Day By Day Running Route

Each day of this 350 miler is going to call for an average of 50 miles of running. Most days will probably have a few miles more, because of logistics, leaving me hopefully with a "short" ran on the last day. But as it stands, for those who are wishing to plan their visits to run with me, the following is the tentative schedule for each day. (Click on each picture to get a bigger view of the route)

Day One: April 2nd

Starting at the California/Oregon border I will head north passing through the many towns including Brookings and Gold Beach.  The day's stopping point will be somewhere near the Prehistoric Gardens right off of Rt 101. There are more than a few climbs on this first day but the one at mile 30 looks particularly nasty.

Day Two: April 3rd

Picking up at the Prehistoric Gardens, another 50 mile day will have me closing in on Coos Bay, the birthplace of legendary runner Steve Prefontaine.True to Pre's work ethic, my day will end with a rather hellacious climb which should put Coos Bay in sight in the distance.

Meanwhile, passing through Denmark, OR I might ironically, be the only Dane in town.

Day Three: April 4th

The first half of the third day will be one of the nicest runs all week.  i start with a nice long downhill and then a mostly flat run for some 20 miles.  But I pay for it later when in the second rn of the day I will get two major climbs at miles 30 and again at 42. I will no doubt continue to wonder, as I pass through the town of North Bend, OR, why it is not only south and west of Bend, OR but why it is 250 miles away.

I am quite sure I will have lots of random thoughts like this during the week.

Day Four: April 5th

I am not sure what exactly I am supposed to think of the hill at mile 20. I am hoping it is some glitch in the elevation software I used to map out this run because otherwise I am going to need some crampons and a pickaxe to get up that sucker.

Having already been to Florence, Italy where I studied law for a summer, I am curious how Florence, OR compares.  Do they have a mini Duomo? How is their gelatto?

Day Five: April 6th

By the time I get three miles into this run , this will be the furthest I have ever run in one week. Having completed the 202 miles of the American Odyssey Relay back in 2010, passing over that mark will be a big milestone for me. I will be far less enthused about the ridiculous hill at mile 42 (again? I might end up not liking that number.) The rest of the run on Day Five, barring another hill at 20, looks relatively flat and might allow me to enjoy the coast more than any other day.

Day Six: April 7th

I expected the 6th day of running will be the hardest day.  Having run so far I will still not be on the final day.  I am preemptively relating it to mile 20 in a marathon.  So far run but so far more to go.

This will also mark the only time on the entire run that I MAY deviate from US RT 101. Opting to go through what seems to be a much safer route, I could head into Pacific City and enjoy the coastline there for a few miles before rejoining RT 101. This will be a decision on the day of the run but as both distances will equal the approximately the same amount of running, it doesn't make much of a difference.

**Addendum - Even prior to running, the decision was made to skirt the coast by running for 16 miles on Rt 131 marking the largest deviation from RT 101. Safety and beauty of the course trumped the fact that I will be climbing quite the peak to Cape Lookout State park**


Day Seven: April 8th


This final day of running will see me skirt the final few miles of the Oregon Coat and head to Astoria.  There I will cross the bridge into Washington State and promptly fall over and die.

I am kidding.