D K's Staging Area

I ran or should I say walked the Joshua Tree Half Marathon this past weekend. I am very disappointed in this course. The conditions of the roads, complete lack of lighting especially at important sections/turns on the course, excessive high soft sand, and lack of scenery except for Meth houses guarded by dogs. I am mortified that I actually paid to do this. I am a seasoned triathlete, runner, and well respected physical therapist. I have done the Shenandoah Vacation Race and my teammates had run other Vacation Races in the past so my expectations were high for Joshua Tree due to how well those races were done. This was a very scary race and I know you sent warnings close to the race date discussing sand and darkness but I had no idea it would be ankle deep for 75% of the race. As a physical therapist I helped runners with balance issues after they fell and twisted ankles during the race. You need to provide warning that you will be running for >than half the race in treacherous conditions and this info needs to be provided in the race description in January when the sign up is released. Not 2 weeks before hand. The finish line was horrendous. No lighting at the end and to make us run downhill in the most slippery and loose sand of the race to the finish was unacceptable. Overall I am giving this race a Huge F and you really should send an apology letter to all the people that ran this.