At the beginning of this run I didn't know weather I would be able to go the full 18 miles or if I would chicken out and cut the run short due to all the factors mentioned yesterday like elevation, terrain and junk food. Meg and I started out together again for the first several miles of this run. We ran out to the place (the crossroads) where we turned around yesterday for our 5 mile run and I left some water and gatorade. Then we continued all the way to the cascade falls parking lot which is 4 miles. Then we turned around and came back to the crossroads and took the road that leads up over the hill to Navajo Lake. We went about a mile up the hill toward the lake and about 300 feet of climbing at which point Meg decided to turn around so she could end up with 10 miles for the day. I continued up the hill to the road that runs along Navajo Lake. When I reached the road I was at 7 miles and over 9100 feet elevation. I ran along the lake for two miles and the views were simply stunning. The lake was literally a sheet of glass and the reflections in the water of the surrounding mountains were amazing. When I reached the campground near the end of the lake I turned around and headed back to the hill I had just climbed. At this point I was at 11 miles and I figured 7 more miles wouldn't be too bad. I took the long knee-jarring journey back to the crossroads again where I refuled on water and gatorade and decided to head back to cascade falls and then I would run back to camp which would put me right at 18 miles. The journey back to cascade falls was 100% in the sun and a headwind the whole way. Luckily there was very little traffic so I didn't have to eat much dust but is was hot. It got even hotter after leaving the falls parking lot because now the wind was at my back. I was grateful when I finally reached the crossraods again and took my last drinks and headed the 2.5 miles back to camp. It was all downhill until the last half mile where the road goes up into the campground. When I arrived Meg had a plate of sweet breakfast waiting for me and I was able to just chill for most of the rest of the day. I can't think of a better ending to a long hard run than just lounging around for most of the rest of the day in the mountains where it is cool and refreshing. Luckily we did do some hiking later that morning which helped with the recovery from the run. I was afraid with all the climbing and downhill running that I might hurt something, but so far I feel really good. We'll see how it goes on Monday.
Time: 2:47:48 9:19/mile | 