Palo Duro Trail Run (OCT 2023)

A “non-race” Race Report :-p

Event: Palo Duro Trail Run
Distance: 25K
Date: 2023-10-21, Sat, 7:20a
Location: Canyon, TX
Event Host: Get Fit

As I’d made the 7-hour drive to Canyon, TX and did make it into the park for the 25K start, I decided I’d go ahead and write a Race Report. Or, in this case, a Non-Race Report. I’ll explain.

I mentioned in a previous training post that I was taking Mounjaro to help me manage my blood sugar and increase my insulin sensitivity. I’m now into the 7th week and on a slightly increased dosage and the side effects worsen a little more with each weekly dose. I’m now at the point, I’m barely eating 1000 calories in 3 days. Energy is very low and the less I’m moving about the less water I drink. Not only am I severely undernourished for participation in endurance training and events, I’m also staying moderately dehydrated most of the time.

Played hell with my training leading up to race day!

When I wasn’t able to eat much on Wednesday before the race, a day I’d specified as my pre-race “carb-loading” day, I really started to worry about having the stamina and strength to hike ~1200′ elevation gain along a 15.5 mile course under the desert sun with temperatures in the 80s. I’d decided a couple of weeks prior that I was hiking the entire distance, no running intervals. It was my attempt to improve my odds of holding up well enough to finish the distance.

Here’s my food intake in the 3 days prior to the event:

Wednesday
* one apple (the halves eaten separately, several hours apart)
* two cups of tomato-basil penne pasta (again eaten separately hours apart)

Thursday
* one “frittata” muffin (a recipe geared to endurance athletes, so filled with rice in addition to the mushrooms and swiss cheese)
* a handful of green seedless grapes
* one dark chocolate cherry-almond cluster (freshly made and cooled)

Friday (7-hr drive day)
* a few apple slices
* a couple of grapes
* 1/4 portion of wonton soup broth and the filling from one wonton (the wrap was mushy)
* a cup of the Pad Thai noodles, one shrimp and a couple of bites of chicken breast from the Pad Thai

A quick calculation of nutrition facts: Wednesday it looks like I managed the equivalent of one meal with 612 calories for the day–and this was the day I was trying to load. Thursday, 347 kcal. Friday, 354 kcal. Not good. Explains why I lost another 3 lbs this past week.

Race morning, after dressing in my running gear, I managed two bites of a frittata muffin and an apple slice. I had plenty of time, just couldn’t swallow the food. I was also trembling and shaky. Disappointing both myself and my friends, I made the decision it was a very bad idea to get on the trail with the delusion I could hike and climb 15.5 miles that day. I already had two good examples of how I’d fair–either one of the two 10-mile training “runs” I’d attempted with Gigi on the Steiner Ranch trails in the weeks and months prior. Given that I’d be farther away from roads and people, as well as mostly exposed to the sun, I didn’t think it would be very responsible to risk it.

Backing up a bit, Gigi and her friend Carol (also my friend introduced by Gigi), had flown in from Austin to Amarillo Friday morning while I drove up to meet them at the hotel that afternoon. A little after 4:00 Carol drove us, in their rented Audi, out to the Sad Monkey Mercantile for our packet pickup.

As a surprising side note for myself: The XL shirt I specified when I registered in February is too big, although I’ll still wear it. It’s an odd experience for me. In the past, the race shirts have almost always been too small. I know I’m 30+ pounds lighter, but these little changes in my accustomed “normal” still astonish me. And I’m not sure how I really feel about that.

From packet pickup, we went back to the hotel. Gigi and Carol ate leftovers from lunch and I had wonton soup and Pad Thai waiting for me. Then it was prep time. Checking gear, filling water bladders, packing snacks, verifying first-aid and sunscreen in the hydration packs. Race bib. Shoes. Glasses. Hat. Bandanna. Then sleep, for me at least. Gigi said, “I can’t believe you’re going to bed so early.” I think it was 6:30 or 7:00. (Don’t tell her I said this, but I swear I heard her snoring before 8:00 herself.) 😀 Thanks to the two-bedroom suite they had reserved, we could shut bedroom doors and all be in our own spaces. I was perfectly content and comfortable out on the sofa–which I didn’t even bother to open up into its bed option.

Since I, out of the three of us, hadn’t done any prep the previous night, I got up at 4:45 AM. I dressed in my running outfit then slipped out to get my running bag from the car. It had shoes, gaiters, and other gear in it that I’d need. I’d finished most of my prep, including filling my water bladder/reservoir for my pack. I’d been trying to eat all the while, but my stomach wasn’t having it. Nausea got a little worse and that’s when I came to the conclusion I was being stupid to start the event when I knew I wasn’t likely to finish it.

I followed Carol and Gigi to the park to see them off at the start. I lied to the parking volunteer when he asked, “Runner?” I had paid as a runner, right? Although, technically, I wouldn’t have been a “runner” in any case given that I’d planned on hiking the whole thing. 😉

I was surprised by how much the event seemed to have grown since I first (and last) did it in 2018. I was camping in the park in 2019 (having registered but not running) with one of my friends but hadn’t gotten up to go see the start. In fact we stayed as much away from the race as possible–even avoiding the trails along the race course. The 2022 event was to be my first 50K, but we all know how that ended. :-/ 2023 was the first year I’d been back at the race start/finish in 5 years.

(Note: We didn’t get Carol in a pic because we couldn’t get her to stand still long enough to join us!)

We arrived an hour before the 25K start, and the amphitheatre parking was already mostly full. Speaking of parking: A couple of the hard-working volunteers got frustrated when cars started leaving out of the lot, putting holes in their meticulous routing and parking plan which they couldn’t keep track of to refill with waiting cars. “Okay. That’s it. They’re on their own,” one said to the other as they both went striding off. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of the park road down into the canyon after we’d made it in and over to the pavilion. The line of cars waiting in the dark with headlights and taillights glowing wound all the way back up to the rim. There were many a 25K runner who had a late start. Fortunately, they were chip timed so no harm done.

Although I was standing right alongside the runners “chute” at the start, I wasn’t able to pick out either Gigi or Carol as they ran past. Nor did I once think to try to get a picture of them. I listened to the bagpipes and saw a couple more late starts down the chute, then headed back to my car. It took a couple of aborted attempts to find the trailhead on the far side of the pavilion parking lot that led back to the amphitheater lot, (duh, it was the one with the lights on either side of it) I eventually made it there. I did take advantage of one of those aborted attempts to grab a shot of the morning twilight glowing above the eastern rim of the canyon.

Reviewing Race Results from previous years, here’s what the numbers look like. Unfortunately, 2018, the year I ran, wasn’t available. “404 Not found.” No 2020 results, I assume due to the COVID pandemic. And this year’s results aren’t available yet–or at least, I couldn’t find them. I’ll try to remember to come back and add them when they are. (2023 results updated.)

On second look, it doesn’t appear the numbers changed much, unless it’s related to the 50M event which wasn’t always in the results for me to track. Anyway…there was a lot more going on race morning than I remember from 2018! LOL

On the drive back to the hotel, I felt better and realized some of the unsettled stomach and tremors had been the stress of worrying about crashing and burning on the course. Would I be able to get myself off the course and back to my car without medical help? Once I got over the urge to cry, having failed in my training yet again, the nausea and weakness were still there, but I felt “lighter” with the absence of the worry. (Or, I suppose, it could have simply been light-headedness from lack of food and water. 😉 )

Back at the hotel, I decided to try my luck at their breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs, biscuit with sausage gravy, half of a cinnamon roll, and half a cup of coffee (~494 calories). Decent meal with only a little queasiness afterwards. Around 9:00, I decided to take a nap. I woke up at 10:30 and decided I wanted to start capturing notes for this blog post. Since I hadn’t brought my laptop, I went across the street to the Dollar General Store to buy a spiral notebook and a couple of gel pens. I also picked up a bag of Jacks Link’s beef jerky, hoping I’d be able to nibble on it a little throughout the day. (That was semi-successful, in that I managed one piece that day.)

Gigi and Carol made it back just after noon, if I’m remembering correctly. Both showered and ate, then Carol (who never naps 😉 ) laid down for what ended up being about a 2-hour “nappy,” as she called it. After which the great debate started: Are we going to the Bar Z Winery or are we not? Lay around and rest for the afternoon and early evening? Or go sip alcohol and listen to music? Guess which we picked?

From Bar Z, it was off to a 7:00 pm reservation at Mickey’s Place in Canyon. I tried the Shrimp Scampi, which was delicious and would have been perfect…if only the pasta hadn’t been like mush. No opportunity for slurping in angel hair pasta, had I wanted. Try to spin it around my fork and it jut broke up so I had to scoop it up for a bite. Don’t let my one try at the place influence you. Carol said her Chicken Marsala was divine and Gigi finished off most of her Fettuccine Alfredo. The shrimp in my dish was perfect and my stomach didn’t allow me to eat more than a few of those, so…it was going to be a no-win endeavor for me even if the pasta had been perfectly al dente.

A slight detour to Braum’s for ice cream for Gigi and Carol (I didn’t chance it) and back to our room for the night.

When I failed to get up at 6:00 with my alarm, and neither of us especially enthusiastic about the idea, Gigi and I cancelled our plans to view the sunrise from the rim of the canyon as well as an easy hike that morning. Instead, we found out the park store did indeed open on Sunday and headed out to check for souvenirs. We stopped at Journey Canyon Coffee for lattes and a breakfast burrito for me, of which I ate half and saved the rest for later. Arriving at the park entrance, we found a moderately long line waiting to get it. After waiting through five or six cars ahead of us (I still couldn’t see the gatehouse), we called it for the morning. It was 9:30 and I needed to get on the road. I’d packed my car before driving out that morning so was ready to go. We stopped to say our goodbyes through open windows. And so began the end our Palo Duro Race weekend–me starting the 7-hour drive home and they waiting for their 4:00 pm flight back to Austin.