“I grew up playing soccer and continued playing during my first year of college at Santa Clara University. After that season, I didn’t want to play soccer anymore, but I still wanted to be part of a team and remain physically active. Because of soccer I knew I was fast, so I tried out for the track team and made it. I ended up being quite good and made a lot of friends, but I didn’t realize all the places running was going to take me.

In 2015, I transferred to the University of Utah and I continued running track. After I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, I started running professionally, which I don’t think most people know you can do. While it’s been cool to be paid for something I enjoy, it’s not the dream job people may imagine it to be. Most days are actually quite hard because being a professional athlete brings you to your highest highs and your lowest lows.

I have won the World Mountain Running Championships two times and that second win was especially meaningful to me. The first time I won, I had only started mountain running five months before so it felt a little bit like luck. The second time I won, I felt like I had worked really hard and even overcome some injuries, so it was the bigger accomplishment for me.

Having the confidence to jump into new things is something I take from running and apply to engineering. Right now I am working on my master’s in natural resources, and compared to running, engineering feels easy some days.

For my thesis, I am getting paid by a company to complete the work for a lifecycle assessment. Although I read about this in class, I had never done one myself so I have been learning a lot through this process. A common saying in running is ‘focus on the mile you’re on.’ I’ve taken this mindset to my thesis and it’s helped me get what I need done and avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Through running, I have learned I can do hard things. Part of running is constantly surprising yourself with what you’re capable of. The sport has made me feel competent about almost everything in life.”

—Grayson Murphy, U alum, Civil Engineering ’18