Run with Craig, Scott and Josh out on the island.  Josh, Craig & Scott
As I will be changing jobs shortly and will no longer be working with Jun, our boss suggested that we take a final Friday off and go for a long run. Yeah, she's cool like that. From a running aspect, it was an incredibly difficult decision to make this change, but from a career and financial standpoint I would have been stupid not to. The reality is that while our afternoon runs won't be as convenient or frequent, we'll still get out to cause mayhem on the trail near you...  Scott, Craig, Josh & my big head
So, to the run...Met up with Scott and Craig in Kaysville and then drove out to the island where we met Josh, who planned on running for a part of the course with us, so as not to mess too much with his ankle that has sidelined him the past couple of months. The weather was everything we had hoped for. A little brisk to start, but we all pretty much had shorts, shirts and sleeves on. Within the first mile we crossed a rather large herd of buffalo, just off the trail - one of many that we would see throughout the day. We stayed pretty much together to elephant head, me just hanging onto Joshs' heels as he charged up Lone Tree hill behind Craig. From there we headed down into split rock bay, flying down the hill. I stopped and snapped some pics and cruised with Josh through the valley.  Scott prancing through the rocks just before the switchbacks As we made the short climb out of the valley before the switchbacks, Josh and I stopped for a minute to take some pictures and he commented that he still didn't feel recovered from the Lone Tree climb, so I settled in behind him as we started our way up the switchbacks, and man, I was trying really hard just to keep up! I'm fairly certain that's the fastest I've ever run up them! We were gaining quickly on Scott just as it flattened out, and then Josh got hit with cramps in his calves. Hate those! So we took it easy for a bit and then worked our way back to Elephant head where Craig was waiting. At this point (about mile 10.5), we said goodbye to Josh as he wasn't going to be joining us out to the Elephant Head point. Cruised out and hit that point and then quickly made our way back towards the beginning. Jun gained a little ground running down Lone Tree hill, but I was feeling pretty good and was able to catch back up to him a little bit before the climb out. As we topped that hill I realized that was the first time I had run that hill in its entirety and had run every hill on this loop. Felt good. Ran through a huge herd of buffalo that was blocking the trail, they were kind enough to move about 20 yards off the trail before turning and watching us go by. I love watching a big herd of buffalo galloping along. Jun and I put it in cruise control for the final three miles back to the car, where we ended up at about 3:04. We refilled water, ate and refilled water. Scott came a bit later, and we kind of rushed him through his breakfast of waffles and battered sausage before we moved on out.  Craig waiting at the parking lot (mile 19)before heading out for more. Today we decided to run the Buffalo Knoll loop clockwise (backwards, for those that run the race). I started to feel a little tired here, I think it was just the food digesting. It was kind of cool, the three of us just plodding along in a tight line - I think we even went a mile or two without even saying a word, just the sound of our rhythmic footfalls to keep us company. Then, as we passed a couple of big buffalo bulls, I made a comment about one of them and as I was taking in his great majesty, my toe caught a rock and I turfed it right in front of him. I think I heard him laugh a little and shake his head at me. Ha. In the really technical parts of the trail my hammies threatened to cramp every now and then, but I think it actually did them some good to get a little bigger range of motion in for a bit. The trail ends at a campground on the north end of the island, so we just stuck to the road for a few miles. As the road climbs out to the main road, my hammies once again felt like they were about to cramp at any moment, but the hill relented just in time and we had a mile or so of nice flat to downhill, and I was able to keep just behind Craig. We ran almost to the causeway where the eastside trail starts, and then we headed south on that for about a mile until it intersected with the trail that heads back towards the car. This turn was mile 25 and we knew it was only a couple back to the car, so as we ran up the dirt road we discussed what we should do. Ok, it wasn't much of a discussion, Jun pointed to Buffalo knoll (which, at the time looked like it was about 10,000 feet high and 20 miles away) and figured that if we ran to the top of that and then back down to the car that should be about right. I offered my opinion, including my completely unscientific (and unrealistic) calculations of how far that really was, yet 'we' decided that's what we were going to do. Cruised a little more on the pavement and even set a good pace on the hill up to the parking lot. The grade of the hill really picks up a bit before, and when I had looked at it from afar I had thought "there is no way I'll be able to run that thing!" yet when we got to it, we just kept a nice pace right to the top. I had secretly hoped that Jun had meant we would go to the parking lot, but he didn't even pause at the trailhead. Once I hit dirt and the hill picked up, my calves really started to cramp, so I took this chance to hike and stretch them out. Craig had a decent gap on us and Scott was really pushing some of the hills, putting a good one on me. Always fun to see that 28 miles in. At the top we took a few minutes for some pics and what a view! We could practically see our whole course, which was fun. 
Craig and Scott on Buffalo Knoll  Me standing on Buffalo Knoll - you can see both White Rock and Split Rock bays in the background
Back on the downhill my legs felt good and fast again and we all just let gravity take us back towards the car. Once we got to the turn towards the parking lot, we knew we'd need a little more distance, so we ran passed that to the more western road then took that south. Now south of the parking lot we took another detour skirting the west side of the it (passed a few more giant buffalo), then through the parking lot, passed the car, finishing just 20 yards further. Not too bad. As Craig and I walked back to the car, we saw the Scott decided to take the "Zig Zag through the parking lot" approach to get to his 31. We must have looked fairly ridiculous to anyone watching. Finished in 5:28 and though I was certainly tired, I was feeling really good. Felt like I had fueled really well and it showed. Chalk it up to another fantastic day on the island! Random pics:  
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