Rarely in life are we afforded the opportunities to meet our heroes, so it's especially rare when we're able to befriend one of them.

Tony Horton and his P90X program changed my life, there's no question about it.  Now, I'm lucky enough to call him "my friend."

I first met Tony last spring when I was able to take my friend (and P90X+ star Mark Briggs) up in an LAPD airship for a ride-a-long.  It was a brief encounter, which was basically a "hello, it's really great to meet you" and he was on his way.

So, you can imagine my surprise a few weeks later when his publicist called me and was looking for local success stories to do radio spots with Tony for his syndicated radio program called "The Bring It Minute."  "Would you be interested in coming in and doing a few minutes with Tony on the radio" I was asked?  Umm, what do you think my reply was!

Shortly thereafter I was able to get Tony up in the helicopter with me for his own ride-a-long, then I travelled to Philadelphia with him to do some QVC shows selling P90X and now he's become a weekly workout partner.

I can tell you this:  Tony is exactly the same person he portrays in the videos - he's down-to-Earth, very conversational, funny and just a "guy's guy."  Sure, he could hob-knob with celebrities and keep a high-profile circle of friends, but typically, he hangs with "regular folks" because he's just a regular guy himself.  He's also a "fitness beast" - I'm 38 years old and in peak shape, he's 53 and can outperform me at just about everything ... okay, well, everything!  Oh, and he does a killer Jack Nicholson impersonation ;)

I enjoy Tony and value his friendship - here's to you T!

I hope you enjoy seeing some of these random pics as much as I enjoyed taking them!