I ran into the night. It got colder and eventually I had on every clothing item I was carrying, save the rain poncho. My feet had feeling as long as I kept jogging.
I took the alternate route after Crescent City to avoid hiring a boat shuttle across the Smith River and rejoined the regular CCT route at the Mouth of Smith River Road. The alternate route was sleepy highways, residences, what appeared to be a jail, farms. It passed through a couple of small towns, closed for the night.
At the Mouth of Smith River Road I made my way to the beach, the final few miles. The women that day had said they had to walk in front of someone's private property. I headed over to climb the rocks in front of the houses but a couple out (fishing?) said that the owners would get mad if they saw me, that the tide was coming in but I should take the beach, I probably had enough time to get around the point. So I took the beach and went as fast as I could, running down the sand and then climbing over large rocks as I rounded the bend. It probably took twenty or thirty minutes to clear the rocky section, but afterwards there was a wide beach. And there had been no need to pass in front of private property, so far as I was aware.
It looked like someone with a headlamp was walking on a bluff path and I stopped to talk to a homeless looking man. The woman who had been walking ahead approached and told me I should take the path on the bluffs... to the highway. She looked agitated. The man could tell I had been up all night, he was impressed with my journey. I don't think the woman understood. She tried to tell me there was a river ahead that I wouldn't be able to cross. There was no river on the map, maybe she was thinking of the river to the south. I ran up the beach bidding them goodbye.
I wasn't sure if I would have cell reception when I got to Oregon, to call my parents. We had agreed to try to meet at the agricultural station across the border, on the highway. I had sent my dad a message an hour or so ago trying to give him an expected time of arrival, they said it was hard for them to see my SPOT data on their phones.
The sun was just coming up as I was met with my final series of boulders to climb. I was extra careful, I was so close to Oregon now, only a mile or two away. Climbing over the rocks felt like my final test. I made it through and ran down the beach listening to music, watching the sky begin to lighten. I looked down at my phone and saw myself cross the Oregon border. I was happy, but also tired and cold. I ran farther, just to be sure I had made it, until I came to a trail leading up to the road. I had arrived at Oregon's Crissey Field State Park. I did have cell reception when I made it to the road and texted my parents to let them know where I was, they were just ahead and turned around to pick me up. We were farther into Oregon than the agricultural checkpoint. I was freezing when I stopped moving and was so glad to see them.
My parents took me straight to get my favorite meal, a salad. They had brought me extra clothes and I showered, changed, and slept until we had to be out of the hotel (they had another hotel booked for the next night) while my dad did my laundry (thank you dad!). We drove to Ashland and explored the city, I stopped in at the running store. That night I texted my brother Chris and talked to my grandma to tell them I made it. They had both been following my journey. My friends and family congratulated me online, including my aunt Dianne (the first to read my entire blog, thank you Dianne!) and uncle Mick, uncle Wade, and the aunt and uncle who got me started running marathons in 2004, Clare and Gary. My grandma said that I sounded especially tired and I turned in early.
According to my SPOT data, I began the run on August 20th, 2017 at approximately 12:10:58 and ended the run on October 4th, 2017 at approximately 06:51:07. This works out to 44 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 9 seconds.
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