If the Badwater 135 ultramarathon that starts in Death Valley is not your thing, but you dream of dry skin, itchy eyes, and nosebleeds, then the Handcart Days Half Marathon might be for you. The race took place in the high desert near Salt Lake City in mid-July 2018 to celebrate Utah’s Pioneer Day state holiday. The event name comes from the vehicles the Mormons used in the 1800’s to trek across the country looking for a place of refuge to call their own.
The course is mostly paved biking trails beginning in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains at an elevation of about 4300 feet. It makes its way through a nature preserve by the Great Salt Lake and then loops through a few hills that vary by about 350 feet. The locals call the course like their state-limited 3.2% beer, flat.
Our exodus began in downtown Bountiful near rusted cliffs, but looks like a Midwestern suburb complete with irrigated green lawns and trees. About 250 faithful runners were there at the official time of 6 am, and the not-so-faithful came for the 5:30 am start time to avoid the heat, however they were ineligible for awards. When the sun comes up over the mountains in the desert things really heat up, but despite the 100 degree forecasted high temperature for the day, it was a pleasant 77 degrees at 6 am with about 30% humidity.
After the shotgun start, our journey twisted through city streets for a few miles to the edge of the Great Salt Lake through a nature preserve where we picked up a smooth, flat, and mostly-paved trail for about five miles through desert-like conditions. There were sections of the trail that were wooden boardwalks, and I almost tripped because I was looking at the unobstructed views of the mountain range on one side, and the dry salt “marsh” on the other. It seemed to be a popular place for horses, chipmunks, and shore birds including inland seagulls. There was a cool breeze coming off the lake, the sun was behind the mountains, the biting gnats were not out, so conditions were really quite glorious.
The excursion then turned onto a bridge that must have been the spot where Brigham Young famously said, “This is the place,” for the Mormons to settle. That would explain the 14 lanes of traffic we were crossing to accommodate the modern-day settlers. From there, you catch a clear sight of the wide valley where half of Utahns live that resembles Miami only if it was in a desert with mountains. We moved on to another bike trail with a few hills including one that got steeper as you neared the top like a ski-jump pointed upwards. Then, as the sun began to rise over the mountains, my sandpaper skin and I made it up a long incline back toward the finish line and won a cowbell for coming in third in my age group. The race was well-organized, the route well-marked, and there was a lively crowd at the finish, but I really just needed to jump into a pool. - by Sam Kozaitis
