Rob Murphy

I ran the Gully Long Run today a bit quicker than I have in the past few weeks. 46:50.

Beautiful day today for early November. Sunny, clear, close to 60.

Today I ran the "Extreme Gully" run - a route I discovered earlier this year with Garrett Jones. It's 13 miles, very hilly, about half road and half trail. I generally took it easy today with most of the miles between 7:20 and 8:00. I did decide to open it up a little bit between mile 10 and 11 and ran 5:42.

1:39 total for 13 miles.

Off to vote now... 

Is it ok to give yourself credit for a half mile of running?

I was feeling pretty pounded today after yesterday's run and three hardish days in the last four. So I just went for a walk while Abby was swimming. Jogged a little bit.

There's a great article in the New Yorker (not the place you usually find great running articles) about Alberto Salazar and his efforts to transform Dathan Ritzenheim. I Highly reccoment it.

The article has a great description of Salazar these days...

Despite his injuries, Salazar still runs, and when we meet him one morning early this fall he arrived in a turquoise Livestrong T-shirt and old gray shorts. With his long legs and short hair, he retains an intimidating lankiness, though he moves stiffly, with a lock-jointed gait like the canter of an elderly racehorse.

I don't think I want to be described that way when I'm fifty-two. That's only six years from now. I bet I might have as many miles on my legs as Salazar, having run my first race in1978, and being at this fairly consistently for over thirty years.I think about this a lot. The thing is, this sport means a lot to me. It's not just the ability to run either, it's the ability to compete at a relatively high level. I hope I can remain healthy enough to do it for decades to come. Unfortunately, there are many days when I feel like Salazar is described in the article.

am: Two mile walk followed by some stretching and  breakfast on the couch in the basement with Abby while watching Sponge Bob. Oatmeal with strawberries..

pm: Great run after my second period class. Ambled over to the gully for the Gully Long Run in 49 minutes. Ran without a shirt in November! Nice Vitamin D boost.

Sat in the sauna for 15 minutes after to sweat. Now I'm back at my desk feeling happy and content. Time now to focus on the societal and cultural changes of the 1840s 

This race was the best of times and the worst of times for me.

It started out really well. I moved into the lead at around 6 miles and ran by myself for the next 5.5 miles. I'm not completely sure why, but I really felt good. I came through 10 miles in 55:50. At 11 miles I looked back and couldn't see anybody which kind of surprised me since Jeff Shadley was in the race and also Rob Rhode who I knew had run a 2:51 this summer at the Deseret News Marathon and is improving rapidly.

At this point I decided to relax a bit in case Jeff or Rob closed the gap I would have something in the tank. But mostly I wanted to enjoy the last couple miles of what I thought would be my first race win in many years. And at 46, maybe my last?

Then it all fell apart. I missed a crucial turn just after the 11 mile point - actually the only turn on the entire course. Maybe they could have had someone at that turn just in case the first place runner happened to be a moron? When I finally realised something was wrong about a half mile later, I slowed down and walked a bit. Then I stood by the side of the road looking very confused I'm sure, then I doubled back at about a 7 minute pace. Eventually I came to where I should have turned and finished the race. But I wasn't running very hard as I was thouroughly depressed and couldn't see anyone ahead of me or behind me.

I hit the split button on my Garmin at 13:1 - 1:15:30. But I'm pretty sure I would have run around 1:14 if I hadn't screwed up which would have been a PR. Even so, it was only 3 seconds slower than my pr which was pretty good considering all the time I wasted deciding whether I should double back or not.

Rob, Jeff, and another guy passed me when I was running my bonus mile and so I finished 4th, running 13.9 miles in 1:20ish. Great day for Rob running 1:17.

And now, the Utes are getting crushed by TCU.

Oh, and one more thing... this race had stew, chili, and cornbread at the finish, and basically all you could eat, which was awesome. I was thinking how great a certain sudsy, grain based beverage would go with my Chili. Pocatello may be in Idaho, but it ain't that far into Idaho. I ate my fill and regretted it several times on the 2 1/2 hour drive home. I suspect there's a reason most races opt for bananas and other "gentle" things.