We headed west on I-20 to check out Cedar Hill State Park. It would be only my second run there and we were planning to run the biggest loop. When we arrived at the ranger station, we were told that the trails were closed because they were too muddy. Whatever. I can understand that bikes can really tear up a trail, but we already had mud all over our shoes. I keep my Texas Gold Passport so that I can run on a whim and not pay the $5 entrance fee. This put a sour note on things.

So we headed to our old standby, the Cedar Ridge Preserve. We put in a couple of loops and 2 hrs on Cedar Brake trail and then called it a day. It was less mileage than we might have had at the smoother trails at the State Park, but the terrain will certain pay dividends at Bandera.

Last week, the terrain at Cedar Ridge was even more tough due to the mud. In fact, my shoes reflected this at the start of this week’s workout. I hope the people at the gas station down in Hutchins didn’t mind the loose dirt and mud that came off my shoes.

We looped around the trails for about an hour, finishing off the shortfall with several loops around the “Tea path,” which we later discovered is actually called Bluestem. After an hour, we topped off our water/Succeed bottles and headed back out. I also continued to munch on the bag of Doritos I’d bought … quite tasty and just the saltiness to suit me.

Our original mileage goal for the day was 25 miles, but we realized that was probably ambitious shortly into our second hour at Cedar Ridge. The first hour seemed to drag on forever and we were tiring. The earlier hill training combined with the hilly terrain was taking its toll. But we reminded ourselves that this would be no different than what we’d be facing a few weeks into the future at Bandera. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for the hills there!

So we spent an additional two hours to bring out total time to 4 hours. The GPS tallied 14.8 miles by the end of it all but I am not sure the elevation changes are properly accounted for. I plan to do some research on the model I use (Garmin GPSMap 60Cx) to see if others have similar thoughts.