FKT: Jacob Cooper - Lone Star Hiking Trail (TX) - 2020-12-31

Intro:

Like most runners, every race that I was registered for in the summer and fall of 2020 got cancelled, so I started to look for other goals. I figured that we would probably be in Texas over the holidays and it would be fun to find a long trail to run. I found the Lone Star Hiking Trail on the FKT website and it immediately interested me. The trail was near my hometown of Houston and also near my parent’s house in Bryan, but it was an area where I had never run before and I was eager to get out there and explore the trails. Sometime in the fall I decided to make the LSHT my “A” goal for the rest of the year and began building up the mileage in preparation for it. I set a date of December 30th for the attempt and worked towards that goal. On the morning of the 30th, my wife Angie, my brother Mark, and I left my parent’s house in Bryan at 3:55am and set out for the western terminus of the LSHT. We arrived at the trailhead a few minutes before 5:00am, and after spending a few minutes getting gear ready I started running a few minutes after 5:00am.

Segment 1: Start to FM 149; 8.4 miles

Angie and Mark decided to alternate pacing duties throughout the day, and my brother had the first shift. He recently got back into running and was excited to help out with the FKT attempt and get on the trails. The entirety of this first segment was in the dark, so we just kept the effort easy and did our best to avoid tripping on any roots or rocks in the dark. The temperature was very mild, probably in the low 60’s. We made it to the FM 149 road crossing and met up with my wife who had driven our truck there. I refilled my water bottles, grabbed a few gels, and got back to running.

Segment 2: FM 149 to FM 1375; 6.9 miles

Angie jumped in to pace for the next segment. We kept the pace very comfortable, knowing that the day was just beginning. The sun rose about half way through this segment and it was great to finally take in the scenery of the trail. We were slightly concerned about early morning hunters since we were out in the National Forest Lands and it was deer season, so we were both wearing brightly colored clothing. We did hear a few distant gunshots, but nothing to be concerned about. We made it to the FM 1375 road crossing very comfortably, I fueled up, swapped pacers, and set off again.

Segment 3: FM 1375 to Stubblefield; 4.2 miles

During this short segment, we mostly just discussed the plan for the San Jacinto River crossing at the Stubblefield campground at the end of the segment. The bridge is out, and the previous FKT holders (Hunter and Chad) set the standard of swimming across. When we got to the bridge, we decided to stuff my phone into a ziploc bag, keep my shoes on, and just hop in the water and get the swim over with. It wasn’t terribly cold, which had been a concern of mine. When I got out of the water on the other side, Angie was waiting in the truck with a complete change of clothes and shoes. I spent a good 10 minutes resetting myself after the swim before running out to the next segment.

Segment 4: Stubblefied to Bath/Ball Intersection; 7.5 miles

With Angie pacing once again, we comfortably navigated through several miles of trails until we eventually made it to the unpaved Bath Road. It was pleasant to run on a smooth road for about 1.5 miles heading into the end of the segment. 

Segment 5: Bath/Ball to IH45; 7.5 miles

After refueling at the truck, and picking up Mark as a pacer, we set off again into the woods. It was starting to get warm at this point in the day, and I remember telling my brother that we needed to be careful on this segment and keep things easy and comfortable so that we could stay on schedule with the fluids and nutrition. We crossed the dam of a neighborhood pond, which was a little bit precarious with a small flow of water coming over the dam. And after that we could hear the steadily increasing noise from Interstate 45 as we approached it. This was the first segment where I had a few miles that were slower than FKT pace. But looking back, I think it was a good thing because it meant that we were properly adjusting our effort for the heat and the hills of that section.

Segment 6: IH 45 to FM 2296; 6.4 miles

I filled up my bottles again, picked up Angie as a pacer, and we set off down the road for the next section. This section was a mix of road and trail miles, and it struck me that there were pros and cons of both. The road miles were smooth without having to worry about foot placement, but they were exposed to the sun and the wind. The trail miles were monotonous without much to look at besides forest and we were constantly worried about tripping, but we were in the shade and protected from the wind. We eventually made it to the road crossing and filled up again. 

Segment 7: FM 2296 to FSR 200; 9.5 miles

I wasn’t sure if my brother would be up for pacing this next section with me. He had already logged over 20 miles with me on the day which was easily the most he had run in a very long time. I told him that I would be just fine on my own, but he was very eager to get back out there with me. This section was again a mix of road miles and trail miles. We logged some of the fastest miles of the day on some of this section’s road miles. This was a good sign that I had been running comfortably enough in the day’s early miles and staying on top of my hydration and calories throughout the day. At the end of this segment we were set to meet up with another friend of mine, Paul, who would be pacing me for the rest of the way. Paul had arrived at the trailhead early, and rather than wait around for us to arrive, he ran out to meet us on the trail, and ran the last few miles back with us.

Segment 8: FSR 200 to TH #9 near SH 150; 11.0 miles

We again refilled the water bottles, grabbed some gels, and set off on the trail. I had been mentally dreading this section of trail all day. The segment began with 53 total miles on the day, and it was during the warmest part of the day around 3pm, and it was 11 miles in length, so it would be about 2 hours between truck aid stations. However, my anxiety about the segment quickly went away when I started running with Paul. He is a very experienced ultra runner and he helped me settle into a very comfortable, steady pace. We don’t get to see each other very often so we just passed the time sharing running stories and it was wonderful. Looking back on that segment now, I ran some of my best, most consistent splits on this segment and that is a testament to Paul’s excellent pacing. 

Segment 9: TH #9 to FM 945 TH; 5.0 miles

When we arrived at the truck, I was surprised to see Mark geared up and ready to run again. I thought he was done for the day. But he really wanted to get back out there with us! The segment was short, and was almost exclusively on roads. I had to ask Paul and Mark to slow down a few times. I think they briefly forgot that I had 65 miles on my legs at this point in the day! We made it to the next trailhead just before dark and I sat down to change into a dry pair of socks and do some blister maintenance.

Segment 10: FM 945 TH to FM 2025; 6.0 miles

Paul and I set off for the next segment in the dark. As soon as we hit the trail and entered the forest the heavy rains hit. It hadn’t become too cold just yet, and we were wondering when the cold part of the front would hit us. But for now we just plodded along in the rainy, muddy trails. Our pace had slowed considerably in the dark and rainy conditions. We were previously keeping a steady 10:30 - 11:30 per mile pace on the trails during the day. But now it was more like 12:30 - 13:30 per mile pace. The overall pace for the FKT was 12:20, and my overall pace for the day had been right around 11:30, so I had a cushion. But every mile that went by that started with a 13 was stressful for me.

Segment 11: FM 2025 to FM 2666; 8.8 miles AND Segment 12: FM 2666 to FM 2025; 8.3 miles

I am grouping these two segments together because there’s nothing that really distinguishes them in my memory of the trail. The cold had arrived. We were done with all the road sections, so all the remaining miles were on the trails in the forest in the dark and cold rain. The trail in these sections was much more overgrown than then earlier trail miles, and we were constantly ducking under tree branches as we ran through 1-3 inches of standing water on the trails. It was honestly a struggle to keep the pace under 14 minutes per mile on these segments. And each mile that went by that was in the 13-14 minute range kept eating into the time buffer that I had built for myself. The stress of the FKT was really building up. We finally made it to the last road crossing with 18:05 on the clock, and I knew we only had 5.4 miles from there. I had about 1:24 to cover those last 5.4 miles which should be doable. 

Segment 13: FM 2025 to Finish; 5.4 miles

To my surprise, Mark decided to join in for the final segment. Paul and I changed shirts and donned ponchos to keep ourselves as dry as possible. Mark bundled up as best as he could and we set out. Paul took the lead because he had the best headlamp. Our first mile split after the truck read 16:50. Now, that did include a few minutes that we were stopped at the truck, but still I was very worried about the time slipping away. I kept it to myself until the next mile split of 13:44. At that point I told Paul that we have to pick it up. There was no way I was going to run out here all day and have the FKT slip away like this. The next two miles were very steady in 10:30 pace but I was feeling so much pain in my legs and feet from pushing hard for those miles. Feeling more confident that we had made up enough time, and feeling extremely tired from the two mile push, we slowed down to about 12:00 pace for the last few miles. We wound our way through the cold, dark, rainy woods until we saw the headlights from the truck guiding us to the eastern terminus of the trail. I touched the trailhead sign and stopped my watch. 19:13:05. We did it.

Conclusion

I was so thankful to have pacers for the entire route. I had never run on any portion of the trail before, so having company made the navigation much easier. It was also a day of extremes: extremely warm and humid (for December) for the first 12 hours of the run, and extremely cold and wet and rainy for the final 7 hours. I still think that winter is the ideal time for this route because of the temperatures. But maybe later February would be best so that there would be more daylight. I’m sure that there are numerous local runners who can beat my time, and I look forward to seeing the times improve on this route in the years to come.