Houston Trail Running
Submitted by jlinwood on Tue, 2010-10-05 04:53

Houston doesn't have a lot of singletrack trails, or a lot of hills but you can certainly get by running the singletrack in Memorial Park on the weekdays, or for shorter runs, and then heading up to Huntsville State Park for longer trail runs on the weekends. There are other options as well, including Lake Houston, East End Park and the national forests just north and east of Houston. Stephen F. Austin State Park is a lot of fun to run in as well.

Houston has two trail running groups now - H-T-REX and Texas Trail Nerds.

Trails: 

Memorial Park Ho Chi Minh Trails

The mountain biking (or Ho Chi Minh) trails in Memorial Park are the best singletrack trails inside the Loop in Houston. They get very busy on weekends and after work, so you have to be very careful on them, whether you are walking your dog, trail running, hiking, or mountain biking.

4.00miles

Huntsville State Park

Description: 

Huntsville State Park is a piney-woods park an hour north of Houston and two hours south of Dallas. Huntsville has 15 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails surrounding Lake Raven, a small reservoir.

Huntsville hosts some of the best trail running races in Texas, including the Rocky Raccoon 100-mile and 50-mile race in February, the Rocky Raccoon 50 km and 25 km race in November, the Hogs Hunt 50 km and 25 km race in April, and the Texas Trails 50 km and 12.5 mile run in December.

Trail Races: 

Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile and 50 Mile Trail Race

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Sat, 2012-02-04

The Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile and 50 Mile trail races are some of the best organized in the country. The 100 mile race is 5 loops, and the 50 mile is 3 loops in Huntsville State Park. Each aid station is staffed by lots of ultra running volunteers, most of which have done 100 mile trail races.

Race Types: 
Running race
50 Mile Ultramarathon
100 Mile Ultramarathon
Trail Run

Rocky Raccoon 50K

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Sat, 2011-11-05

The November Rocky Raccoon trail race has 50k/25k/10k distances, so it's affectionately called "Little Rocky" to differentiate itself from the February "Big" Rocky Raccoon race with 100 mile and 50 mile trail races. Both are held in Huntsville State Park on the singletrack and dirt roads inside the park, but the courses are different. Paul Stone directs this race, and Joe Prusatis with Tejas Trails directs "Big Rocky".

Race Types: 
Running race
10K
25K
50K Ultramarathon
Trail Run

Hog's Hunt 50K

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Sat, 2011-04-09

The Hog's Hunt trail race through Huntsville State Park is a 50K/25K trail race on singletrack and dirt roads. The 50K race is two loops of the 25K course. Both circle Lake Raven.

Race Types: 
Running race
25K
50K Ultramarathon
Trail Run

Texas Trail Runs

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Sat, 2010-12-11

The Sunmart Texas Trail Races at Huntsville State Park were some of the biggest trail races in the country - with all the best schwag at a reasonable entry fee. Unfortunately, the last Sunmart trail race was in 2008 and the 50-mile race is now history, but we do have the Texas Trail Races with a 50K and a 12.5 mile option.

Race Types: 
Running race
20K
50K Ultramarathon
Trail Run

Brazos Bend Trail Races

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Sun, 2013-01-27

The second year for the Brazos Bend Trail Races will be 2012. There will be a 13 mile loop on gravel paths in Brazos Bend State Park that half marathoners will do once, and full marathoners will do twice. 50K'ers will do a 5 mile loop with 1.5 miles of dirt trail first, then do the two 13 mile loops of the marathon.

Race Types: 
Running race
Half Marathon
Marathon
50K Ultramarathon
Trail Run
Trail Running Clubs: 

Houston Trail Runners Extreme

URL: 

http://www.htrex.blogspot.com/

The Houston Trail Runners EXtreme (or H-T-REX) trail running group meets for runs at Memorial Park on the Ho Chi Minh trails, and also organizes longer runs on the weekends.

Location: 
Houston, TX
See map: Google Maps

Texas Trail Nerds

URL: 

http://www.psychowyco.com/id82.html

An off shoot of the Kansas City Trail Nerds, the Texas Trail Nerds run outside of Houston at East End Park in Kingswood, Texas every Tuesday evening.

Location: 
Houston, TX
See map: Google Maps
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