Got lot’s of events to catch you up on! I don’t know if I’ve been too busy to write or if my mental health is what is causing my lackadaisical performance. At any rate, I plan on getting this first of three planned updates posted by week’s end.
Event: Shannon Trail Race 3
Distance: 15K
Date: 2025-02-22, Sat, 8:00a
Time: DNS
Location: San Angelo, TX; San Angelo SP
Event Host: San Angelo Road Lizards (SARL)
Shannon Trail Race 3 is the third and final race in the trail series I’ve been trying to complete for the past 3 years. I was so close! But nooOH. Fate stepped in race day to say, “Third time ain’t a charm for you lady!”
Thanks to another “arctic blast” blasting through Texas the week of the race, I had to cancel several days of my trip. (I’d originally planned on spending several days at the park doing training runs.) Instead, I went to Austin to babysit my condo and made sure the pipes didn’t freeze.
Freezing in Austin meant really freezing in San Angelo. Prediction was 19°F. Way too cold to camp in the back of my truck. After adding more dollars to the reservation and processing cancellation penalties, I had a cabin—with heat—ready for my use Friday night.
I arrived at the park late afternoon Friday. The ladies at the gate remembered me from my two recent visits, particularly the evening I rolled up looking for shelter out of the 30mph wind gusts (Race 1). I chatted them up as they checked me in and gave me the run down on where there was water and working toilets in the park. Quick trip back into town for an HEB curbside order—groceries (protein!) for the weekend—and I’d settled in for the evening, looking forward to finally collecting the last of the three medals for this series. I was also on track to receive first place in my age group. (It pays to show up people!)
I set my alarm for 6:30 AM, settling in under a light blanket in the comfy 70°F ambient temperature in my cabin. Between 3:00 and 3:30, I was rudely awakened. I was cold. Really cold. Shivering-under-my-blanket cold!
Heating was still working so I assumed I’d been overly optimistic with my light sleepwear and single blanket. I shook violently as I added a doubled thermal blanket and a fleece throw on top of me. 30 minutes later, I shook myself through pulling on insulated running pants and a hoodie. Then turned the thermostat up to 75°. I felt 80° was just asking to get too warm. Joke was on me. I was already burning up.
It wasn’t until a little before 6:00 AM, after I’d also pulled out my down sleeping bag and climbed into it under my double piled blankets, that the light bulb in my brain finally lit up. “I think I have a fever.” Duh!
I didn’t have acetaminophen or ibuprofen—somehow my usual packet of Salt Sticks and ibuprofen was missing from my hydration pack—and definitely no thermometer. When the shivering wouldn’t abate and was so violent I couldn’t pour water into a hydration bottle, I finally acknowledged that I wasn’t going to be doing any trail running that day.
A couple of instances of severe breathlessness coupled with the fever made the decision to go to the ER easy. I knew there were some bad respiratory illnesses going around. My nephew and niece-in-law had each lost their mothers within the previous two weeks from complications of flu and pneumonia. Yep, off I went to a local ER. I did finally stop shaking on the drive into town with the seat warmers, defroster, and heat blasting away in confined space of the truck cab.
And that’s where I spent race morning.
I tested negative for the big three: COVID-19, RSV, and FLU. A three-hour cycle alternating between acetaminophen and ibuprofen got the fever under control. Apparently some unspecified URI—Upper Respiratory Infection.
Oh! Despite not participating in Race 3, I still had enough points in my age group to snag that first place award. 😜
There were two more events in February that I was really looking forward to participating in, although not as a runner.
The first was the Happy Trails Trail Race on February 23, the Sunday after I would have completed Race 3 in the Shannon Trail Series. Happy Trails was a race put on by one of my former trail running coaches. She’s still managing a successful women’s trail running group in Austin, Happy Treading (formerly Trailhead Running), and this was her last stint as a Race Director. I was looking forward to seeing and supporting her as well as some of my Trailhead OGs and the Happy Treading gang.
Unfortunately, the ER visit in San Angelo and the ongoing fever, (albeit low-grade by that point) forced me to notify her that I wasn’t going to make it—probably best if I didn’t. I actually texted her from the ER. It was barely 24 hours before I’d be needed at the race venue and I wanted to give her as much warning as I could.
Next up was The Active Joe’s Cross Timbers Trail Run on March 1. Okay, technically it wasn’t a February race, but it sort of rolled up in with the rest of my February travels. I was equally excited about this one. I was making a weekend of it so volunteering for multiple shifts. In addition to aid station and packet pickup, I’d also volunteered to check the course day before the race. Meant I’d get to see the entire course!
The Active Joe volunteers with the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) and has been sponsoring an athlete for WSER entry every year since 2014. Check out this quick read about their involvement and 2024 sponsorship.
I wanted to see how I could get involved volunteering for WSER myself as well as learning more about the sponsorship. I’ve participated in Active Joe’s Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run (now a WSER qualifier) many times, but I’d never volunteered and worked any of those events. I was looking forward to a long weekend on the shores of Lake Texoma getting to know The Active Joe team better.
This was a week after my “fever” weekend. The fever came back two days after it had abated, this time low-grade (99°F) rather than the high-grade (103°F) in the ER. Still, I knew I was likely infectious and did not want to be that person who went to a large event and got everyone else sick.
I felt really bad, particularly after I learned the RD had several more volunteers who hadn’t been able to be there due to car accident and other uncontrollable events. Hopefully she’ll give me another chance at later events.
Last, but not least, is my training in February
I had a decent showing for February. However, you can see I’m still not hitting the consistency I need. If I’m ever going to progress to running and not just power hiking (and not much power in it, at that) these longer distances, consistency is non-negotiable.
As I mentioned in my “Getting Creative” post, I’ve been using the short interval (5K) training to increase my endurance for a stead state run. My goal is to make those short 15-30 min runs a part of daily training. (FYI: The ZRX Zombies Run app didn’t work out so well for treadmill running, but the Garmin app has.) I managed several strength and conditioning workouts, although not nearly enough. Also weekly hip/knee/ankle strengthening at physical therapy. Those I need in a daily training routine, too. No really long runs for February, though, outside of the SARL Race 2 that first weekend of the month.
It’s a work in progress. I take it as a win that I’m still at it and haven’t given up by giving in to my usual “all or nothing” thinking. Instead, I’m taking credit for what I am doing and just keep moving!
