Rainy and cold. The rerouted course on Westside Road was pretty monotonous. The rain added an interesting element, since many patches of the road ended up being flooded and muddy. The race itself started about 30 minutes late. The t-shirt and medal are pretty low-quality when compared to marathons at the same cost.

Running through Death Valley will always be an amazing experience, but my expectations weren't quite met during this race.

The aid stations were great and stayed open until every runner passed by - the high school kids manning the stations were real troopers!

While we didn't get to run through Titus Canyon, it was a memorable experience, running entirely below sea level while Death Valley was beginning to flood. The day of the marathon saw 50-degree weather with wind, rain, and mud. It was both miserable and amazing at the same time. While there were very few spectators (10-20?), they were amazing.

It is difficult to imagine a more peaceful, scenic run. In reading the previous reviews, I got a few chuckles out of some of the negative comments about this race. IT IS IN DEATH VALLEY!! In other words, if you are looking for a hotel at the start/finish, aid stations every 2 miles stocked like a Vegas buffet, bands, spectators, cheer squads, etc., then you need to run the Rock and Roll with 30,000 other people. Death Valley is for the pure joy of running in a secluded, hauntingly beautiful place.

Yes, this is a great TRAIL marathon.... Watch your footing because you'll be running on loose rocks and watching the ground the whole way!!

As the day for this race drew near, Titus Canyon Road was closed. I was resigned to having to run the flat out-and-back course (the alternative route which I believe is on the West Side Road next to the Devil's Golf Course), but Titus Canyon Road opened on the day of the marathon. I was thrilled!

The volunteers were helpful and Dave Horning from Envirosports was entertaining. One holdup in the morning was the disproportionate lines to pick up race numbers. The lines were divided by the letter of the last name, and some lines had 40 people while others were empty. A bus broke down on the morning of the race, but everyone found their way to the start of the race with only a short delay in the start time.

The race begins with the flashing of Dave's taillights as he heads off to start the 30K group about 8 miles ahead. The route ascends steadily for the first five miles, then really picks up grade until mile 9. Then there is a mile-long descent followed by a 1.5-mile, 1000-foot climb up to Red Pass.

After Red Pass the trail descends without ever climbing for the last 14 miles. One of the runners I hooked up with said he had never run so fast during the last miles of a race.

The aid stations are not really at the mile markers listed, but are within a mile or two of the distances stated. So don't depend on them for timing your drinks or food stops.

The post-race wrap-up at the Saloon that night was long. Dave listed off each age group and the top three finishers together with their time. I finally left after 45 minutes of standing around without hearing the results from my race. They must have been listing results for over an hour that way. On my way out I found the results were posted outside after the meeting started, so I found my time and placing there.

I loved Death Valley and the adventure of this race.

This was a great marathon. I loved it. As stated in previous posts, it has spectacular scenery. Death Valley is a very cool National Park. It was like visiting another planet. Weather was perfect for a marathon. I took it easy going up, up, up. I let it rip going down, down, down, down.

It's harder going uphill than going downhill, but going downhill is harder on your body. Two days later I could barely walk.

It starts in NV and finishes in CA, which is also cool.

This was my 19th marathon and my most memorable. If you love a destination marathon, put it on your list!

Great run in a beautiful place. Very hard, but I really like hard runs!!!

Let me start with a word of advice for future Enviro-Sport runners: When the race director says, "No headphones," he means NO HEADPHONES! We saw a lot of runners running with headphones despite his instructions to the contrary, and they all got a nasty surprise at the awards ceremony when they all found out they'd been disqualified!

The course is psychologically daunting. About the first ten miles are on crushed gravel to the top of what they call "White Pass." When you get to the top of the pass, you see a deep valley in front of you, and on the other side of the valley, you see what they call "Red Pass," but what I call "Donkey Kong Hill" because the trail zig-zagging up the side of the mountain kind of reminds me of the video game Donkey Kong. Once you get to the top of Donkey Kong Hill at about mile 14, it's literally all downhill. I did not experience any of the exhaustion at around mile 22 like I have on other marathons; you pay your dues upfront on this one.

This was a great race and I'll be the first to sign up for next year's run!

Desolate vistas, and amazing canyon walls. It's a jeep trail: footing needs attention and it really is 2300' up for 13 miles, followed by 5000' down the final 13. No mile markers, which I loved; it's a run within nature's starkness. Organization could improve: we started a 1/2-hour late; were given 2 speeches when 1 typed info page would have been better; no map with elevation or stops indicated; no cups at the first (of 5 stops); no vaseline until third stop; they ran out of medals; and at the finish we waited in the full bus for 20 min., cramping up, before it was given the go-ahead to leave. Still, once the jarring stopped from all of that downhill running, it's a great memory.

This year, 2007, saw us running the original course through Titus Canyon. It was absolutely breathtaking. The run up was quite difficult, 12 miles, 10 gradual, then down, then 800 meters straight up! The 14 miles down were very hard on the quads - not as fast as one would think due to the wear and tear of the decline. The organization was friendly, but barely existent. No mile markers; guys with GPS said it was 27.4 miles long or longer. Overall, I would love to do it again and would recommend it.