The North Face Endurance Challenge – Wisconsin
Eagle, WI
- 50 Miler, 50K, Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, Kids Run
- Trail (Unpaved)
- Official race website
An ideal course layout for elite speedsters and those taking their first strides in the world of ultra trail running, The Endurance Challenge Wisconsin course is run-able from start to finish, provided that you’ve trained properly. A large portion of the course takes place on the renowned Ice Age Trail … MORE
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Great first trail half
This was my first trail half, my 9th half marathon. This was my second North Face race, I ran the 10K a few years ago. As usual, the race organization … MORE
This was my first trail half, my 9th half marathon. This was my second North Face race, I ran the 10K a few years ago. As usual, the race organization was great.
Race day weather was perfect, 55 and sunny to start. The woods provide ample shade.
The half marathon participants were split into 5 waves, about a minute apart. If you thought you could be an overall winner then you would put yourself into the first wave. The only confusion was that they specified that there would only be gun time, not chip time. The final results did show gun time vs chip time. My gun time was a 1:04 off my chip time, which seems to make sense because I was in the 2nd wave. But my chip time was about a minute off my Garmin time. So I am a little confused there.
The Kettle Moraine forest is a nice place to run, the trails vary from rocky, to grassy, to sandy. There is room on most of the course to pass. The course isn’t highly technical so there are a fair number of first timers running the races. The course was well marked, using different colors to represent the different courses. The first and last part of the race is about 3/4 of a mile on gravel on the side of a flat road. Coming out of the woods there is a slight downhill so the end is a fun sprint.
There was a slight bottleneck when the half marathon and the 10K converged at the end of the race, the 10K started an hour after the half marathon. I encountered a lot of walkers at that point.
Race swag was a North Face tech tee and a Sierra Nevada beer at the finish along with a race specific medal. It looked like the 10K’ers also received medals, which wasn’t the case in the past.
I enjoy running the North Face races and I am planning to run the marathon in the future.
A fun run in the woods
Race highlights included great fall weather, a scenic trail run in the woods and meeting ultra running legend Dean Karnazes at the North Face Endurance Series half marathon. I found … MORE
Race highlights included great fall weather, a scenic trail run in the woods and meeting ultra running legend Dean Karnazes at the North Face Endurance Series half marathon. I found him very low key and down to earth for a guy who runs 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.
I chatted with him (and got this picture with him and my Delafield Brewhaus Amber) after I finished the trail half marathon in Eagle, Wisconsin. I crossed the line in 1:28:51, which is about 50 seconds off my personal record.
Dean told me I could take 5-10 percent off my time if I wanted to compare it to my road race PR, given the hills and the loose dirt on the trail. So that affirmation plus my 6th place finish made me happy with the performance.