Logistics are tough on this route due to both parks (Mt. Diablo SP and Mt. Tamalpais SP) having restricted hours (8am to Sunset) with locked gates at entrances. To get an early start to be done before sunset, I camped in Mt. Diablo SP overnight with the family. One thing I became aware of upon arrival is that there are multiple gates on the road up to the summit that can be locked at night, which would require a 2+ mile, 2000ft climb before start. This turned out not to be the case for me (except the gate nearest the summit) so I only had to hike about .25 miles uphill to get to the start. The day started around 5:40am. The weather was near perfect, clear day and not overly hot. The first 30 miles went very well but I fell a bit behind on nutrition and paid for it at the end finishing much more slowly than expected. This route has some of the bay areas most impressive vistas stacked one after the other, such as Mt. Diablo summit, Lafayette Ridge Trail, Wildcat Peak, and Mt. Tamalpais summit. There is no running water in Mount Diablo SP or in many of the east bay regional parks at this time, so I stashed a bottle of water at The west entrance to Briones reservoir the day before. I also had support from my friend James Zahradka and his dad Jim for food and fluids at mile 40, just before the entrance to the Richmond Bridge. James Zahradka paced me to the finish at Mt. Tam. This run was not possible without the work that Jim Zahradka and many others did to get the Richmond Bridge opened to bikes/pedestrians.
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One thing I forgot to include with the initial report is that I could not have done this without the support of Yvette White, who put up with my irritability the night before while we camped out, drove me close the the summit at 5am and then met me on the other end late in the evening with the kids to see me finish. All while be harassed by the cops who wanted her to leave because the park was closing. She often enables me to do these crazy things and for that I'm forever grateful.