I ran the North Fork 50k in Pine, Colorado back in June and I waned to be sure to get some thoughts down about the race. I always love reading race reports when I sign up for a new race.

This race is just 40 miles Southwest of Denver but feels very remote in the mountains. It’s completely on beautiful trails in Pine Valley Ranch Park. I LOVED this race, SO SO SO much. The trails were stunning, the terrain was challenging but well work it. While there was lots of climbing and descending it didn’t feel ridiculous.

I did take the time to check out the course a couple weeks before the race so I would have some idea of what I was getting into, most photos are from this training run as I didn’t take the time to snap photos on race day.

Race morning is easy, with the usual ultra marathon laid back atmosphere. I decided to pick up my packet race morning since Pine is about a 90 minute drive from home and I didn’t want to drive that more than needed. I arrived about an hour before the race start, parking was easy and packet pick-up was simple.

Quickly it was go time, we all lined up behind the start line and started on a dirt road along Pine Lake.

The course quickly turns south and starts to climb on single track.

Some of the course is very forested and other parts are fairly open, keeping things interesting.

The course is fairly spectator friendly, there are many spots where family and friends to drive to, to see their racers. We decided it would be too long of a day for Cannon to be out for the entire time. So Cory brought Cannon down later, I got to see the around mile 22 and at the finish. I looked forward to seeing them SO much.

The last few miles of the course are all down hill, originally I was looking forward to “cruising” into the finish. But on race day those were some super painful miles! My legs were shot and I would have traded the down hill for a climb.

The finish line was amazing, I was excited to be done and join the party. There was great food, fun and some friends to hang out with. The BEST part was getting to pick up and cross the finish line with Cannon.

Instead of medals they gave out hand made bowls, I thought it was a great touch!

Overall I give this race a A+, I loved it so much. I would highly recommend it to anyone, I hope to run it again and maybe the 50 mile in the future.