2016 Running With the Devil 12-Hour

Harder Than Hyner

After the Hyner Trail Challenge 25K I knew I needed a lot more experience and training on hills. Even given that the Hyner hills were much steeper than what I'd be facing at the HURL Elkhorn 50K, I'm now realizing that at my speed and fitness the first cutoff time at 16 miles may be a challenge as it comes at the top of a 2000' climb. Hence I started looking for any races with multiple large climbs. Running With the Devil 12 Hour race was the earliest that fit that description. Though it was short notice, work was able to give me the necessary time off, so I made a motel reservation and registered.

Race weekend arrived and it promised to be a gorgeous weekend - for vacationers, too hot and sunny for a tough ultra. With so many headed for the Shore or the Poconos traffic was much heavier than normal even at 1:45 pm before rush hour usually starts. I guess many left work at noon to get a jump on the weekend. I wasn't in any hurry. It's only a 3 hour drive so I have more than enough time to find my motel, check out where the race starts, and get dinner. At least my motel choice was conveniently located only 5 minutes from the race, but other problems surfaced starting at check-in. I got my pass cards from registration and walked up stairs to my room. I had a little trouble getting the card to work at first, what was taken back by what I saw when I finally got the door open. The room had suitcase, clothes, toiletries, etc already present. At least the person renting the room wasn't there. So back down stairs to registration to let them know. Apparently the previous clerk had moved me to another room and entered that in the computer but had not changed any of the paperwork. Aside from a mild inconvenience no hard done.

After unpacking I drove a short way up the road to a pizza place for my traditional baked ziti pre-race dinner. Back at my room I checked FB, the RWOL forums, RunningAhead, and my email before checking out what was on TV, then reading a while, then turned in early about 9:00 am. I had left a wake up call for 4:30 to give me time for coffee and scones that I'd brought with me. I was too early for the motel breakfast which wasn't available until 6:30 am. Uncharacteristically I did not lay out all my running gear before I went to sleep. When I awoke the next morning I could see that it was already light out, then turned to check the clock and realized it was 5:17 am. I doubt that I would have slept through a wake up call, so I'm assuming it was never made. The race started at 6:00 am, so I rushed through my preparations, not even bothering with coffee, then checked out. Normally I get a receipt printed when I check out but that was taking so long I eventually said to forget it. I was not happy about the missed wake up call and this added to my annoyance. I left in a huff.

Parking and check-in at least went smoothly, no bib, just an ankle chip. I filled my water bottles and put my camera in the belt pouch. At least this race I would get a few pictures. While waiting for the start I asked one of the volunteers to take a photo so I have at least one picture of me from the race. The course was also unique in that each lap started by running through the ski lodge, down stairs, then up onto the dirt road for the first hill. The aid station was set up at the bar of the lodge. No, no alcoholic beverages were being served, but there must have been three dozen choices of food ranging from half a dozen different fruits to candy, cookies, salty snacks, candy bars, and granola bars as well as an assortment of drinks.

After walking through the bar area, down the stairs, and up a small hill, I was able to jog about 100m before starting to walk up the first hill. Essentially everyone that I could see was walking. The leaders may have been running but I didn't look up far enough to check. We didn't get our first break in the steady uphill until about a quarter mile into the race. There was a left turn and slight downhill before we turned right again and began a relentless uphill, mostly in the open trudging through knee high grass in many places following the orange arrows. Even before reaching the top of that portion at the top of the first ski lift I was pausing every so often to give my legs a rest and catch my breath. That first ski lift marked approximately one mile, then we had a brief respite that was more and more welcome each loop, where we ran on a single track through woods between ski slopes. Yes, I could actually run portions of this where it wasn't too rocky. As we came out of the woods we took a sharp dip then left up the second big climb to the top of the second ski lift. This portion was less steep than the first, but after all the climbing already it wasn't much easier. At the top was an unmanned water stop 1.6 miles into the loop, but that water would not be replenished during the race, so the RD asked us to be considerate, carry our own water during the race, and use it only as needed, not being wasteful. I was carrying two 10.5 oz bottles, so I didn't need any that first lap. I did sit for a minute to rest my legs, then started on the 1.4 miles downhill to finish the loop. Being slightly shorter than the uphill, parts were steeper, some steep enough that I did not find it runnable. Other sections were loose dirt and gravel that I sometimes slid on walking; there was no way I would risk running those portions and probably end up on my rear if I did. While I could move faster, it was not as fast as I can run the more gentle downhill on Mt Joy at Valley forge NP. I think most of my downhill miles were in the 15-16 minute range.

The first 3 mile loop took about an hour; the second was 1:14. At that point it was getting warm enough and my legs were getting tired enough that I started taking longer breaks while I ate and drank. At first the breaks were only 5-10 minutes. The loops were also getting slower. Trudging up the hill might be an understatement. At times it was 30-50 steps up, then stop, bend over to rest and catch my breath, and repeat what seemed like ad infinitum. Each time I reached one of the ski lifts I felt like I needed to sit and rest before I could continue. The loops were now taking me 1:25-1:30 to complete, then add on increasingly long rest breaks between loops. Except for that short section through the woods there was no shade, so even my freqent rests kept me out in the sun which was now getting very warm, the type you describe as beating down on you. The uphills were a long string of walk, stop, catch my breath, walk, stop, catch my breath, on and on. After 4 loops I wondered how much more I could take. The heat was tough. I was now going through both my 10.5 oz bottles on the way up and refilling at least one at the top for the trip down. I seriously considered calling it a day at far short of the 30 miles I thought was possible before I saw the course. That estimate was quickly revised to 24 miles maximum after my first lap; then revised down each subsequent lap. I must have sat there close to half an hour before getting up to start my 5th loop. Oddly enough after the first loop the hills didn't seem to get any tougher until this one. By now my legs were so tired that sections I ran before I was now walking. It wasn't until I reached the top and had only 1.4 miles left, promising myself that after this lap I was done, that I could move into a shuffle and then a slow jog down hill. Once I got moving and with the end in sight I was surprised at how fast I could move downhill. I think that may have been my fastest downhill mile all day.

I crossed the time mat for 15 miles at 7:27:45 by my watch. Even though I had promised myself that was the last lap, I rested, ate, and drank for almost a half hour before finally turning in my chip. I think I was hoping to convince myself that I could do one more, but every time I got up to get something else to eat or drink my quads said no, you aren't walking up any more hills. I think I could have handle another lap in the heat, but my legs were completely shot. Even today as I write this I wonder how I am going to get out for even a walk to work out some of the soreness. I feel more like I do after a 24 hour race or hard 50K than I would expect after "only" 15 miles. With 1100 feet of gain each lap, that was 5500 feet of gain - and loss, much more than anything I have ever done before, and I am feeling the after effects.

As I mentioned earlier, moving at that pace puts me in danger of not making the mid-race cutoff time at the Elkhorn 50K. Hopefully there i won't need to extended breaks I was taking here, but I have a lot of training to do, both in increasing my weekly distance and long runs, as well as running a lot more vertical gain. I have several training runs and race potentially on my schedule including my first fatass 50K. As difficult as the hill runs are, I think one a week is the most I can handle, especially if it also doubles as my long run. That may put my midweek interval workouts at risk, but the hills are more important for my goal this summer. This race did fulfill its purpose though, which was to give me some experience with running a lot of vertical gain and giving me a better sense of what pace I can run under those conditions.