to get my favorite run in one more time. Met my varsity girls team up at Alta Ski Area after school. As usual, ran up the Summer road to Albion Basin and around the campground seven times.

Ran the first 9 miles in 1:14:35 (8:17 pace)

Mile 10 - 6:17

Mile 11 - 6:37

11.25 miles in 1:29:18

I really appreciate this run at this time of year. The snow can fly at any time burying my favorite run in 500 inches of powder until June.

am: Easy three miles with varsity runners.

105 push-ups, 120 crunches, core strengthening exercises. 

am: 4 mile run with cross country team. Very windy. And dark.

Seven easy miles with some fast striders at the end.

It was a great night for the Alta cross country girls. They finished 3rd out of 37 teams at the Murray Invitational. 4A Ogden and 5A Davis beat us, but we are closing the gap.

I had only a 21 second gap between my #1 and #5 runners. My 1, 2, and 3 ran 19:03, 19:04, and 19:05 on the 3 mile course. How's that for a tight grouping?

Got in a wreck on my way home from the meet at about 8 pm last night. Rear ended as I stopped for pedestrians in a cross walk. My 1994 Accord might be totaled though. Sad. Ann and the kids came and got me as the wrecker was towing my car - both kids were crying over the death of the "put-put" as they call my car.

It was a car load of teenage girls who hit me. My own students no less! I knew they hated me but...

I had a great time at the Alta Peruvian Downhill Dash and Bar-B-Q Bash.Woke up this morning feeling like I ran a marathon instead of an 8k. As usual, we had a great time afterwards socializing with the rest of the runners who were staying over night at the lodge.

We met Steve Anderson and his two daughters who are the same age as my kids. Ann watched the kids as Steve and I raced. "Your dad is faster than our dad", my daughter Abby said to Steve's kids as we passed them on the side of the road at the first mile. Ouch! Here are my splits as they popped up on my Garmin...

1.02 - 4:47 (Steve ran a 4:32 I think - what can you do?)

.99 - 5:01

.98 - 4:58

.98 - 5:06

1.07 - 4:42

I was hitting the split button every time I hit a mile marker and then at the finish. I attribute all the .98's to my efficiency at hitting the tangents on the way down the mountain. I'm pretty psyched about the 4:42 for the final 1.07. Although I can't say I was at the time. I was actually hoping to sort of cruise the last mile, but the races first woman was closing fast. She forced me to suffer greatly the last mile to beat her. Finished 6th just like last year and second to Steve in the Masters division just like last year. Won a free night this ski season at the Peruvian along with dinner and breakfast plus $100.00. Pretty cool.

This morning (Sunday) we went for a couple mile hike through Albion Basin to Cecret Lake with Steve and his family. Lots of fun. Did some rock climbing along the way and tried unsuccesfully to keep the kids, especially Andy, from falling into the lake. Didn't check out of the Peruvian until around noon today.

I never can figure out why only about a hundred people do this race. Probably the downhill pounding that reduces your quads to mush.Everything about the race is first rate though - it's so much more than just another road race.