1.6.13 Trail Run

Our Sunday running crew decided to change things up this week and run somewhere different.  We usually run on the Northshore trail at Lake Grapevine.  We decided to drive to Lake Joe Pool in Cedar Hill.  The Texas Parks and Wildlife have a park on the lake named Cedar Hill State Park.  It's about 40 minutes from my house to the park.  The day started cold so we left around 10:15 from my house to Cedar Hill.  I checked on Saturday with the park and they said the trail was open.  It has been listed as closed since the snow we received on Christmas.  When we drove up to the gate, the park ranger told us the trails were closed.  We decided to pay and go in with the intention of checking out the trail for ourselves.  When we reached the trail head, four or five runners were in the parking lot.  I think they do work on the trail and seemed to know everyone.  One of the park rangers followed us to the trail head.  The people there told the ranger it was ok for running but not for bikes.  We were good to go.  There are three loops on the trail: 3 miles, 8 miles, and 12 miles. We were looking to do 10 miles and the people there gave us a route that would put us right at 10 miles.  In fact, they seemed to short cut the trails and beat us to cut off points to show us the way.  Very nice of them to look out for us.  The first two or three miles were fairly flat and then the hills started.  Northshore is a lot of steep but short ups and downs.  Once we started climbing at Cedar Hill, the hills were long ascents that are leg burners.  At the 6 mile mark, Rich was wanting to hammer but the hills had taken too much out of me.  He dropped me and then waited for me and Joe with about 2 miles to go.  We walked for a minute or so to get our breathe back and then ran it in.  I was feeling better after a short rest and finished at a pretty good pace.  The dirt was very soft and was great on the legs.  The trail itself is very smooth, unlike Northshore where your watching for rocks and roots.  In the end, we traded the $21 it cost to get in for a $70 season pass.  We figured to be back so we split the pass fee.  If you have a pass, everyone in the car gets in for free.  It was a great park and a nice run. 

This guy had a rough outing on the trail:

Information for the trail can be found here:

http://www.dorba.org/trail.php?t=5
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/cedar-hill

Garmin information for our run:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/259021533