Zsuzsanna's 2011 Running with The Devil Race Report
Honestly, I signed up for this race with intentions of just showing face and having fun with with the trail running team and friends. It is 8 days before the BIG ONE, The Escarpment Trail Run....a definite goal race for me.
3 hours I can do. I can use this as training for the Wasatch 100 in September. I never ran a race for a given time, but always for a distance....Running with the Devil goes up and down the ski slopes of Vernon Valley....3.1 mile loop ran as many times as you can then fill in remaining time with a .5 mile loop that's just as steep as the big one. The 5k loop has 1100" elevation gain and 1100" loss as well.
I figured we'd all take it easy as the temps have been over 100º the last few days leading up to the race and forecast said the same for day of. Well, it was cloudy yet very humid. Definitely not as horrid as I imagined.
I had a couple other tea mates, Elizabeth and Chris toeing the line, so I knew I might get carried away...funny...the girls you know, you want to beat. If you don't know them, well, then you have to beat them.
First loop :38 and change...good and steady, breathing hard, but I'm always breathing hard. The downhill, which is what I am good at, seemed choppy and I was not happy with my form.
Loop 2 - :41 and change...strong going up, thinking wow, I love this....short wrong turn off the course (signature), mental recovery as I got passed back by a girl while at it, ran hard back down.
Loop 3 - :44 minutes as I decided to change out of my Inov-8s and into more cushioned Brooks Cascadias....the small rocks and gravel hurt my feet!
Otherwise feeling great, in 1st F but can see a girl behind me, we leapfrog a couple of times...downhill I run hard and its just me.
Loop 4 - :41 or 42 minutes? sun is out and it's HOT!!!! Got lapped by awesome Mike Dixon (winner, of course)....run hard down, chatting with a friend. Get in and have time for a small loop so off I go....7:13, I get back and got under 6 minutes left, I try again, harder...I ran that last small loop in 5:57!!!!
Except that I am 16 seconds beyond the 3 hr limit and it doesn't count!!! But at least I tried, tried HARD!! I can't believe I had in me such a sprint 3 hours into this tough race! Officially 12.9 miles covered, 1st Female, 3rd overall out of 70 runners! I am very happy, glad I pushed.
I got to recover for Escarpment. My quads and front of my ankles are very sore...foam roller and stretching, twirling, whatever it takes. I hope I didn't mess it up too much for the race I love the most: ETR!!
