Happy Girls Run Sisters Half Marathon

Happy Girls runs a three-city series, and the Sisters stop is the trail-heaviest of the set. It pulls a predominantly women's field into a town of about two thousand people, and the half reaches its entry cap most years rather than staying open to race day.

The loop starts and finishes at FivePine Lodge and spends nearly all of its distance on the Peterson Ridge trail network. Around 500 feet of climbing arrives in the first half and comes back in the second, so the profile is close to net zero. Footing is packed singletrack and old forest road, not technical rock.

Late October mornings in the high desert often start near freezing and dry out quickly once the sun clears the pines. Afternoons can reach the fifties, so most runners carry more layers to the start than they finish in.