Second half of the big weekend double, our last heavy work before Chuckanut. Mike and I and a new guy we met named John met at Wildcat Lake trailhead under partly clear skies and a nice morning sun. I was tired from yesterday because it turned into a long day without a nap, but my legs felt good to begin. We somehow lost John about 1.5 miles into the run. We tracked back, took the two partial trails he possibly could have split on to, but there was no sign of him. So we decided that he's a big boy, and took off for the horse camp. We ran the Beaver Pond loop, then split on to Plummer and took Gold Creek to the vista, running the opposite direction of the last time we did the loop. I felt good until we got to Gold Creek, it's a much longer uphill than I was expected and started to feel dead legs there (about 1:25 in). We walked part of that section, then ran through the slush after the interchange to the vista. Then we cruised down to Beaver Pond again and ran a good pace back in, picking up a second wind as we headed back. Mike fell in one puddle, but other than that we didn't get too soaked although the trails were pretty messy. I'm feeling drilled now, but the back-to-back big days will be helpful. We replicated the race, more or less, and felt tired legs but ran good distance and pace after the fatigue started to hit. I took one shot block, two Clif gels and a few Enduralytes. When we finished today I was ready to be done, but not completely spent or gasping for energy. I figure that's a good sign. 2:55:00 brooks cascadia green
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