I am extremely lucky to live where I do right now with the running that I’m doing. It is not only a beautiful place to run, but I have met people with whom I can run on Saturday mornings.
Dianne (she kind of got me into this whole race thing) and I hit the road at about 8:00 this morning. The nice thing when you run with someone is that you can shuttle. We park one car at the end of our run and drive the other one to the beginning, that way we don’t have to do an “out and back” run. This alleviates the halfway breakdown I regularly experience when I have to turn around knowing I am only halfway through. Not only that, but I love running with Dianne, specifically, because she pushes me (she runs just a bit faster than I do) and she keeps me going with all of the great conversation. I never thought I would be one for chatting while running, but it sure makes the time go by a little faster. It helps that she is a very interesting person (although I do have one headphone in my outside ear…I have to have music).
We had a great run. We did about 4.5 miles today at a good pace, and because Dianne has done St. George nine times, she knows great training routes which means that I will be well prepared. And after we finished our run (which seriously flew by), I went back to take pictures of the beautiful things I saw along the way…I’m a little photo-obsessed lately. Can you blame me?
Next Saturday…6 miles. It’s a good thing I have such beautiful things to look at and such great company or I’d never make it all the way to the marathon. I can’t imagine running being much better than this (well, okay, so running next to the ocean would win, but I won’t be living next to an ocean any time soon, so this is a close second).
existential dilemmas 
I’m so jealous!! Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! Man… I so missing UT right now. Great photos! Wow. Where were you running at?
Oh yeah, I have seen those commercials, and I remember thinking I wish they came to a little town called McLean instead. I don’t think you can give your camera all the credit! You’re just being modest! As great as your camera might be, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have an eye for photography and you definitely have an eye. I’d also like to take some photography classes, I’ve been meaning to take some for years!Oh how I wish I was living in Utah right now so I could train with you and your insider friend.
Anne, I’m not kidding you, it’s the camera. Have you seen the commercials about that town in NC? That’s the camera I’ve got and really, it does the work. I need to take some classes. It’s true that it’s a nice benefit to have the hills out here. But I’ll share any insider secrets that come my way.
You lucky duck! You really are going to be well prepared with the training that you are doing, and with your insider hookup. You have the benefit of living near the mountains so that you can get a lot of good hills training in. DC is gorgeous in it’s own right, but hilly is not one of its greatest attributes. Those pictures are absolutely breathtaking!