The dream started a long time ago, kind of by accident. We were on our back from Redwoods National Park, and I decided to drive along the southern coast of Oregon. I do not get excited about the beach, but the coast along the Pacific Northwest is simply stunning. Towering sea stacks, moody skies, strong winds, and tall green trees year round. These are no Redwoods, but the cedars and firs are still incredibly tall, thanks to the humid air and cool climate surrounding this coast year-round. As we were slowly checking off state parks and vistas along the Oregon coast, I realized that there is a marker for the “Oregon Coast Trail” (OCT), a trail that is supposed to parallel the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), but along the coast. This trail fell in place, a long time ago (1911), Governor Oswald West declared the entire length of Oregon coast public land and confirmed it in the 1967 Oregon Beach Bill. That got me thinking about trying to hike most of the entire length of the trail.
However, there are huge gaps for through hikers, as many portions of the Oregon coast are rugged and only accessible via Highway 101. As a safety precaution, I would skip many of these portions. I was also not excited about having to spend months trying to complete the entire trail – unlike PCT, there are plenty of towns along OCT, making hiking more of a walk between meals. Finally, the climate of the Oregon coast, though wet, has a much milder winter and a much cooler summer, making hiking year-round a possibility. These made me realize that I could easily complete most of OCT by doing it as weekend trips!
Separately, I’ve been watching a few trail running/fast-packing videos online. I have been mostly retired from running, except to be unretired to complete the Volcanic 50k (and Mt Hood 50k as the qualifier). Since Covid, my running career has been driven off the cliff. Racing used to be a much bigger part of my life back when I was in graduate school, as that is an affordable sport for someone who did not have many plans on the weekends. I had not found a good running community after graduate school, and the racing community seemed much more intense out west. With 2025 rolling around, I began looking for ways to be outdoors more, and both fast packing and trail running offer an alternative to the much slower hiking and backpacking. As I scrolled, I stumbled upon the Perpetua Coast trail race, which overlaps a sizable part of OCT. Aha! Perfect combination to check off OCT and have it been a supported race! As I read the details, I found that this race is part of a three-trail race series organized by Daybreak Racing, the other two being Cape Mountain and Siuslaw Dunes. Now, that got me going. I don’t care about the reward (I think it might be a mug if I finish all three), but since it is sold as a package, if I’m doing anyone, I would like to have the upsized meal, please!
Now, I had to decide if I wanted to commit to all three. Part of the hesitation is that when I learned of these races, the first of the race (Siuslaw Dunes) was only about a month out (on 3/8/25), and I was trying to get back into running shape. As I agonized over making this decision, I remembered that the Oracle told Neo “You didn’t come here to make the choice. You’ve already made it.” And there it was, I knew already deep down, that I was running these races. The Siuslaw Dunes offered three different distances – the 12k was too short for a race that I have to drive three hours for, and I was way too late to ramp up for the 50k. As a result, I chose the middle choice, 20 miles. I did only two long runs for this, 13 miles run and a 16 miles run, and called it good. Well, considering the last-minute decision, this is as good as it is going to get.
I also found that the race starts at Jessie M. Honeyman State Park, and they did recommend camping at the same state park, which got me even more excited. I got to save some money, camp in a state park, and just have to roll out of back to go to the start line. Sounded like the perfect way to race! As the days got closer, I stared at the weather forecast. The Pacific Northwest is known for its brutally rainy winter, and the coast is even wetter. There was even a weather front incoming, but by pure luck, the weather front was delayed until the Monday after the race, and there is no better race to be had in Oregon in March. I am so glad, by pure coincidence, that this will be the race that kicks off my 2nd unretirement and the 2025 race season!
*****
I tried to get to the campsite as soon as possible, but daylight savings did not happen for a few more days, and the sun set on me an hour after I left Portland. By the time I got to the campsite three hours later, it was dark and getting chill. I did see people active, some even enjoying campfires. Who are these crazy people who camp in March? (Turns out, most of these are runners as well) As much as I could complain about the weather, I like that this is the first time I’m camping in the cold. The tall trees here made it feel like I was currently somewhere in the middle of the mountain, even though I’m pretty sure I could hear the waves crashing in the distance. I didn’t plan that well and had my tent set on a slightly inclined surface, so I had to adjust my tiny sleeping pad a few times, and it was an awkward position to sleep in. I ate dinner and even brushed my teeth before leaving Portland, and even if I did not get a good night’s sleep, it would be fine. The important sleep is two nights before the race, and I did get more than 9 hours last night. It was cold, but my new sleeping bag is awesome. Seriously, down is so underrated. I’m never going to buy synthetic again. It helps that I don’t like those annoying geese either. :D
I did wake up a few times, but my watch did not show that I did, which was odd. I also know that the 50k runners were leaving early in the morning while I was still sleeping around. I’m so glad I am doing the 20 milers, as I have until 0725 to check in, whereas these poor folks are leaving the warm tents by 0600. As planned, I slowly woke up and drove to the start line (3 minutes away) and found amazing parking. Ate my breakfast and got my bib, before chugging two cups of Proud Mary coffee. Here is a fun fact I just learned – Proud Mary is an Australian coffee shop that just happens to have an outlet in Portland, and their coffee has been highly rated (I quite like their brunch). I do not know why they chose Portland, but they also sponsor a lot of local trail races, and that is why I got to drink hot cups of coffee this morning. Since the races were divided into three different time slots based on distance, there are not that many people when the time comes for us to load onto school buses. Everyone was eager to get started, but it was much quieter than most of the other trail races I have participated in. We might have self-selected ourselves, but the 20 milers are those who just want to chill and are not willing to be out there suffering for the rest of the day like the 50k runners but also want something more interesting than the shortest distance.
The bus ride south to the trailhead was uneventful, though the bus driver was trying to be funny and joke that we were headed to California. Heck, even the race director joked that we were doing the 100k, and someone stood up and was ready to leave. We got dumped at a random parking lot, but we still had 15 minutes before the 0800 start time. Since there was nothing to do, we all lined up for the bathroom and just waited impatiently. Truth be told, there is not a single camera or even electronic scanner here. That means that anyone could have just started the race early and nobody would know. Anyway, at 0800, at least according to the other race director who was stationed here, we ran around the little roundabout in the parking lot and the race began!
There were at most 80 people here, and some people took off in the front. As usual, I started at the back, but this time, there were at least 10 more people behind me. It did not matter. The first part, roughly 3 miles, is on a single trek typical PNW hiking trail. Not much place to cut if we wanted to, and it was mostly uphill. It was also a little bit rooty, and not extremely bright under the clouds and the canopy, so I took it extremely easy and just followed along at a very conservative pace. I managed to squeeze past people when the opportunity arose, but the train was so long that I could not see the front.
We hit the first dune at around mile 3. Now, I knew there were dunes and beaches, but I did not know where and for how long. For example, I did not realize we were hitting a dune before even reaching the first aid station at mile 6. It might be that it was still early in the race, or that I am not having to navigate trails, because it felt fun running on this portion of the dunes. If this was going to be how all the dunes feel, then I do not see the difficulty of running on dunes, and I might smash the expected finishing time! The small section finished, and we ended up in the woods again, but more of the forest that are by the ocean, where the trees seem shorter and more like pines. The loop for the 50k starts here, from the opposite direction, and some of us 20miles mistook the direction and went the wrong way. I managed to stay course, and chill behind a man who drove from Bend early this morning and didn’t sleep! He is slightly older than me, but he is racing with his son, who is way ahead of both of us. That is such a fun activity to do with your children, something I will never get to experience.
After trailing behind a few folks, we slowly climb, and I can hear the cheers. After breaking through the forest, I saw the first aid station, but my water was still mostly full and I did not need to stop, so I took a 5-second break and left the way I came from. Then, I climbed up a huge dune and saw another person who looked extremely lost (even though the trail continued to his left). After checking with him, turns out he is the leading racer in the 50k race! Dang, he is fast. I pointed him in the direction and never got to see him again until hours later. The exciting part happens just a few minutes later when there is a big stream crossing. However, nobody wants to get their feet wet and cold, so we all took turns to for our turn to take the paddleboard that was being pushed across the a few volunteers! This is where I met a few more 50k runners but running in the opposite direction.
After ditching the river crossing, I hit the beach! The waves are slowly retreating with the high tide just past. That made a huge part of the beach wet. I knew running on soft sand is horrible, I’ll just sink further in and it takes a lot of effort to get out of it. Wet sand, on the other hand, might be the best terrain to run on in the entire world. It is like running on bouncy astroturf, or beautiful meadows. It is so awesome, for the next few miles, from mile 8 to mile 11, I am flying like I was road running. The grey sky and the nice breeze are also amazingly comfortable to run in. I could see a dozen or so people along the entire coast, which is cool. So much space to run around!
Once we turn inland and leave the beach, it is back to decent trails in the beach forest. It’s not bad but not very interesting. Soon, I hit the 2nd checkpoint at mile 12. I downed all my water, refilled both water bottles, ate a gummy worm, and left again. I’m not exactly trying to beat another record, but I did the last 12 miles in 2 hours, so I was extremely confident in my time, and I made it my goal at this point, to finish this 20-mile race before noon for lunch. Okay, here is the beef. On the official site page on Ultrasignup, they give everyone a predicted time based on earlier race results, and they estimated that I would finish this race at 4hrs 30 mins, which makes it about ~4 miles/hour, which I feel like an insult to me. Yes, I did not train for this race as much as I could, but from recent practices, I could see myself completing it in 3hrs 40 minutes, and even conservatively, 4 hours. But with my current timing, I thought I could complete with my ideal best race time, at 3 hrs 20 minutes. And so, the challenge begins!
The next mile was a similar nice trail through the forest, and we ran along the Silcoos River, which added to a variety of scenery. Then, I hit a literal wall at mile 14. I’ve been to the Oregon Sand Dunes. It was famously the thing that inspired the Dunes series. Even though I was just in a forest surrounded by a beautiful river, the scene changed completely to huge dunes as far as the eyes could see. There is no official trail here, but there are orange cones at the very tippy top of the next dunes, and a trail of footprints left by the runners who have already suffered through the torture. If I was in no rush, this would be a gorgeous hike, but I want to grab lunch by noon (finish the race in 4 hours), so I lug my legs through the very sandy and annoying dunes. Here is where I started chatting with another runner, who is planning to run 50 miles in the summer and hoping to use this as a training run. We had a good chat while suffering through the sand but also mesmerized by the scene.
After bidding her farewell, I saw a big dune and tried to tackle that, only to realize there was an even bigger one after that. I make these dunes seem like mountains, but they are only a hundred feet each. The issue is running over them. You see, running down a dune is quite easy, I just slide down with no effort, except sand would get everywhere in my shoes; running on the flatter section is annoying because I have to pick up my feet after sinking in them. Now, going uphill is the worst. With every step taken, my feet will sink and try to push me back where I just came from, and there is no place to stop (since there is no solid ground). The only way I’ve figured out is to just run up the hill or walk so fast that I will be able to make some progress. And it was at this giant hill, where I made my stand, and made it to the apex, and got a 360 degree view and saw all the people who were suffering behind me, as well as in front of me in the distance. However, my quads are now spent and cramping badly, a first for me. I’ve never had quad issues running before!
I waited for the next group of runners, thinking that they were faster than me, and they sprinted down the giant dunes. It turns out they are just slightly slower than me. Usually, I would not mind, as I could conserve energy to chase them down closer to the end of the race. However, we were in the middle of multiple giant dunes to cross, and I ended up spending more energy and pain climbing these dunes while trailing them. Ironically, even though there was no trail, we tried to be nice and walk along the trail that was already created, and I didn’t care to cut them off. Anyway, this process continued for the next few miles, until we got out of the dunes area at mile 18, as we approached the final aid station. My legs were cramping at various locations, but I was entertained listening to the runners talking about their and their spouse’s lives.
Mile 18 aid station could not come soon enough. I was not planning to stop here, since it is 2 miles to finish. However, I was going so slow on the dunes that I had destroyed any lead I had (on the clock). It took me 1hr 30minutes to do 6 miles, which is as fast as just walking. I want to just go, but my shoes have so much sand that it is both painful and weighing me down, so I took a few minutes to sit and remove the sand, all the while still cramping. The group of runners I tagged had left at this point, but I wanted to run without sand and thought it was worth the trade-off. Then, I checked my time and thought there was still enough time to finish 2 miles before noon.
The last two miles of the trail are nice, all paved as we entered Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park, which is where I stayed last night. My brain was dead at this point, and I did not recognize where my campsite was, but I knew that once I crossed over US-101, I ought to be awfully close to the finish line. I was incredibly surprised to find that there was a gentle climb on a pedestrian bridge over the highway! Then, I caught the pack of runners, who were not running as fast as before, so I was stuck behind them on a single file trail, I thought it was rude to pass them now, and I had enough time, so I let it be. As I heard the music and checked the time, I was relieved that I would beat the 4hrs time I set but also wondered why the race was more than a mile off.
As I slowly wandered towards the sound, I realized that the race might not be ending soon, because I do not see the finish line where I think it ought to be. This is where the single file trail ended, and I decided to make a move, just in case the distance was indeed 20 miles, and not much shorter than I was assuming. My legs were cramping, and I was running at the 8min/mile pace, which is not fast usually, but it felt like the world was passing by. The race director decided to be funny, and I counted at least 4 attempts to route towards the finish line, only to have me running away from the end at the last minute. By the time I saw the finish line, I was very spent but managed to keep pace and keep an eye on the clock. Unfortunately, I missed the 4hrs finish time by…. 15 seconds. I could have saved that 15 seconds anywhere on the race, and truth be told, I don’t care about finishing on either side of the 4hrs mark. But to know I came close, that kind of sucks. I blame the runners who blocked me for miles and miles!
Many trail races have spoiled me, where there would be a huge after party with lots of beers and food. I usually do not have an appetite to eat, mostly due to dehydration and fatigue, but today, I was extremely hungry. The meal ticket I received gave me access to… a bowl of soup?! I’ll be fair to them by saying that the bowl of chili was extremely delicious, but it would have been nice to also have some bread or even hot dogs. I cleaned myself up, took my lawn chair, and sat near the finish line. The sun is out, and it is a gorgeous day (but still a little chilly). It was nice to congratulate a few other runners that I ran with and finished at the same time as me, and I got to see the 50k award ceremony. The guy that passed me miles earlier? He got first place!
One of the reasons I’m not too mad about finishing at 4 hours is because, by my calculations assuming similar finishing times from previous races, my trail race ranking for this race would be close to 75%, bringing up my average, It took me some effort to figure out where they have live tracking (they have a QR code that didn’t work), and the sheer look at my face when I found out the 25k race that I just ran had a new course record, where the winner beat the previous time by 30minutes, finishing close to 2hrs 30minutes… Which caused my race rank to drop, and I was mad. I did some quick research on the winner and turns out he was an ex-Olympian trial runner turn trail racer. I thought elite races got their category! Oh well, my race rank will stay low even longer now.
I finished 22nd, out of 60 runners; but if we sub filter that to only male runners, I’m 17th in a tiny field of 34 runners. (Yay for the even number of runners between men and women!) However, if we go to my age group M30-39, there were 15 finishers and I’m… 12th. Even if I made a huge move and tried to go for a better time, I might only end up in the top 10. I used to think that getting older meant I might be able to have a less competitive field, but I think there might be more competitive runners in this age group now, compared to when I started. Oh well, I don’t get to chat with random runners, or take videos and shoot some pictures. All for moving up in finishing time? No deal.
The Siuslaw Dunes 20 mile race was decently organized. The organizers mentioned needing a map, or GPX data loaded to prevent getting lost on the trail. I do not think that’s needed – there were plenty of signs and it is kind of obvious where to go, even on the dunes. The starting line is annoying, but the bus ride was nice (instead of running on the road, I guess). The SUP stream crossing was fun. I thought the runners were meh, these trail runners did not seem as crazy as I was hoping for, but I was also not running the 50k, which I assume has all the crazy people. Running on a wet beach was pleasant but running over the dunes was horrible. From a terrain point of view, this race was hell. I would never volunteer to suffer through dunes again. TOO MUCH SAND!
I spent an hour packing up and heading back to my campsite a mile away to get the best shower ever. I am so glad I camped at Oregon State Park (which came with a hot shower); unlike most of the USFS campsites, which are located at cooler locations but most of them are very barebones. I might be the only person who came solo – everyone who was at the finish line was meeting someone who was picking them up and enjoying the sun. It is a small race after all, and I think the people who decided to run a long race on the dunes in March are either locals or people who are nuts and have family who accepted them for who they are. And me? I am just nuts, just want to finish this race series to get a mug. I think I get a mug? I hope I do.
Issue 97. Volume 15. Chapter 1.
Visited: March 8, 2025.
Website: https://www.daybreakracing.com/siuslaw-dunes-20m
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13838942075
Color photos: Kodak Ektachrome E100 on Nikon 28Ti
BW photos: Ilford FP4 on Plaubel Makina 67