Day 5 - Lake Junaluska to Asheville

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Day 5: total mileage 25

Today was another epic day, but of course when are they not epic days in this adventure?

I started running at Lake junaluska, only a few minutes from our hotel in Waynesville. My plan was to run around the lake and into the greenway of Waynesville, and then see how it went from there. It turned out to be such a beautiful run around the lake that I did four laps as well as an extended run through the greenway. It was such a relief not to be running on the road and having cars and trucks whizzing at me all day long. Lake junaluska is absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by church property that is well-maintained and pedestrian-friendly. The best part of the day was in the morning when we met a long distance Runner named Rico, who is training for a ultra marathon in the future. He turned out to be one of the nicest guys I've met, he's a teacher at the public school system in Huntsville Alabama. We ran for a few miles and shared stories. Matt captured his story on video so I can't wait for that to be integrated into the footage. Anyway everybody really liked him and he was yet another inspiration for continuing to go forward. The whole crew today was great, and I ran laps with both Mike and Shelly, and Mike B and Matt. I did two laps alone, just to get my head straight. We then drove to the botanical gardens in Asheville, and after driving on the highway I realize what a foolish idea it was to try and run between junaluska and Asheville!

I ran on the mountain bike trails near the botanical gardens to finish up today, although I kind of crashed and burned in mile 23 and came back to the parking lot looking half dead. Our tribe changed again today with Mike and Sheley going home and Joe coming in for the next few days. I'm looking forward to more great conversation with Joe, but I do miss Mike and Sheley and every time our tribe changes I get a little sad.

Godspeed,

R.

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