Squaw Peak 50 Mile Trail Race Prequel

I summarized all the Squaw Peak 50 race information into one short document so I could have everything in one place. This may also be helpful to other racers who come across my blog. It will save me time when writing up my race report, because I can refer to all the basic info here.

Sat. June 5, 2010 - 5:00AM @ Vivian Park, Provo Canyon
270 Runners
Long sleeve T-shirt for all participants and medals to all finishers.

PRE RACE BRIEFING AND DINNER: Complimentary pasta dinner, Friday Night, June 4th from 5:00 to 7:30PM to all entrants, all others - $5.00 pre-paid. $10.00 at the door. Pre race briefing and packet pickup will begin at around 6:30 PM. I know these times might be early but I want to give everyone time to get home and get some sleep. The dinner will be at the Host Hotel - Hampton Inn & Suites, just south across the street from UVSC. Please make every effort to be at the pre race briefing. Saturday morning will not be the time for a lot of questions. Post race BBQ at Vivian Park. Entrants free, all others $5.

COURSE: It is a very challenging and scenic loop course through the Wasatch Mountains. It consists of - dirt trails (43%), dirt roads (38%) and some paved (19%). The paved sections are: The first 2.1 miles from the start at Vivian Park down the Provo River Trail to the first Aid Station. Then at the 22.7 mile mark, for 3.7 miles when you come out onto the Hobble Creek Road, and the last 3.7 down to the finish.

There is over 10,000+/- ft. of elevation gain and loss, with 5 major climbs varying from 1100 ft to nearly 3000 ft. The first starts at mile 2.1. A series of climbs takes you up 2700 ft. over 5 miles to an overlook of Squaw Peak. The last and most difficult climb takes you from the top of Berryport Canyon to the high point of the course, just before Windy Pass at about 9300 ft.

*NOTE* There can be sections of the course that are covered with snow. At about mile 11 after passing Rock Canyon, for about 2+ miles and then the sections approaching Windy Pass ('9000) for about 4 miles and the next 2 after the pass. About a mile after coming off the pass there are a couple of areas where you cross the snow that are fairly steep and can be un-nerving for some people.

AID, CUT-OFF TIMES and DROP BAGS: There are 10 Aid Stations varying from about 3 to 7 miles apart: Water, Powerade, fruit, candy, pretzels, cookies, sandwiches, crackers, chips, potatoes, salt, etc. Medical at start, finish, and at mile 33.5 (Little Valley aid station #8)

There is a 2:30 PM cut-off time at AS# 8. This is a safety cut-off to allow the back of the pack runners enough time to get over the back country and most difficult part of the course before it gets dark at around 9:30. THERE IS NO FINAL CUT-OFF TIME

(This means I must cover the first 33 miles in 9.5 hours. That’s a 17:00 average pace. Certainly not impossible. After that I’m free to crawl to the finish line as slowly as I like.)

SQUAW PEAK 50 MILEAGES

Location Mileage Elevation
Start 0.00 5194
Hope CG 5.587 6675
Rock Canyon 10.853 7695
Kolob Overlook 14.629 8527
Pole Heaven Gate 20.943 5775
Left Fork 26.051 5716
Sheep Creek 29.987 6645
Little Valley 33.528 7128
Windy Pass 41.499 8923
Finish 50.861 5194

Drop bags (check in by 4:30am) and pacers are allowed at Aid Stations 3 through 8 and 10. Crew has access to most of the course. The only access to miles 34-46 are on foot.

(Blaine agreed to pace me towards the end of the race. I’m going to have him waiting for me at aid station #8, the cutoff. If I don’t make it in time, he can console me as we head back to the start. If I make it before 2:30, his job is to make me keep going no matter what I say or look like. My goal is to try and finish before 12 hours. Last year’s winner finished in 8:05. The last person to cross the finish line took over 19 hours. If I keep that 17 minute pace for the entire race, it will take me 14 hours.)

Put your name, race #, and aid station # on your bags. Take drop bags to location "a" and put them along the guard rail according to the aid station signage! #8 gets the most drop bags. Please keep there size as small as possible and only what you absolutely need.

PARKING: Do not park in lots A, B, and C. We need to save these spaces for your family and friends when they come up later in the day! Do NOT park along the highway until the parking areas 1, 2, and 3 in white are full and you are instructed to do so.

Begin parking in the area 1, then 2, and finally area 3. Once the white area is full, parallel park next in green area 4. Then when instructed park in blue area 5 at an angle and from left to right. Again please park as close as possible. DON'T WASTE SPACE! If needed, park in green 6 area along Highway.

Cinco de Mayo 5K

I participated in the inaugural ScenicView Cinco de Mayo 5K race last week. For a first time race, it was really well put together. They capped the field at 240 runners and had to turn people away. That's good marketing. I normally don't get to run 5K's, but this one started at 6:00 pm in the evening, on a week night.

The Three Amigos. That's not a fake background. It's Utah.

Most of the racers opted to wear the technical t-shirt they gave us. I stand out in black on the left side of the photo below.

You may notice a few runners wearing Mexican wrestling masks.

The course was a little short of 5K, so my time was better than usual: 19:39. Good enough for 8th place if you don't count the bandit runner who came in 5th. We covered trails and surface streets in the Riverwoods area of Provo.

Coming into the finish line

It shouldn't come as a surprise that none of the top 10 finishers were wearing the race t-shirt. You might as well be wearing a sign that reads "I got forced into this race and haven't been training".

Along with the chips & salsa, fruit, and tres leches, they also had margaritas. Virgin of course.

I placed first in the 30-39 age group, scoring a pair of VIP passes to the Hale Theater in addition to the 2 tickets to see To Kill A Mockingbird that everyone got in their goodie bag. Rubio's was a sponsor, and I got coupons for 4 free tacos as well.

Like I said, great race from start to finish. I'd also like to give a shout out to Ashley Crist for taking some cool shots during the race. These photos all came from her site.

Salt Lake City Marathon Race Report

Up at 5:00. I got a good 4-4 ½ hours of sleep. Showered to warm up my muscles. Ate a bagel with peanut butter and honey for breakfast.

I had my gear set out the night before

Out by 5:30 and caught TRAX at the Murray station by 6:00. The University train we switched to was packed with runners.


We were all cutting it a little close. Had about 10 minutes to get ready.

Everyone hoping to be reunited with their drop bags after the race.

The Port-a-John lines were huge, so I found the corner of a building to pee against and then made my way to the starting line. The Salt Lake City Marathon started from Olympic Bridge on the U of U campus at 7:00 am. They had half and full marathoners starting together.


It was a little chaotic at the beginning trying to dodge all the slow pokes who feel they need to “race” from the front of the pack. Not surprising though, since 90% of the drivers in our state think the far left lane on the freeway is for enforcing the speed limit on everyone else. Don’t even get me started.


I did a terrible job of pacing myself the first half, as usual. I think I’m barely moving, and then I look at my watch and see I’m running a 7:30 pace. That wouldn’t last though. There were some ok downhill sections early on, but those gave way to long, gradual uphill portions towards the end—when the sun was baking us.

Mile 1 7:34
Mile 2 7:52
Mile 3 7:42
Mile 4 7:43
Mile 5 8:04
Mile 6 7:51

This elevation chart is deceiving. It makes it look like there's much more elevation drop than there really is. We're talking like 600 feet over 26 miles. That's nothing. And I could swear at least 8 of those last 10 miles were uphill.

These early miles were easy. I was pain free and feeling good. I walked through most of the aid stations which kept my pace from getting too fast. It was already warm and sunny by 8:00. Direct sunlight hurts my running more than anything else. I was drinking every chance I got.

Mile 7 8:20
Mile 8 7:59
Mile 9 8:20
Mile 10 7:46
Mile 11 8:06
Mile 12 8:33


I started feeling sore about halfway through—probably from running faster than I should. But also because I haven’t done a long run since that terrible 20 miler in the blizzard. That was 5 weeks ago.

Mile 13 8:36
Mile 14 8:14
Mile 15 8:13
Mile 16 8:28
Mile 17 8:31


The second half of the marathon was pretty boring scenery wise. One long, hot road heading north. I was spent after 17 miles, and it moved from being just sore to being painful. There were quite a few spectator aid stations, which I really appreciated. Every chance I got I would dump cold water on the back of my neck to try and cool myself down. One guy had an entire spread of snacks. That cup of Fritos I had were pure heaven. And I don’t even like Fritos.

Mile 18 8:57
Mile 19 8:42
Mile 20 9:08
Mile 21 9:56
Mile 22 9:01
Mile 23 9:41
Mile 24 9:58


I’m pretty much dying at this point. It feels like I’m not even moving forward. It’s hard to get moving again after each aid stop. The last 2 miles were really painful. All I can think about is being finished and knowing that this is my last marathon. (sadly, not Ultramarathon) This makes #8 after Deseret News, St. George, Ogden, Park City, Honolulu, Phoenix, and St. George.

Mile 25 10:50
Mile 26 9:23
.2 Miles 8:33


I could barely walk or stand when it was over. Fortune looked kindly on me when I entered the runners area and saw Blaine in line for his drop bag. He let me cut with him, saving me lots of painful standing in the sun. Headed straight to the massage line after, which wasn’t too bad. Only about a 20 minute wait. Totally worth it. She spent about 15 minutes on my legs, rubbing all the lactic acid out of my sore muscles. Felt so much better after.

I went to some herbal remedy booth next where a gal rubbed my legs down with a natural Ben-Gay type ointment. It felt great. Picked up some free food and swag before taking TRAX to my car. My official time was 3:45:05, an 8:35 pace. I came in 186th out of 1041 finishers, 148th out of 632 men, and 28th out of 91 in my 35-39 age group. Calories burned = 2909, the number of calories a 5’ 10” 174 lb man needs per day. I’m 5’ 8” 140 lbs.


The silver lining on the day was my knees. They didn’t bother me at all the entire race, or after. It was all glutes, quads, and calves. Those don’t worry me at all—they will recover fine. This means I should be able to keep training the way I need to for the Squaw Peak 50 in June. 7 weeks to go.