Squaw Peak 50M
June 1, 2002
by Reyn Gallacher

First of all, what an incredible experience! I had been anticipating 
this race for about 8 months. This was the Squaw Peak 50 mile trail 
race. A well run, beautiful and fun race. Anyone wanting more info can 
check it out at http://hometown.aol.com/jbozung/oasis.htm. This was my 
first ultra, so I was excited, but also a little nervous. 
 
It all started Friday night with the pre-race dinner and final race 
briefing. When we walked in, my wife jokingly said "oh goodie, 
spaghetti, who would have thought...?" It was a little intimidating to 
see all these people walking around wearing various ultra 100 shirts 
and hats. Fortunately I didn't wear any of my marathon shirts, as that 
would have been way out of place. I felt like I was in the presence of 
superstars when the race director introduced guys like Karl Meltzer, 
Ian Torrence, Leland Barker and Nate McDowell.  
 
I arrived at the start at about 4:30 am Saturday morning. Nice morning 
as it was overcast, and cool, but not too cold. Doughnuts and drinks at 
the start, but I couldn't imagine trying to choke one of those down. As 
promised we were on our way at exactly 5:00. My mindset for this was to 
start slow and then slow down. I started towards the back of the pack 
and pretty much stayed there all day. As I had never run more than 30 
miles before, I wasn't sure how my body would react as we got into the 
30s and 40s. I wasn't going to worry about my time, other than the 9½-
hour cutoff at mile 33 (2:30 pm). By the way, the race starts and ends 
at the same park, which is at about 5200 feet. 
 
The first couple of miles were slightly downhill on a beautiful running 
trail next to a river. As it was still a little dark we couldn't see 
much, but what I could see was very pretty. I was really holding back 
just trying to get in the groove, probably 10 minute miles or so. After 
2 miles we turned up the trail and started going up, up and up. 
Everyone in the line I was in (all the elites were already far ahead) 
would walk the up hills and run the flats. We got to the second aid 
station (at 5 miles) where a scout troop was handing out candy, 
pretzels, cliff shots, and filling our water and PowerAde bottles. I 
was doing great on the drinking and eating and feeling really good. 
Just for curiosity I glanced at my watch and saw 1:20. I was a little 
surprised that I had run just 5 miles in about 6 minutes faster that my 
½ mary PR but not worried as I was not worried about time. 
 
After a couple more miles of up, we came to a beautiful open meadow 
where we were finally able to let it loose for a couple miles and 
actually run. It felt good to let the legs go and stretch them out a 
little bit. The next 4 or 5 miles were a rolling dirt rode that 
gradually worked its way up to our first pass at about 8500 feet. Still 
feeling pretty good, but legs were starting to get just a hint of 
fatigue. 
 
The next six miles were a riot, slight downhill on a dirt, rocky, road. 
These miles were kind of technical, as you really had to concentrate on 
your footing. Obviously I didn't concentrate enough, as it was during 
this portion that I caught a toe on a rock and had my first fall. 
Fortunately no damage, just a few scrapes. After all, what's an ultra 
without a little blood! At the end of this section (about 22.5 miles) 
we came to a paved road (yuck!) for about 3 miles and this part was 
really tough for me. I think my quads were a little tired after the 
long stretch of downhill, so I had to walk on the rolling uphills and 
shuffle on the flats and downhills.  
 
Finally came to the aid station at about mile 26 (that sounds familiar) 
and we were back onto dirt roads again. But again, more uphill for the 
next 7 miles or so. So again more walking and shuffling. The next aid 
station was at mile 30. I was struggling with my stomach at this point 
and couldn't eat much of anything.  
 
The next three miles approaching the cutoff were beautiful on a single 
track through a meadow full of wild flowers and young quaking aspen. 
More uphill and I was really starting to struggle. As there was no one 
within sight in front or in back, I was able to talk to myself and tell 
myself to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Finally 
came to mile 33 (cut-off point) at about 12:45, so plenty of time 
before the 2:30 cut-off.  
 
The last couple of aid stations I hadn't been able to eat much as I was 
feeling a little nauseous. I also couldn't drink any more PowerAde, as 
the taste would almost make me puke. But the woman (Jeanie) running 
this aid station had a taste of heaven in chips and salsa. She even 
mixed up some guacamole dip that was out of this world. My stomach 
started to feel better and I was on my way. I thanked her over and over 
for feeding me the best meal I think I have ever experienced! 
 
This was a boost emotionally to get to this point as I had run from 
here to the end a couple of weeks ago so I knew the course, but I 
didn't have 33 miles on my legs then, so it was with a little different 
perspective that I moved on. 
 
The first couple of miles after this point are uphill so I walked most 
of it. But after that, there was some flat and some downhill and I was 
feeling good, running, and even passing a few people. I had a rush of 
energy and felt like maybe 12 hours as a goal may be doable after all. 
I came to the hardest stretch of the course, up the face of a mountain. 
Literally a 1300 foot elevation gain in just over a mile. I was walking 
and still feeling pretty good, knowing that after I summited, the last 
10 miles were downhill. It was at this point that the whole race 
changed in a matter of seconds.  
 
It had been overcast all morning and I was thinking how great that was 
as the two days previously had been in the mid 90's. Today had been 
much cooler. After an overcast morning, the sun had been out for a 
couple of hours. About halfway up the face of this mountain, I could 
see a storm rolling in and lightning all around. I thought that a 
little rain would be nice to cool things down. Boy was I ever wrong.  
 
After a couple of minutes of sprinkles, the wind came up so strong that 
I could hardly stand up. Then the hail hit. Here I was on the face of 
this mountain, with no shelter anywhere, dressed in running shorts and 
a coolmax t-shirt being beaten by hail and hurricane force winds. I was 
trying to keep my face covered as best as possible because this stuff 
really hurt! It took only a few seconds before I was drenched and very 
cold. I never thought I could go from hot and sweaty to such an 
incredible cold in only a few seconds. I tried to hide behind some 
bushes for a minute or two, but that did no good, so I kept trudging 
on. There were now about 6 runners in a bunch and we just kept slowly 
trudging on to try to get over the top of this mountain and get out of 
this weather. At this point, no one was thinking about being in a race, 
just getting off this mountain! After finally crawling up (on already 
frozen hands) the last little patch of snow to the summit (9300 feet), 
we finally started running down the other side towards the aid station 
that was about 200 yards down the mountain. The wind was so strong that 
I literally was blown off my feet at one point, but had to just keep 
trudging on.  
 
When I got into the aid station, I was shaking uncontrollably and 
couldn't really talk. I have never before felt so cold that I couldn't 
control the shaking of my entire body. The extremely helpful crew at 
the aid station stuck me in a tent with a couple other people to try to 
warm us up. I sat there shaking uncontrollably for about 2 minutes and 
decided that the only way I was going to get warm was to try to keep 
moving down the mountain. While in the tent, I tried to eat a cookie, 
but my hand and head were shaking so bad, I couldn't get the cookie in 
my mouth. I can honestly say that never in my life have I been that 
cold. I think that not only was I drenched and extremely cold, but I 
was physically exhausted and couldn't generate any heat. 
 
When I crawled out of the tent, the crew helped me up, refilled my 
water bottles (I had quit drinking PowerAde many miles ago) and went on 
my way shaking uncontrollably and stumbling down the mountain. It had 
stopped raining, but I just couldn't get warm. Finally after about ½ 
hour of stumbling, I started getting some feeling back in my arms and 
legs and amazingly, after about 3 miles I was starting to feel much 
better. I am so glad I didn't stay in that tent any longer. 
 
The next four miles were downhill on a rocky single track. Funny, when 
I ran this a couple of weeks ago, I was able to fly down, but now I had 
to keep cussing at myself to pick my feet up as I kept tripping over 
rocks and roots. Plus, I now had the added element of fun in that the 
trail was muddy and very slippery. At about mile 46, my brother had 
come up the trail to meet me and run in with me. I was sure glad to see 
him. The last three miles were on a paved rolling downhill course. I 
again looked at my watch and saw that it was about 12:25 (elapsed 
time). I decided then that I could still break 13 hours so off we went. 
I ran (if you can call it that) the flats and downhills and still had 
to walk the uphills. With about a mile and a half to go I saw my 2 sons 
(ages 14 and 10) who had run up the road to find Dad. That was great as 
they were able to pull me into the finish. Fortunately they were not 
able to see the tears in Dad's eyes as I was 1) emotionally, physically 
and mentally spent, 2) glad to be almost done and 3) really happy to be 
able to finish something like this with my sons on either side. 
 
We came around the last turn and across the finish line in 12:57. A 
slow time, but I was just glad to be done. I saw my wife and daughter 
waiting at the finish and I was so happy. In about 2 hours time, I had 
gone from extreme cold and misery, to being warm and so happy to be 
done and see everyone at the finish. By the time I finished, I was 
actually able to joke about the storm with some of the people I had 
been up there with. Wow, that storm is an experience I will never 
forget. 
 
I spoke with Karl Meltzer (who ran an amazing time and course record of 
7:35). I told him that he missed all the fun by missing the storm. He 
had already been home, showered, eaten, had a beer, and come back to 
enjoy that post race festivities. That guy is truly amazing. 
 
Now that I have had a couple of days to think about it, I can't wait to 
do it again next year. That is one thing about having such a poor time; 
I should be able to beat it next year! Again, a great experience and 
one that I would recommend to anyone. Basically, the mountains and 
nature kicked my butt, but next year I will be back to get revenge.