Rob Murphy

Week starting Jul 25, 2010

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Location:

Salt Lake City,

Member Since:

Feb 11, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

I had some success in high school and college. Winner 1985 Rod Dixon Run 

Had a fair amount of success as a Masters runner for most of my 40s. 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Have fun with running, explore more trails, stay healthy.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep running and racing consistently for as long as I can. Find what is sustainable for me over the long run.

Personal:

I teach AP European History and other courses at Alta High School. I coached the track and cross country teams at Alta for 16 years.

Married, two kids - Abby and Andy

My Twitter  @murphy_rob

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Miles:This week: 31.75 Month: 142.00 Year: 396.22
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
44.005.250.003.0052.25
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Took the day off today. I'm with the fam up in Montana doing a history geek vacation because that's what I am. Mostly following Lewis and Clark Trail sites.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

Twelve miles in 1:27 along the River's Edge Trail on the Missouri River in Great Falls, Mt.

Stopped a couple times to read historic markers along the trail. Ran from the Holiday Inn up to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and back. The museum is really incredible as are all National Park Service sites. Made me thankful that I live in a country that sees fit to spend public money preserving its history and its best places.This, by the way, was the idea of Progressive Era politicians like Theodore Roosevelt. I wonder if Glenn Beck knows about that? Or does he think we would be better off with upscale condos ringing the perimeter of Old Faithful?

I just mention than because Beck is constantly railing against Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and other Progressive politicians.Yes! By all means lets get rid of the National Park system, the National Forest Service, repeal the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. Also, Progressive Era relics and threats to freedom like the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act should probably go as well.

But it was a really great run today.




Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

10 miles in 1:14. I took the same route as yesterday up and down (actually down and up) the Missouri River.

I'll be in either Missoula or Hamilton Montana tonight.

In addition to the Lewis and Clark stuff yesterday, we went to the Charles Russell Museum and Gallery in Great Falls. Russell was probably the most famous artist of the American West. The museum was truly amazing. It has a great interactive room for kids as well.


Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Final vacation report...

Instead of heading West towards Missoula, we decided to head South towards Helena. We took a two hour boat trip on the Missouri River through  The Gates of the Mountains. This term came from the journal of Meriwether Lewis in 1805. After over a year of travel on the Great Plains, he came to these imposing limestone cliffs. Their appearance was so striking, that he called them "the gates of the Rocky Mountains". This is a really great family trip. The area is totally undeveloped and looks pretty much like it did in 1805. Just a few miles North of Helena you follow the signs off of I-15. Kids will really like the boat and the tour guide is great.

Now for "Great Moments in History Geekdom". Some of you may be familiar with the late Stephen Ambrose, probably the most successful popular historian of the 20th Century. He wrote the most popular history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition titled Undaunted Courage as well as books on D-DAY and large biographies of Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. Ambrose was from Wisconsin and taught for most of his career at Tulane University in New Orleans. Anyway, I happen to know from reading Undaunted Courage that Ambrose's daughter, Stephanie, met the son of Bob Tubbs, the man who owns the boat tour company that takes people on these Lewis and Clark trips up the Missouri, when she was sixteen. Eventually they went to the University of Montana together and got married. So, when I was buying my tickets I asked the kid at the ticket booth if he knew Bob Tubs and he said "yeah, he's my grandpa". So I said, "wouldn't the legendary historian Stephen Ambrose be your other grandpa?" And he said "that would be true, he was my mom's dad".

Surely someone on this blog can appreciate the greatness of that moment for me?

Didn't do any running. Just sat in my hotel room reading Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean who some of you might recognize as the author of a much more famous book about Montana, A River Runs Through It which was made into a movie by Robert Redford. Young Men and Fire is the story of thr Mann Gulch fire of 1949 which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. Forrest Service "smokejumpers". The fire occured on the same stretch of Missouri River as our boat trip between Mann Gulch and Meriwether Canyon. So far, I highly reccomend the book.

It's good to be back home now.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.255.250.000.0013.50

am: 8.25 miles in 61 minutes with my cross country team. After practice we had the 6th Annual Alta Cross Country Team Breakfast at my house. My wife and my mom cooked breakfast for 40 high schoolers. This is quite a feat in our wee little Sugarhouse house.

pm: 5.25 miles in 34:52 on the treadmill. I felt no pain in the achilles at all on the treadmill. But it did hurt the last couple miles on the morning run.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.250.000.000.009.25

9.25 miles in 1:07:17.

It's really hot today, probably close to 100 and this was the first time in a long time that I've run in the heat of the day. One nice thing about Utah is that we generally have cool mornings and low humidity in the Summer even on days when it gets into the triple digits

While I was running this afternoon I did a lot of thinking about my fifteen years of high school coaching. I've been fortunate enough to coach some outstanding teams and individuals. My teams have won three state championships, been runner-up a couple times, and won several region championships.

Despite all that, by far the most rewarding part is following their lives after high school. I have a former runner from my days coaching in South Carolina in the 1990s who is a great example. Joah Spearman came from a very difficult background. Poor, but with a hard working single mom who was raising Joah and his two brothers, Joah defied all the odds and shattered all the stereotypes of how a young black man in his position should end up. Joah ended up graduating from the University of Texas in 2005 becomming the first person in his family to graduate from college. His first job after graduation was as the chief speechwriter for the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) almost immediately after Hurricane Katrina. He then landed a good job with a successful Washington consulting firm while still in his early 20s. You would think a guy would be content with this level of success at such a young age, but Joah wanted to do some things that having a time consuming job like this wouldn't allow. So he left Washington and moved back to Austin, Texas and started a business called Sneak Attack. I would describe it as a hip, trendy sneaker, clothing, and accessory store. You can check it out at www.sneakattackaustin.com

I should confess that I own something like 2.5% of Sneak Attack so if you decide to by something off the e-commerce site you will be helping to put my kids through college.

Joah also recently published his first book through the University of Texas Press. It's called Real Role Models: Successful African Americans Beyond Pop Culture. The book is a series of profiles of African Americans who have suceeded greatly in areas besides sports and the entertainment industry. As a young black man, Joah was frustrated with the fact that the people held out my our society as role models for black children seemed to come only from these two fields. It's aimed primarily at middle to high school students. You can find it on Amazon.com if you are interested. He's currently at work on his second book which will be a history and profile of the music scene in Austin Texas.

I first met Joah when he was in 7th grade. In South Carolina, middle schoolers are allowed to participate in high school sports. I have always made it a point to run with the kids I coach as much as possible and I recall listining to the 12 year-old Joah talk out on runs and thinking that here was a kid I'd be hearing about in the future.

And I have a lot more great stories of great kids who have become great men and women. As I get older, I find that I spend more time appreciating "kids" like Joah, and less time thinking about the championships.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.500.000.003.007.50

Mile repeats on the treadmill at 1% grade.

1.5 mile warm-up

3 x 1 mile in 5:21 (11.2 mph) with 3/4 mile jog interval

1 mile cool down

Weighed 150 lbs AFTER the run today. Before the Utah Valley Marathon I was 143 or 144 after workouts. I have to drop a few pounds to race at my best. Problem is, my mom is visiting for a couple weeks. Mom and her whole family are from Mississippi and they cook like it. Butter, butter, and more butter!

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
44.005.250.003.0052.25
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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