West Cliff Drive Santa Cruz: A Run Worth Flying To

I am a low mileage runner (4-6 miles) and I love nothing better than being on travel and running in a new and exciting location, like Hyde Park in London, that makes you forget what your body is doing. As I have gotten older and my knees have gotten more crotchety, this diversion is particularly welcome. I would much rather ogle the scenery than focus on my inner body and its varied aches and pains.

One of my favorite destination runs is the Cliff Walk in Santa Cruz California. It has eye-popping delights sure to bring out your inner Zen master. Being at sea level has the added bonus of making you feel like an Olympic sprinter on steroids.

The Cliff walk is a pedestrian walkway that borders Santa Cruz Bay and its towering cliffs. This is not a run for those who like solitude. The path is filled with fellow revelers, some old, some young, some four-legged, and some looking like they never left the 60’s. This is Santa Cruz after all. Million dollar homes line the street and surfers with their boards are so plentiful at the eastern edge of the run that I was wondering what I was doing on dry land. Surely man’s place is in the sea on the large swell that crashes with a bone-shattering plunge over the sand bar of Steamer’s Lane. The majority of the surfers were not prepubescent thrill seekers either. Many looked like middle-aged accountants with a few grandmothers tossed in for good measure. If you can avoid concussions and limb severing accidents, surely surfing adds years to your dance card. The surfing museum is housed in the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, which adds a nice architectural flare to the run.

The turning point for the run occurs at Natural Bridges State Park (NBSP). While I just zoom into the parking lot and touch the fence, a return visit may be in order. NBSP is home of the Monarch Grove where over 100,000 Monarch Butterflies roost each winter. The Monarchs become living leaves; orange and black wings glistening as the breeze wafts their branch to and fro.

This run is spectacular at any time of the year but I particularly enjoyed this mid-December encounter because it was snowing back in Denver and I was in shorts and a thin top breathing in the sunshine and salt infused air.