run up and down sand dunes

Driving south from Oxnard toward Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway this past Saturday afternoon, the weekend before Christmas 2009, I did something that I had always wanted to do but hadn’t done yet. Near Point Mugu there’s this hill covered with sand which I had driven by many times and on which I had watched people going up and down. I thought that it would be fun to try myself someday. Well, I had decided that “someday” had come. I made a U-turn, pulled over my car on the east side of the road, changed into beach clothes, and decided to go for a run.

I had read online about this place, called the Point Mugu Sand Dunes, which is a popular spot for “sandboarding”. I didn’t see anyone sandboarding during the time I was there, just a few people stopping briefly along the road to walk up the hill a bit and take some pictures before resuming their drive down the scenic highway. Given my recent experience with snowboarding, I’m not all that eager to try sandboarding yet anyway. I found the running to be quite a challenge in and of itself.

I tried looking for a reference as to how steep the hill is but couldn’t find it. Whatever the actual height, the steepness was almost immediately apparent as I attempted to run. I was quickly out of breath and struggled to reach the top without stopping for a break and worked up quite a sweat on just the first trip up. I’m a regular runner, or at least I was up until a few weeks ago when I stopped to let my injured knee recover. Maybe I got out of shape that quickly, but I don’t think so, at least not all that much. It did feel good though and coming down was fast and effortless. I decided to run up and down the hill a total of five times before calling it quits. It was a decent workout and my knee didn’t hurt at all. I think running on the sand is easier on the knees than running on a hard surface like a sidewalk or trail… Anyway, I can’t wait to do this again! 2 years ago