Fast Running Blog

I just moved back to Utah (Cottonwood Heights). I'm looking for suggestions on nice places to do long runs. Specifically, somewhere with a nice long sustained climb. Trail, road, path, whatever, as long as it is runable.

Millcreek Canyon has some great trails.  The pipeline trail just above the Log Haven Restaurant has some great uphill stretches.

City Creek Canyon has a long sustained uphill, not sure of the mileage, but think you can get at least four miles all uphill.

The Bonneville Shoreline trail has some great hilly runs.

If you want to run on streets, the Avenues are great for hill running.

If you are looking at road runs - up MillCreek Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon or Big Cottonwood Canyon have lots of long uphills.

Also - the Little Cottonwood trail has about 3 miles of uphills.

Dallen:

Welcome back. If I lived where you do the first thing I would try would be move to Provo, but if that was not an option I would run up the Emmigration Canyon and back. Sing the last verse of Come, Come Ye Saints as you climb up the Little Mountain.

Thanks for the suggestions. There is no chance of moving to Provo. I'm at the U for a year.

Does anyone actually run up (or down) the cottonwood canyon roads? There's not much space for anything but cars.

I also go to the U. As someone mentioned already, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail is great. You can get on part of it at the U and run for as long as you want. I get on it near the Huntsman Cancer Hospital (very northeast part of campus). It's beautiful. I've never tried running up Big or Little Cottonwood canyons, but there have to be some dirt trails up there. For some of my hill running, I run through the streets on the east side where there are plenty of ups and downs...a good place for this is Wasatch Blvd if you don't mind cars and bicycles driving at high speeds next to you for parts of it.

P.S. It would be fun to run together sometime. I'll try my hardest to keep up.

I have run down the last several miles of Little Cottonwood Canyon with no problem.  I had to get off the Little Cottonwood Trail because I was the only runner on it one day last fall and it was creeping me out.

A couple months ago I went up and back to Alta and all the cars were very respectful - I think they are used to that kind of traffic (at least bikes, I did get a few looks up near the top of the canyon).  I also used to live right at the base of Big Cottonwood and it was okay for running, but a little more traffic, so I tried to stay away from it.  But in that area, Creek Road is pretty, hilly and a lot of fun, so is Wasatch Blvd and out into Draper.  Another good place is the Dimple Dell park trails, designed for horses mostly but fun trails and a lot of good rolling climbers.

Emigration canyon is good, just keep an eye out for the cyclists.

Also the Porter Rockwell Trail and Draper Canal Trails in Draper have some gentle but long uphills - and good equestrian trails off to the side that you can run on.

Sasha, I have to laugh that you told Dallen the best place to run in SLC is to move to Provo.  True Happy Valley mentality.  If Provo is so nice, I would think you would want to discourage people from coming cause it would become overcrowded... which is exactly why I tell people that Logan stinks, the trails are terrible, the people are mean, and no one should ever move here.  Oh, and the winters are really cold.  ;)

Jon:

With as big as the Utah Valley is, and as many people as come out to races like Provo River Half , you would think we would see a lot of people training. But, alas, Provo River Trail has plenty of capacity. I hardly see anybody, runners, walkers, bikers, hardly a soul between 6 AM and 8 AM. 10 people during a run on average. I know almost every face. If somebody, especially a new face, is going faster than 9:00 in our direction, Jeff and I chase him down and invite him to join us.  Such opportunity does not present itself very often, maybe once a month. And this is not some obscure mountain trail, mind you. It is not like a whole lot of people run in the evening either, although definitely more than in the morning. Where are they? Gym? Home treadmill? Or maybe just racing untrained.

My sister used to live one mile south of BYU campus.  From the looks of things by her house, I would say all the runners are BYU students plodding through a few miles on the sidewalks over there.  Lots of people running all the time. 

Paul, Cody, and I know almost all the sub-8 runners in Logan, too.  There are very few of them that aren't USU/HS cross country members or FRB members.  I know I sure do a double take anytime I see someone going particularly fast on a Logan trail, but am happy to see some any and all runners on the trail, whatever the speed.  Heck, Paul and I even saw Carol Cabanillas running in Logan the day of Ogden marathon (we figure she was there for WAC track meet).

But again, Logan stinks, the mountain trails are terrible, the people are mean, and no one should ever move here.  And whatever you do, don't come run the Logan Peak Trail run this weekend.  ;)

Too late.  I already signed up.  And I am scared to death of the run.

It's great, you'll love it, Maurine.  Bring plenty of water and a sense of adventure! 

People have a way of hiding in the workwork. They hide from bad weather, cold, etc. Then they suddenly show up for races. On the Lakefront path in Chicago I once counted over 1000 people that I passed (not including those going the other direction) on a summer 20 miler. On winter days I have done 10 miles without seeing more than a handful of people, or occasionally none. Then in April about 25,000 people will show up to run the Shamrock Shuffle 8K. I doubt all of them were not running through the winter, they were just hiding somewhere.

Except I am talking about weather conditions that I would not think anybody would want to hide from - no rain, 60 degrees. Still a fairly empty trail.

It's about 6 miles to the top of City Creek, which is Rotary Park.  There are many water fountains along the way, even one at the top in Rotary Park.  There are also many bathrooms.  The elevation at Rotary Park is about 6000 feet, I'd guess the elevation at Memory Grove is about 4400.  I run in City Creek all the time, it's a wonderful place to run, it's paved all the way to the top.  On odd days, cyclists can use the canyon, there are several signs keeping foot traffic to the creek side of the road and cyclist on the other side.  I've never had a problem running here, or cycling for that matter, I highly recommend it. 

I've also run 5 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  There's a nice big parking lot at the base of the canyon.  I felt very safe.  There were plenty of other runners and cyclists.  There were a few tight spots but for the most part there is a pretty good shoulder.

Thanks for all of the suggestioins. It beats randomly searching for what I want (which I will still do anyway).

In case anyone runs across this in the future I suggest a little yellow "Bicycling  Salt Lake" book. Lots and lots of good ideas.

Hey, Dallen.  How's it going?  I hope your training is going well, man!  I have been using a tool that has been very helpful to me whenever I want to be adventurous with new training routes.  Check out: www.mapmyrun.com  It's a fun tool.....

We should get together to run sometime.  I am training a lot right now, but I'm probably too slow to run with you at least for another couple of months until I can get some decent speed.  I am hanging out in Utah Valley all summer until it gets cold.... so, we'll have to meet up for a training run or some food or something sometime.

--Ben