Big Cedar Endurance Run Course Guide

The loop: small hills that never stop

There is no signature climb here, and that is exactly what fools people. The trail rolls the entire way, short ups and short downs, dropping into a valley off the escarpment and pulling back out, and across 25 miles that constant rolling is what builds the vert. You cannot settle into a long, steady climbing rhythm the way you would in the mountains, so the move is to run the runnable bits, power-hike the steeper punches, and keep your effort even instead of attacking every little rise.

Because it is a loop, you learn the course fast. By your second lap you know where the rooty sections are, where you can open up, and where you keep your eyes down. Use that. A repeated loop rewards the runner who paces the first lap with discipline and still has the legs and the focus to run clean late.

The footing: roots and rock that punish tired legs

The trail is mostly smooth dirt, but the rocky and rooty stretches are the part that decides your day. Early on they are no big deal. Late in a 100, when your feet are beat up and it is dark, those same roots turn into trip hazards and your pace on the technical bits falls off a cliff. Quick feet and attention matter as much as fitness, so practice on rooty, rocky single-track before race day and learn to keep moving over junk terrain when you are tired.

If it rains, respect it. Wet leaves over roots get slick, and a careless step on a downhill can end a race. Pick your line, shorten your stride on the techy descents, and do not throw away months of training on one sloppy moment.

The night and the repetition (the 100 and 50)

The 100 starts in the morning and runs straight through a November night, so you will do at least one full lap in the dark on technical trail. Carry a real headlamp and a backup, dress for a temperature swing, and know that your night-lap pace will be slower on the roots. That is normal. The bigger challenge is mental: by lap three or four you have seen every inch of this loop already, and the sameness wears on you.

Break it into laps, not miles. One loop at a time, hit the start/finish, reset, and head back out. The loop format is a gift for crew and drop bags since you come through the same spot every lap, so plan exactly what you grab each time (food, lights, dry socks, a jacket) and keep the stops short so they do not balloon into long sit-downs you struggle to leave.

Aid, crew, and the long-day math

Aid stations sit roughly 2.5 to 7 miles apart on the loop and the volunteers here lean heavy on experienced 100-mile hands, so help is never far. Still, carry enough fluid and calories to get yourself comfortably across the longer gaps rather than running tank-empty into the next table. The generous Saturday-evening cutoff (historically all distances close around 5:30 PM, giving the 100 about 32.5 hours) gives you room to walk it in if you have to, but do not bank on that buffer early.

Because you loop through the same hub each lap, this is one of the easier ultras to crew and to drop-bag well. Stage your gear by lap, keep a written plan of what you need when, and let your crew run the clock for you so you can keep moving.

Pace by effort and grade, not by the watch

Your flat road pace does not translate to this rolling, rooty single-track. What matters is the effort you can hold lap after lap and the time the terrain actually costs you. Run the runnable rollers, hike the steep punches without guilt, and keep your output even instead of surging every little rise. Use a grade-adjusted pace to turn your real fitness into honest targets on this kind of rolling, technical ground, and you will not torch lap one and pay for it on lap four.

Build a loop-aware finish prediction

Do not guess your Big Cedar finish off a road time. The rolling vert, the roots, and the dark night laps all add real time, and the smart move is to plan per lap. Build a finish prediction that accounts for this course’s rolling gain, then divide it into target lap splits with honest slow-down baked into the later laps. Knowing your planned time per loop lets you check yourself at the start/finish each lap and see how much cushion you really have against the cutoff, instead of guessing in the dark.

Carbs: steady, trained, and easy to take every lap

Aim for around 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and only push the high end if your gut is trained for it. The loop format actually helps: you can restock real food and your own fuel at the start/finish every lap, so build a plan you can repeat without thinking. The trap on a long day is letting your stomach quit because you got behind early, so keep your intake steady and easy to get down from the first loop instead of trying to claw calories back at 2 AM. Practice your exact race-day carb rate on long runs so it feels routine, not like an experiment.

Sodium and fluid: cover the gaps and the humidity

November in Dallas can run warm and humid or cold and damp, so set your sodium to the day: often somewhere around 400 to 700 milligrams per liter of fluid, higher if it is warm or you are a salty, heavy sweater. Carry enough to get across the longer aid gaps (those tables sit roughly 2.5 to 7 miles apart) instead of rationing to the next one and arriving empty. Weigh yourself before and after a long run in similar conditions to find your real sweat rate, then build the plan around your own number rather than a generic guess.