I Am So Lucky

Some friends like to go to vampire movies together. (I can't, for the life of me, understand why.) Some friends like to go to a Katy Perry concert together. (I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone would want to do that either.) Some friends like to get together and eat cinnamon rolls until they are sick. (THAT one I can understand!) Me and my friends.....we like to get together and RUN.

I had some friends coming to town from northern Utah who wanted to see some of the awesome trails that southern Utah has to offer. I put the word out and had some locals join as well as some friends from northern Nevada that came for the run. I decided I'd take them to one of my favorites, the JEM Trail on Saturday morning.

It's a beautiful thing to see a bunch of friends strung across the trail.

It took a bit of huffing and puffing but I was still able to keep up with the group despite stopping to take like 60 pictures. I very rarely see another runner out here so I take advantage of pictures when I can.

After running for a while we stopped for a breather and a quick group picture. These fine folks are me, Carol, Jen, Gary, Karrie, Shane, Terri, Garret, and Ashley.

Jen said "I haven't traveled this far to not get a jumping picture." And it would be far from me to ever turn down a jumping picture. We tried three others and the total amount of air we got in those pictures was precisely......let's see.......zero inches. We managed to get this one though:

The weather was basically perfect that morning.

We looped around the Hurricane Rim Trail to get back to our cars. Here's a photography trick: try shooting some pictures into the sun. That makes for some cool lighting.

This is my very favorite part of the trail with the towering Smith Mesa in the background.

I try to make sure I have a huge amount of fun on every training run or race. But this run was a whole different level of awesome. I had so, so much fun running, talking, and laughing with these guys. I wish I could take them on every single run I do. I feel so fortunate to live in such an amazing area and have such great friends. I am one lucky guy.

ONLY 4 MORE DAYS until the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100 miler!!!!! CAN'T WAIT!!