Buescher State Park

I decided to take my mom camping for mother's day. She wasn't really feelin it, but I had a great training run along the way. Buescher and Bastrop state parks are separated by a 10 mile park road through beautiful piney forest about 30 min east of Austin. If you've ever ridden pedal thru the pines, this road is the first 10 miles of the ride. It's a challenging bike ride, but as far as trail terrain is concerned, an easy run. In fact, if I were teaching someone trail running, I would certainly bring them out here.
With a trail head from the Lakeside loop at Buescher there are 7.7 miles of trails forming a loop with a few cutoffs. All the trails were built by the Sierra Club.
I left for my run at about 8 am. I would have left sooner, but I was busy cooking pancakes in the camper in the luxurious AC. I should have left at 6 am. Man was it hot. As I planned my run and reviewed the maps, I thought the Buescher loop linked to Bastrop park and I would have showers and restrooms at the north end of Bastrop State Park about 3 miles in to my run. WRONG! It occurred to me like 3 miles in, that this loop actually extended east from Buescher, the more eastern of the two parks and that I was not going to come up on the other park's facilities. It was a pretty, shaded easy run, well marked so I just plugged away enjoying myself. I was going back and forth between one 7 mile loop or 2, again torn between the 10k training and 30k training. Figuring the terrain was easy, and I had all the time in the world I would run 2 loops. I never saw another soul out there and I never really saw any trail intersections other than those that were obvious when I crossed the park road. I ran and ran, soaking wet with sweat. I was concerned about my water supply and figured one of these loops (which sure was taking a long time) would be enough.
When I attempted to close the loop and run by the pond (really the only reliable landmark on the whole run) heading for home I missed the turn and took another loop. OOPS! I'm always getting lost, so I didn't really freak out, but I had been pushing the pace thinking I was doing a shorter run that was almost over. 2 hours in, I had run another 3-5 mile loop, unable to find the pond again, crossing over the road and generally getting worried and disoriented (it was 90 degrees out with 100% humidity and 10:30 am by this point). After crossing the road (again!) and not being able to determine which crossing corresponded with the crossings on the map. I dialed back my pace and regrouped. I figured if I didn't find the pond again I would just start running down the road at the next crossing. I would determine my direction on the road using the direction of the sun as my guide. When I got to the road I was pissed and nervous. I was low on water and the prospect of 3 miles home on the pavement in the blazing midday sun in my trail shoes was not appealing but was the lesser of two evils (I was not running that damn loop by mistake AGAIN!!!!)
When I got to the road, I happened upon a road runner. He was all geared out and wearing a run tex jersey and told me to follow him back on the road it's about 2.5 miles. I ran for about 3/4 of a mile on the road and found the last cutoff to the Buescher loop of trails. I was right with the world and no longer lost. I tried to pick up the tempo (difficult because it was hot) to make up for all the stopping and starting from scratching my head and studying my trail map. The final 2 miles is through a big rolling field of wildflowers, beautiful and despite the heat I was loving the rolling hills, loving knowing where I was and loving knowing that I was almost home. It was a pretty morning, with a solid long run under my belt and a cold miller lite waiting for me in the cooler. Yay for me and yay for the buescher loop. I think I did an outstanding job of following the trail markings, and would have been ok with the distances in the loop if I had kept a steady pace OR brought my garmin, so I could match the distances on the map to the distances I was running. All in all, I am guessing I ran about 11 or 12 miles in 2 hrs and 45 min. I didn't stop my watch for map reading and reconnoitering, so I believe my pace was pretty swift, making my goal for the newly minted Hells Hills race in Bastrop on June 6 a realistic one. I'm hoping to do the 15 in under 3:30.