Circumnavigating Lake Grapevine

I've been playing with the idea of running/hiking around Lake Grapevine for years. I mean seriously... probably since 2009. I've always had a bizarre fascination with running around things or running to something (Dallas to Fort Worth for example).

Tomorrow, I am finally going to tackle running around Lake Grapevine. The run will utilize every possible trail I could find. Looks like it will end up being around 20 miles of road, and 32 miles of trail. I'm gonna be running with another friend the entire time. We've decided that we're going to do the circumnavigation completely unsupported. We're going to have to get water from what's already there. (water fountains, water spigets, etc).

I've scouted out the possible water sources and it looks like water is available around miles 12, 25, 36, and 47. Since it's unsupported we're going to carry all the food that we'll need for the day.

Along with my nutrition I'll be carrying an extra water bottle (I'll have a total capacity of 146oz), toilet paper, emergency blanket, whistle, vaseline, headlamp, extra batteries, camera w/ gorilla pod, rain jacket, and a beanie/gloves. 

All of this is fit inside a bag that a good friend has let me borrow for the trek. 

I haven't weighed the bag, and I honestly don't want to know what it weighs ;) We're going to start at 8am from the Boyscout Camp trailhead on the east side of the lake. 

The point to the east is the starting point, the rest of the points are water sources. As for a map, I've created a few different maps, but will not be carrying any, due to the fact that I know the course so well and have every turn memorized. 

(South East Portion of the lake)

(North West portion of the lake)

To be completely honest, I'm not in the best shape I've ever been in. I've been running but not for distance. Same with the buddy I'm running with. Due to the amount of gear we're carrying and taking into account the shape we're in, I think that a reasonable estimated finish is around 16 hours. I think we'd both be very happy with sub 15. As for distance our best guesstimate is ~52 miles. The weather is looking like it may cooperate, but it's definitely gonna be a bit warm considering how far we're gonna have to trek between water sources. Obviously we'll be carrying at least one cell phone in case something goes horribly wrong, but we're both pretty stubborn. 

So, with that said I'm gonna tie up some loose ends and go tackle an adventure I've been wanting to do for years. If we're successful, this will be the first completely unsupported circumnavigation of Lake Grapevine on foot. 

_Jacob_

What it's all really about anyways...