The North Face Endurance Challenge Trail Races

I ran TNF 50K in Marin on 12÷5÷15 and had a pretty decent time. Some thoughts. The good things-​the Volunteers do a fantastic job with the aid stations and the post race celebrations. The course was well marked. Parts of the course were beautiful. So I gave one star for each of those things. Now, the bad. This is not a cheap race, close to $ 200 bucks for the 50K. For that, you get to run the race, eat at the aid stations, get a tee shirt (an ugly one) and a water bottle after finishing. The course had many miles of fire roads, a couple of which were steep and were more than 2 miles long. dull, dull dull. For those two things, I took away a star each. There are many great trail races in Northern California. This is not one of them. If you absolutely have to run this one because its close to San Francisco, then by all means do so. But I would strongly recommend doing other races in the area-​cheaper and more interesting courses.

Did twice already. The latest one is a marathon. I have really enjoyed the race. It is very well organized. There is a lot of energy going into the preparation. The course is tough and pretty. The aid stations and the volunteers are very helpful. There is a lot of energy at the end.
Highly recommended, even though it is not for the faint hearted or the unprepared.

wish i read the reviews before running this for tips but i didn’t.
Well I just ran the half marathon and it was brutal yet rewarding! It was definitely an Endurance Challenge. It was such an emotional roller coaster ride. I didn’t realize there was so many hills, imagine mission peak, 4x. This was my first half marathon and I highly do not recommend this if this is your first half marathon, because of the level of difficulty.
I was glad that Cliff bar offered bagels, cliff bars, and pre race snacks. The volunteers were encouraging and friendly. The scenic views were amazing!
It amazes me how people can run the 50 miler or the 50k because this challenge was definitely challenging. I’m still sore.
I really like the bus system because i didn’t want to drive out to Golden Park and look for parking. This made it extremely convenient. However, it took a minute, to get back to the parking sites, but it was understandable of how busy it was.
Overall, I highly recommend this challenge if you are willing to take on the challenge of running up steep hills and down hills, running on trails, and you definitely should train for this. I had a blast and I’m glad that I was able to finish my first half marathon :)

This is gonna hurt.
Hurt me baby, going back for more this year. I am not one of those MACHINES running on Saturday, but I am doing the HALF on Sunday. Its a long HALF at 13.6, not to mention the 3 almost a thousand foot climbs along the way. At least its not going to be 34 degrees at the start like in 2013.
Why do I do it, cause it there? Besides signing up early is a deal and the swag is nice. See you out there… never stop exploring (how much pain you can inflict on yourself).

Ok– so I didn’t do the 50 miler, the 50k, or even the half marathon. But I did do the marathon relay and the relay rocks! It was a ton of fun hanging out watching the runners start and end. The course was tough but lucky for us it’s a quick 10k out and back. The rest of the time was spent hanging out with friends, enjoying food and trying to stay warm in the freezing temps.
For those of you who have never done it; the relay consist of 4 people on a team, each team member runs a 10K loop out and back and passes the baton off to the next teammate. I run marathons so it was a nice change of scenery from my normal running routine. I am already looking forward to the race this year and would encourage you to check it out!

Omg. I don’t think I could’ve picked a tougher first half marathon to do! Well, tnf certainly does not call this an endurance challenge for no reason, but the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment after is well worth it. Definitely challenging. Cannot even fathom the hills on the longer distances.
I marked this race down, because 1) you had to pick up your shirt race day or bring it with you the day of the race to get it screen printed or w/​e, otherwise it was just plain, 2) either I was really tired or the miles were not clearly marked. I only remember seeing mile 2, 8, and 10 marked, 3) they had coke at the third aid station and I was so tired at that point I just grabbed a drink and it happened to be coke, which had me burping for the remainder of the time I was on the course, especially going down hill –_​_​_​_​– and 4) my medal was really dirty, scratched up, and the matte finish on certain areas were rubbed out.
Other than that, I thought it was organized. I thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested. Also, it is fairly priced.

Okay so putting this up after just now ran the North Face Marathon and 50 mile after 2014! Mostly everything is still the same.
As the others have said North Face offers a 50 mile 50k Marathon Marathon Relay Half Marathon 10k and 5k.
As far as my own points/​summary about the marathon goes:
— Volunteers and basically every runner I talked/​ran with are really friendly and talkative, so don’t be shy and chat/​cheer others on! (unless you’re out of breath) Its a big change from the road racing crowd.
— The course was VERY clearly marked its really hard to get lost especially with the colored string markers around the area and volunteers telling you where to go, so there’s little to no confusion on where to go.
— Scenic view!
— If this is your first marathon, pretty much almost every other marathon you’re going to do after this going to be easier than this.
–Prepare for hills. Hills. Hills. Hills and more hills. The majority of the course is made up of hills and combined with the elevation/​distance it can be very brutal and you may have symptoms of brief suffering and leg fatigue.
–Aid stations have plenty of supplies to keep you going (pretzels, crackers, electrolytes, water, clif bar energy supplements, etc) Although I recommend bringing a hydration pack/​water bottle as these aid stations can be quite awhile away when you’re in dear need.
— Bring appropriate gear for the weather.
There is a kid friendly race known as the Karno Kids race with Ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes leading a short race with notable figures. All you really have to do is register your kid (s) and its FREE.
I wouldn’t mind doing this again in the future!

You have a choice of the following trail run races: 50 Miles, 50k, Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10k, and 5k.
Cliff Notes Version — Words to describe the marathon race:
— Extremely challenging
— Lots and lots of hills
— Crazy elevation change
— Brutal and suffering (at times)
— Beautiful views of the ocean and Sausalito
— Fun with friends
— Crazy people doing this race as their first marathon
Now for the details —
Course: Extremely hilly. For the marathon, there is an elevation gain of 4,519 feet, with a maximum elevation of 995 feet. I ended up walking 75% of the race since the hills were crazy. We were lucky with the weather since it was sunny. Therefore, we were able to see the ocean and the beautiful view of Sausalito. I’m glad that there was a time limit of 8 hours for the marathon. I completed the race in 6 hours and 30 mins. WOoHoo. I survived.
Communication: The participant’s guide was updated frequently due to the course changing. However, we were notified of updates via email and Facebook.
Race Day Parking: We could not park at the Marin Highlands due to the limited space. Depending on the race distance, we had a designated parking location, and then took a shuttle to the start line. Since we took a shuttle, we didn’t have to worry about paying for the Golden Gate Bridge toll.
Bib Pick Up: Available at North Face Store in Union Square a couple days before the race. Also bibs and t-​shirts available on race day pick up.
Race Day Expo: The morning had a section for hot beverages, snacks, and breakfast items. After finishing the race, there were a couple of vendors in the expo area.
Water Station/​Volunteers: There were 11 aid stations for the marathon. The aid stations had lots of pb&j sandwiches, cookies, brownies, fruit, salty snacks, electrolytes, and liquids available. I thought there were plenty of stations available. However, I would bring a bottle just to case. The volunteers were great too! They helped a lot with providing refills of water bottles, especially when I probably looked like crap.
Swag: Lots of swag — race day technical shirt, water bottle with the hand strap, hot meal at the end of the race (which included salad, two kinds of pasta, minestrone soup, and bread), 3 additional water bottles after the race, and medal. Well worth the price of the race. I did get a mix up with the medal. I somehow received a medal with a September 17 date. I have to wait to get my medal in the mail.
Price: $ 75 — Very cheap for a marathon
Will I do this race again? Yup! It was a great challenge! Next year, I’ll be better prepared and train on the hills!

I’ve done a few races in my life, the majority of them being half marathons, and this is probably the 3^rd 10k I’ve participated in, but The North Face Endurance Challenge Trail Race was by far one of the best organized races I’ve ever been to. Granted, I’m only speaking to the 10k here. Since I’m from LA, I wasn’t able to go to packet pickup in SF so AK went for me, and he said it was a little chaotic. But I can’t judge on that since I wasn’t there. I also didn’t really like the emails they sent out because the information wasn’t consistent in the emails vs the participant guide and it was just a little hard to find info on parking, shuttle times, etc. I ended up asking a friend since this was her fourth year running it. She said there is one shuttle stop in the city at Marina Middle School, so you save yourself the drive across the bridge and the toll. But since I like to control when I leave the race and not have to rely on a shuttle, AK drove us over there.
We got there around 8:30 am (the 10k started at 9 am — I think that’s the latest start for any race I’ve ever been in) and the 10k lot was full, so they directed us to Rodeo Beach parking, which was actually closer, so we just hiked up the road and got to the meeting around in about 5 minutes. It was actually a nice little warm-​up.
We really couldn’t have asked for better weather. I was worried about rain, wind, freezing cold, but it was sunny, clear, and absolutely beautiful. Cold enough where you didn’t feel uncomfortable running and once you were warmed up, you were fine.
The elevation on this run is about 900 ft and it’s a stead continuous climb for the first half, then a steep downhill on the second. You get awesome views of rolling hills and the water, and Sausalito (I think that’s what I was looking at), but being in Marin Headlands was great. We got a great Goretex shirt with our reg fee and they were handing out reusable water bottles like nobody’s business. It was great because there weren’t plastic water bottles littlered everywhere, and it was really clean for a race site, as trash cans were provided in a couple of tents and everyone was very conscientious about putting their trash in the appropriate containers. That’s very SF of them.
There weren’t a ton of booths but that didn’t matter because with the small number of runners, it was easy to get to each one. The food booth had a bunch of snacks — bananas, chips, pretzels, water, and some other things that I didn’t bother eating, but it was plentiful.
They had a great booth where they silkscreened a pic of the bridge and the year onto your shirt, but that line was definitely the longest. The bag check-​in was great and seemed really efficient. Didn’t hear anything about anyone not getting their bags quickly, so will do that next year. And will bring a clean shirt for them to silk screen!
We left and popped into Sausalito for a post-​run breakfast. A perfect end to a perfect race. Thanks North Face!

Contrary to Stan C’s unnecessarily hostile review, I found the half marathon to be perfect. Great support, great shwag, great communication.
Stan (who relies on claims of being «screwed» and refers to female athletes as «pretty bitches» in his tantrum), comes across as being a malcontent and I would guess that he would be better off in a hot-​dog eating contest. For runners, who choose harship-​as-​hobbty, minor issues like name mix-​ups should not really be issues.

First of all, to answer the one complaint here, North Face clearly states that only the longer distance events are provided free hot meals at the end of the race. That being said…
This was an awesome experience. Course was clearly marked. People got out to every place they could to cheer you on. Aid stations were amazing and volunteers treated you like superstars to help you out.
I did the 50k and the total elevation gain was around 6,700 feet. The race distance was a little long as well, but you get your money’s worth then;) 50k is 31 miles, but my Garmin, and others came up with 325 to 33 miles.
Recommend trail shoes as there are some sketchy downhills to take on, and if there is rain, a trashbag to haul mucky stuff home.
You can read my full race report at

I ran the 50k event in 2010. Let me start by saying that whoever designed this course doesn’t want to be your friend, he wants to punch you in the face and question why you decided this was a good idea. The course features 13,206 feet of elevation change, add in a little bit of rain to muddy everything up and this was an Endurance Challenge. And yet, I have to say that I enjoyed it. The course was well marked, I never got lost. The aid stations were awesome, the volunteers always asked if there was anything they could help with and I would often hand my water bottle over to let them fill it up as I salted up a boiled potato and grabbed a slice of a PB & J. The finish line meal featured beans, pasta, chicken, pork, rolls, and salad as well as a recovery tent with my GU brew, bagels, oranges, bananas, peanut butter, jelly, etc. They also had shuttle buses from the start line/​finish lines back to a couple of different points. I’ll have to say I was a little disappointed that the shirt only features a tiny logo on the sleeve. I kinda wanted something to show off that I ran a 50k and I heard that by later Friday night the store had run out of bags which required people to pick them up at the race. Not that that’s too big of a deal, but I would’ve been disappointed if I went down expecting a bag and came up empty handed.

It’s funny to read Stan C’s feedback. Mine is the absolute opposite.
I ran the 50K and I loved it.
About the organization:
A: They didn’t screw up my name (even though I have a crazy French last name) nor my age group.
B: The course was ridiculously well marked all the way.
C: Volunteers were great. Refueling at Pan Toll made me feel like a racecar driver. I changed my shirt while two volunteers were pouring Gatorade in my camel back and handing me orange slices.
There were very supportive and nice.
D: Water and food right away at the finish line. The post race meal was the best I have had in a very long time. Bread, Meat, Peas, Soup, Vegetables, Cookies and Brownies. I was full and it was perfect.
Stan, it was clearly mentioned during the sign up process that hot meals were only for the 50K and 50miles. Why? Because we paid for it and because we freaking ran 32 or 50 miles!
E: Was in The North Face training group, had a great coach and met great runners. Yes Stan, somehow 20 people managed to sign up for the Half Marathon Distance.
About the race:
32 miles and 13000ft of total elevation. Thank god I had run the trails before. It’s a hard 50K, it will punch you in the face a couple of times but the scenery is quite exceptional.
The runners were all friendly. Hearing a lot of «Looking Good, good job!» as some passed me during a 2 mile uphill. It was a great crowd.
I really enjoyed this race.

Follow up.
They screwed up again!
I couldn’t find my results under my name, had to search my bib number.
They screwed up my name, my age group.
Also forgot to mention — at the race festival there was barely any food for the half marathoners and 10K runners. By the time I got there all the bagels were gone, there was no coffee, most of the bottled water was gone, just a lot of chips & pretzels, and some corporate sponsored energy drinks.
They had a big spread of hot food waiting for the 50K and 50 milers, but told the half marathoners to go away. What we’re just chop liver!
As I said, don’t waste your time with this event.
— — — — — — — — — — — -
The race itself is great.
The organization sucks.
A. Emailed their coach to ask about joining their training group. You’d think since I’m offering to offer a hunk of cash they’d respond. NO RESPONSE.
B. Email in to change my race from the 50K to half marathon. First response I get is nothing but attitute. Finally get it changed when I pick up my race packet.
C. Went to pick up my race packet. They ran out of men’s shirts. You’d think that if they had 3 months to plan, and had my registration sitting around for 3 months, they’d get all this right. Response — leave us your address, we’ll send it to you in February (ALL THIS HAPPENS INSIDE THEIR FREAKIN’ STORE — ITS GOT NOTHING BUT CLOTHING IN IT.)
D. Took the bus they provide to take you to and from the parking lot after the race was done. On the way back the driver only goes to the furthest parking lots, won’t stop at any of the nearby parking lots (NEVERMIND THE FACT THE ORGANIZERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY TOLD US TO TAKE THE BUS, IT STOPPED AT MY LOT). Thirty minutes spent on the bus for nothing.
E. THE ICING ON THE CAKE. I ask the bus driver as he passes my lot to stop and let me off. He stops for a brief second. Some pretty little bitch sitting further up asks him to keep going and to head to the parking lots on the left. What does the driver do? He hits the gas and skips my lot!
The last one wouldn’t be such a big deal — if I wasn’t using an hourly rental zipcar. I was 10 minutes late getting home because of that little bitch and the horny bus driver, and had to eat $ 50 late fine on my zipcar rental.
You wanna do a trail race — do the XTERRA series. They won’t screw you.

I did the 50K in 2007 and promptly got pneumonia after. This course gives you a taste of the diversity of California nature-​scapes. And when I say taste, I mean a long work day’s worth of a taste. If you’re doing the 50K or 50m race you are going to be up in the Marin Headlands pretty much from sun rise to sun set. The course starts in a grassy valley area that leads into your typical dirt/​gravel trail area and with way more up hills than down (or so it seems! you obviously end up in the same place so its about equal on uphill to downhill). The trial leads through the hills, to the ocean, through a forest and a marsh to the ridges of Marin with the Golden Gate and the sky line of San Francisco on the horizon. Finishing this course was one of the hardest and more memorable days of my life.

I want to hug everyone at the North Face.
Picking up the packets was easy — i guess because i was practically the first person at the store. Everyone was really nice, and had answers to all my questions.
The race itself: Gorgeous. I did the 50-​mile. The race staff and volunteers were fantastic. They checked in with me at every stop to see if i needed anything. Toward the end of the race i started feeling a little wobbly and one volunteer gave me her own lunch.
I could go on and on.
Next year I hope they have better food at the end, more soft drinks at the aid stations, and better coffee at the start. But these are small gripes. The most important things they excelled at: charting a race that was safe, well marked, and memorable. Thank you north face! See you next year!

I came back for more punishment in 2008, running the 50 mile race.
Pluses: Meticulously marked course.
Minus: 30+ minute wait to pick up packets at North Face Store on Saturday.
North Face got it’s act together.

Similar to my pre-​review of the SF Marathon, I am giving this one a 5-​star for now. I love getting my @ss kicked and my face punched (See Brian’s review below), so I should feel right at home.
More to follow on this one as we get closer to December 2^nd.

Yesssssssssssssssss, I ran it. I did it. This year I did 10K. Next year, I will do the half-​marathon. I won’t ever do the 50K or 50 miles. I am star struck by the men and woman who ran the 50K and 50 miles. I had to stare at them to confirm that they were human.

The North Face has 50 km and 50 mile Endurance Challenge trail runs. There’s also 10 km and half marathon races as well. For the 50 mile race there’s regional events and the culmination is this race here in SF. This was the first year so there are a few kinks they need to work on, but otherwise a smooth event.
I did the 50k (it was actually closer to 33 miles). Now there’s a reason this is The North Face Endurance Challenge and NOT the Yumi Yogurt Fun Run. First, well it wasn’t fun. And second, there’s no way in hell the average runner type can run this course. Elevation change was alot and a few of the hills were straight up, no switchbacks.
So if you’re interested in your first 50k or 50 miler, don’t do this one… This was my first 50k and it was a serious bitch. The course will kick your axx. Then it will kick you again. Then when you turn around, it’ll punch you in the face. Do Angel Island instead, much easier.
Overall a great event. They have a raffle of goodies, free massages and chiropractors. And gifts for the top 3 in each age group.