Well that's a good 31 miler!

Well I wanted to get in a good run for a b-day gift for myself. The old saying of running your age in miles may be true but I thought with the elevation in this one it was the same- (31 miles + 8500' of climb = 39-  you see 31 +8 in 39). Nailed it! Here is the GPS of the day- BOOM!
So Jim and I started a the North Ogden Divide Parking lot at 6 am for a day of adventure. We left the lot a few minutes after 6 and began. The switchbacks were pretty un-eventful and we just power hiked and walked most of it. I felt pretty good and less labored than years past. This was the first time to the Peak for 2010 with hopefully more to come. A few miles after the switchbacks we were joined by Bj.....Here:

After Bj showed up, Jim and I knew we had to pick up the pace for the fast guy. We got to the base of the peak and made decent time up. We only saw one mountain goat and that was from a distance. When we hit the top there were a couple of people already there- one being Bj's father in law- Forest. He started a bit earlier to meet Bj up there. We then ran towards Willard Peak and Inspiration Point. As we got closer to Willard Peak we started to see all the mountain goats- BAM!

I am thinking we saw close about 50 but there very easily could have been more. They seemed to be everywhere! It was incredible. They are truly magnificent animals. We all stood awe struck and a bit jealous by their mountain skills. We weren't sure where to go from here so we just followed this guy:

He was right on the trail as if to say- "let's go fellas." We made it around one more turn which ended up being exactly 10 miles from the divide. There we turned around- summited BL Peak again and bombed down the parking lot to reload with water.

From the divide parking lot we took off for Lewis Peak. It was getting hot and the climb from the parking lot was actually pretty brutal. I noticed I was sweating like a hog. I stayed on top of the nutrition for the day and felt pretty good. We hit the peak and stayed for a few before starting our journey back down. It was a bit slower for me in a few parts but I managed to rally a little to join the guys for our last little quad buster.

All in all it was an amazing day on the trail. Lots of vert and some quality miles with some quality people. Trail running has been a great hobby/passion since my days on the soccer field. It's personally challenging but can be oh so rewarding. I will probably never be a fast little goat but I look at it this way- If I pay $150 dollar for a 100 mile race and finish in 30 hours and the winner pays $150 and finishes in 20 hours then I paid less per mile...right??? Well, that's how I will look at it for now.