Rob Murphy

Interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune this morning on the impending death of the Salt Lake Marathon. Apparently Scott Kerr and the entire staff have resigned. Chris Devine poisons everything he touches and never deals in good faith. Too bad... Salt Lake supported the race and deserves better. One reason why I am leary of for profit races like Rock n Roll or Ragnar and anything by Devine Racing.

Five easy miles around Liberty Park 

13 miles in 1:38 mostly around Sugarhouse Park.

A first for me on my run today. I saw a bald eagle in the park. My first two laps around it was sitting in a tree. On my third lap around he was sitting on the iced over pond eating what I think was a duck.

I saw this morning that Ron Paul is in a statistical tie for first in Iowa. We could elect him president so we could get rid of clearly unconstitutional laws like the Federal Endangered Species Act. There is no constitutional authority that grants such power to protect critters to the federal government.

 Then I could go over to the park and blast that bird.

Looking forward to lunch at the Fiddlers Elbow with a bunch of blog folks. Then Ann and I are headed up to the Alta Peruvian Lodge to cash in my free room I won at the Downhill Dash this year.

There's a great picture of the Sugarhouse Park bald eagle in the Utah section of the Tribune this morning.

9.25 miles on the treadmill at the noisy, hot, crowded Sugarhouse 24 Hour Fitness. Looking forward to a relaxing run in the mountains tomorrow.

I met my friend Bret Jardine (bret.fastrunningblog.com) up at The Canyons where he and his family are skiing for a few days. We drove down to Salt Lake and did a great run up City Creek Canyon and back Made it about six miles up before the road got too snowy/slippery and we had to turn back. Finished up with a brief tour of the capitol and downtown.

PM: 4.25 on the treadmill with the last mile in 5:56 

On the treadmill...

1.25 mile slow warm-up

9.65 miles in 60 minutes. Started at 9 mph and increased the speed .1 every 5 minutes until 40 minutes when I sped up to 10 mph. Over the last 15 minutes I worked up to 11.1 mph. I was plum tuckered out at the end.

Brief cool down. 

Really super easy four miles.

Great run this morning.

I met Fritz and Jon Kotter at 8:30 at the Jordan River Parkway for a cold run along the trail. Ended up doing 16 miles in 1:53 with several miles near the end at about 6:30 pace which is pushing the limits of my "comfortable" conversation pace. Jon then asked if we wanted to "pick it up a bit". I was thinking we already had and said so - so they had mercy on me.

Went to Einstein Bagels after for breakfast and coffee to warm up. I'm really enjoying my Saturday morning runs with these young whipper snappers. 

Taking the kids to see "We Bought a Zoo" now. It's a family tradition to go to a movie on Christmas Eve. One way to get the kids out of the house and focused on something else.