Athlete vs. heat - from The Washington Post

LOVELL CANYON, Nev. — It was 73 degrees and the early-morning sun was still rising over the Mojave Desert as nearly six dozen long-distance runners gathered at the start line and anxiously watched numbers tick down on the digital clock overhead.

Julie Bertoia, a 50-kilometer runner, descends into
 the lower part of the valley during the Running with
the Devil race in the Mojave Desert. 

“Make sure that you’re staying on top of your internal hydration and your external cooling,” the race organizer said into a microphone.

The runners shook their limbs loose and bobbed in place, eager for the start. The annual race is called Running with the Devil, and it takes place less than 30 miles from the glitzy air-conditioned casinos on the Strip in Las Vegas. The forecast called for an unseasonably cool day in the desert, but the racers — running a marathon, 50 kilometers, 50 miles or 100 kilometers — had assembled specifically for a physiological test in the heat.

Read the story from The Washington Post by Rick Maese - “Athlete vs. heat.”