Passion Project Day One: Bring On the Rain

I had a ton of fun today.

To kick off my project, I stayed in the neighborhood to explore what I think is one of the “hidden gems” of trails on Mount Tam. With an AP test looming tomorrow morning, I decided to go really short and easy today before really kicking things off in the next few days.

Because I spend all day in my room like most other people right now, I didn’t realize how hard it was raining until I was actually out there. It has been super hot recently, and I always love the adrenaline of rain runs, so today was a welcome change.

From my front door on Summit, I headed up the street and took a left on Myrtle. Myrtle looks like just another windy side street in the Mill Valley hills, but after about .3 miles, it turns from paved into an awesome fire road that offers a quiet, peaceful view of the whole canyon for a little more than half a mile. It then goes into the woods on a single track, winds its way past a mini waterfall, and offers you the opportunity to push up a steep stretch to Double Bowknot on Railroad Grade, Mill Valley’s better known fire road. For today’s run, I turned around at the woods entrance - as nice as these lesser known single tracks are, they are narrow and not to be messed with in the rain, if you can help it.

Anyway, like I said, I love rain runs. I love running a little faster to stay warm, battling the wind, and even the way my soaked hair renders my headband useless and flops over my eyes. But what I loved the most today was the epic view of the valley from the fire road. I wish I had a picture to include - I don’t often run with my phone, something that will probably have to change in the next few weeks - but the mist towering over everything below it, combined with the suddenly pouring rain, made it really awesome.

Somehow, I didn’t even know about this trail until my neighbor, teammate and good friend Aidan showed it to me just before shelter-in-place began. Since then, I’ve made a habit of spending time running on Myrtle, sometimes even lapping it because I’m the only one out there, and it really is that nice. I see the same people every day: a man who walks his three dogs, my classmate and friend Chloe who lives nearby, a runner with a head of hair like a young Larry David, and even a woman who yells at me for running too close to her when I am a solid fifteen feet away. But truth be told, I hardly ever see anybody besides “the regulars.” It’s nice to have such a relatively unknown pocket of beauty right in my backyard, especially in a day and age where we runners have to stick within our own neighborhoods, often traveling the same roads and trails more than we would like. That’s what these next few weeks are all about: exploring the runner’s heaven that’s right in mine and your backyard, and turning this idea of “running in place” from a chore into an adventure. Today was a fitting start, and I’m pumped to get going!

👊✌️

Jonathan