Last week, I ran my age in miles for my 41st birthday. This tradition (oh god, is it a tradition?) started last year, in Joshua Tree on my 40th.
My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, so I decided to keep it local and “simple” – I didn’t want to make a big production out of it, especially because I hadn’t trained for the distance at all. I was pretty sure I’d be able to finish, but didn’t want to ask anyone to travel and come run it with me.
I knew I wanted to finish my day with an ocean sunset, so I mapped backwards from the coast for a 41 mile route which had me starting up near Los Gatos. I did what I could to keep the route on trails, but inevitably some of it would be on roads.
My partner Jeannine dropped me off on Skyline Blvd, and I started my run on the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail, which I had backpacked in 2019, before the CZU fires dramatically changed the landscape.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and I was so happy to be running this beautiful trail on a Wednesday morning, when I’d normally be sitting on Zoom meetings.
This first hour or so was almost entirely downhill, and I was cruising.
6.5 miles down the trail, I jumped onto highway 9 for 10 miles of road running. I had a sense of what I was getting into when I planned it, but this part was not so great. People drive like maniacs on these mountain roads, and I almost got hit more than once.
I was relieved to get off of 9, but my next stretch was an 1800 ft climb. Putting this aggressive vert in the middle of an ultra run was a questionable decision, but I really wanted my route to take me to the top of Empire Grade so that I could cruise back down through Fall Creek.
Immediately after this challenging climb, I found myself on a non-trail, and really could’ve used a machete. Before I knew it, I was crawling through bushes of poison oak.
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Turns out, not a trail.
I’ve learned this lesson before, but I need reminders every now and then: never add uncharted trails to your route. AllTrails will suggest viable trails that translate to IRL trespassing, or worse.
Sunken cost fallacy in full effect, I bushwhacked right through. I was pretty frustrated at this point, and felt great relief when I finally reached familiar trails in Fall Creek… even though I still had 21 miles to go.
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These Fall Creek trails are my favorite in the area. Once again, I was cruising downhill in familiar territory, and all was right in the world.
After Fall Creek, I made a pit stop at my apartment, where my girlfriend and her daughter were waiting to cheer me on. I took a quick poison oak shower, changed into clean clothes, inhaled some snacks that were handed to me, and was back out the door about 10 minutes later. I was concerned that stopping and showering might result in lost momentum, but I felt good once I started moving again.
The rest of my route was familiar territory. I had to cross a river and was hoping to do that while the sun was still up.
I ran through downtown Felton and into Henry Cowell State Park. Like Fall Creek, I know these trails well, and there’s something calming about running them compared to some of the challenging sections earlier in the day.
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I ran right past Cathedral Redwood Grove, a spot where I’d normally stop and take in the beauty for a moment. I knew that I had to cross a river shortly, and wanted to do it in daylight as I wasn’t sure how high the water would be.
After an easy crossing, I crossed Highway 9 once more, and had one last 1000ft climb ahead of me in Pogonip Open Space Preserve.
The sun was going down. My hips and feet were screaming at me, but all of this discomfort was expected, so I kicked it into high gear and started climbing up into Pogonip.
After that final climb, I crossed Empire Grade and entered Wilder Ranch, where I could see the last rays of sun. After being in the shade for awhile, the warmth of these final rays felt glorious.
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Wilder Ranch is familiar territory, and I was stoked to be in the home stretch of my run. These were the first trails I’d run in Santa Cruz back in 2018, while visiting for a friend’s bachelor party. As the trail weaved in and out of the forest, I found myself thinking about all the twists and turns of life, and how I never imagined I’d end up moving from Oakland to Santa Cruz. Life is funny like that.
The trail provided some glimpses of a beautiful sunset. I paused for a moment to capture this warm crimson glow lighting up a clearing before my final descent down to the coast.
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I had my headphones in, but as I got close to Highway 1 I could hear some shouting, and then I saw lights flickering around. Jeannine and her daughter had come up the trail a bit to cheer me on in my last few steps!
We all ran back to the car together, but then I realized my watch had me at 40.5 miles. I knew what I had to do… I turned around and ran back up the trail a bit to get to that magical 41, and then we hopped in the car for some delicious pizza at Bantam.
Over the course of 8 hours and 39 minutes, I ran from the top of the Santa Cruz mountains down to the ocean, passing through Castle Rock State Park, Big Basin State Park, Fall Creek Unit / Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Pogonip Open Space Preserve, and finally Wilder Ranch State Park.
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Some closing thoughts:
On pain: while preparing for my 40 miler last year, I learned about welcoming discomfort, and I really leaned into this on my 41 miler. I’m not even sure what this is, some sort of mindfulness-based pain management, but I’m pretty sure it helps. Somehow, making space for pain and accepting it, rather than avoiding it, seems to result in less pain somehow: “Oh hello pain, I knew I’d find you here, we’re going to be spending some time together today, just as I expected… let’s do this.”
The hardest part of the run? It’s a toss-up between a harrowing 10 mile stretch on highway 9, where I almost got run off the road several times, and the crushing climb up Alba Rd (1800ft in a little under 3 miles) which started at the 16 mile mark. Both of those things had me seriously questioning why anyone would do something like this.
In the days that followed, I experienced the expected soreness, but also a bit of an emotional hangover, which I recall from my recent 24 hour race as well. I thought that was due to lack of sleep, but maybe there’s something more to it, related to a flood of endorphins perhaps?
Birthday miles… is this really a tradition? Is it a curse? If I keep doing this every year, at what point do I stop? At some point, my age and the miles I should run simply won’t get along. That simple fact inspires gratitude for the run I’m on right now (and a bit of fear, if I’m being honest). I hope that time doesn’t come too soon. Perhaps at some point, a switch from miles to kilometers is logical.
I wouldn’t have been able to do this without my partner Jeannine, who helped coordinate everything, made sure I had all the snacks I could possibly eat, and encouraged me both leading up to and during the race. Special thanks to Zach Williams for the helpful and encouraging texts throughout, and Nick and Chris who kept me laughing all day.
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