Last Long Run, New Trails

The Austin Marathon is in a short two weeks.  My training has been compressed a bit, so I shortened my taper since I'm not trying to race the marathon anyway.  I was having trouble getting motivated, so I decided to take a risk and see if I could find my way from Balcones District Park down to Walnut Creek Park.  I'd never run at either park, and I definitely had not explored in between.  However, I'd seen some hints of trails between the two from the train windows on my way to and from work.  Additionally, I looked at google maps and noticed that some of the propsed Walnut Creek Greenbelt hike/bike path had been constructed.  From the knowledge I had, I was pretty sure I could get from one to the other without stepping foot on a road, although I did have a backup plan in case I hit an impasse.

I ran for about 40 minutes in Balcones District Park first to get good and warmed up.  This was a good thing, as I chose to shed my gloves and hat before forging into the unknown.  Once I left Balcones, it was fairly easy to find my way down to Walnut Creek Park.  It took a few creek crossings and some exploration, but connecting was actually fairly easy.  I hit a few dead ends, but it was always easy to find an alternate path.  This is roughly how I got there:

Once in Walnut Creek Park, I couldn't believe I'd never run there before.  The trails felt endless as I tromped through the mud and water that covered most trails.  I got completely lost in the park several times, but I didn't really care, as I was having a blast running down the sloppy trails.  There wasn't a lot of elevation overall, but there are several places that you can definitely do some serious ups and downs if you want/need it.

With both of these parks being in easy striking distance, I'll definitely be adding this route to my arsenal.  I ended up doing 3 hours and 20 minutes without really repeating any trails except the out-and-back between the parks.  There are definitely more miles of trail in Walnut Creek Park I didn't even get a chance to explore.  I can't wait to go back next weekend!