The Beautiful La Sal Mountains
Starting at oh-dark-thirty. Race Director let me start with the 50 Milers (at 6am)! Awesome guy, that Justin…
The Halfway Point, at Mile 16
Crossing the Finish Line in 87 dF temps after 7 hours 13 minutes of running.
The 50k Map!
Elevation Profile for 50k!
I was researching single track trail 50k races held in Utah during the month of March, and I found Behind The Rocks. Just south of Moab, in the high desert and set against the backdrop of the La Sal Mountains, the BTR run is a challenging yet beautiful race. It is an out and back, with some variation on the way back to keep it interesting. Just prior to the turnaround, at the halfway point, there are a series of ledges involving some 3rd class scrambling and a bit of exposure. FUN!
I contacted the race director to ask some questions; mainly to make sure the event was not on pavement and to find out the total amount of elevation gain. Justin responded to my questions promptly. He was really friendly and encouraging. He mentioned the course was a bit longer than a 50k (turns out it’s 32.5 miles), that it was definitely not on pavement, and it was ~3,800 ft of gain (turns out it’s ~4,100 ft of gain). In my experience running 50k trail races, the Race Directors are often not hung up on the specific distance or gain parameters and their main focus is running a safe and smooth event.
