Jason Wiederstein's Staging Area

I ran the Alamo City Ultra 25K in September and my time was 3 hours and 8 minutes. I hurt a lot less after running the hilly terrain of Eisenhower Park in San Antonio. I guess the starting and stopping gets to you eventually.

The 5k course takes you around the lake and then immediately up a hill and then you make a hard left and hit some single track. There are a few roots to watch out for and a couple of ditches to navigate as you go downhill for most of the rest of the first mile. The marker was (not an actual marker just a landmark) a hog trap/trailer on the trail. The trails in this area are covered with pine needles (we call it pine straw) and there are tons of trees. Before you know it you’re at the halfway point and there are several switch backs and you’re going up hill. You pop out in a big open area and you’re headed back down with the lake on your left, you re-enter the trails with about .65 miles to go and about half of that is uphill.

You emerge from the trees and the finish line is right there by the guest house. Everyone set up their chairs and canopies (well Cypress Running Club had a canopy) and coolers in the area and then you can rest for 20 minutes until the next loop starts. The second one was better than the first and people were starting to shed their layers after the balmy 28° start!

I was the sole camper and camping was just in the parking area which was coned off from the main road coming in. It was about a .15 mile walk from parking to the main race area. It was really cold but I brought a small propane heater and it was more than enough to keep my little Marmot tent warm.

I looked and looked for info about the ranch but there is none. What I got from Joel at Race Revolutions is that it’s private property and the owners had the trails put in and made the place hike/bike friendly. They hold a lot of events there and know the owner (a retired oil & gas attorney) well. I took a lot of pictures so hopefully if anyone else is searching the can learn about Magnolia Hill Ranch and what it has to offer.