Run Fargo

The Fargo Half-Marathon was a blast! A well-organized race in a friendly town. It didn't hurt that I PRd--2:28:57!
My concerns about bad organization were for naught. The reason the course map wasn't updated was because the Red River had overflowed its banks, so part of the race was re-routed.

There's an old joke that Minnesota has two seasons--winter and road construction. I drove up to Fargo on Friday afternoon, and what was supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive turned into 5, because the interstate had only one lane open. I have no patience for stop and go traffic, so I took Highway 10, which runs along I94. It was a pleasant drive and I took it to St. Cloud, then got back on I94.

Driving through central Minnesota, I got to sample plenty of rest stops. The rest stop in St. Cloud on Hwy. 10 had turquoise blue counters! But it was clean and someone had placed a vase of lilacs on the counter. I thought that was a nice touch and told the woman at the info counter to thank the custodians for me.

St. Cloud is granite country, and as I passed the prison, I couldn't help but notice its granite wall. I stopped to take a picture of the building, hoping I wouldn't get arrested in the process.


Hungry, I stopped at Barnes and Nobel and got a Starbucks and a large pretzel. It was the only thing without sugar that I could eat while driving. Then I got on I94 and continued my northbound journey. There was light traffic and I enjoyed the scenery, but I have no idea why it took so long to get to Fargo.

When I finally arrived, 5 hours after my start, I checked into the hotel then went to the expo. I got my race packet, which included a nice, long-sleeved technical shirt with a quarter-length zipper. I had missed Dick Beardsley's talk, but caught part of Bart Yasso's presentation. I was excited to see the creator of the Yasso 800s, and took his picture with my cellcam. Since it was indoors, it didn't turn out, so I won't post it.

I didn't shop, since I have enough running gear and my friend Mari was going to meet me for dinner. She lived in Minneapolis, but got married last year and now lives on a farm outside of Moorhead, which is adjacent to Fargo, but on the border in Minnesota. And she's seven months pregnant with her first baby!

My hotel was in the downtown area, and there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. We ate at the old Hotel Donaldson, now called the HoDo, and while we were there a big thunderstorm came through. Lightning and hail and lots of rain, but it ended before dinner was over. It cooled things right down, and after dinner we just went to my hotel room since it was raining lightly.

We visited while the next lightning storm came through. Weather dot com predicted isolated thunder showers for race morning and I was dreading that. I'll run in snow and rain, but try to avoid lightning. The lightning continued all night, but thankfully ended by morning.

After Mari left, I took a relaxing hot bath in the jacuzzi tub and laid out everything for the race. Mari had given me a good-luck card and a button that said, "GO", which I pinned onto my shirt. SD stayed home, because he couldn't leave work early and I was anxious to get to the expo and pick up my race packet before it got too crowded. He could have come later, but it seemed silly to have two cars up there. It's too bad there isn't a commuter train between Minneapolis and Fargo. All we have is Amtrack, and if you've every ridden Amtrak, you know how bad it is. So I was on my own, but it was only for one night.

I set the alarm for 5:30 and turned out the lights at 11:30 pm, ready for a 6 hour snooze. Instead I kept hearing voices. It wasn't ghosts, it was people returning from a wedding reception that was at the hotel. My great room was near the elevator and people would talk in normal voices, which went right through the walls. So from about 12:30 until 2:30, I kept waking up. I even opened my door and yelled at people a couple of times. Then I called the front desk and yelled at them. They sent security up to quiet things down. It took all my willpower to not start talking in the hallway when I left at six in the morning and everyone else was sleeping off their hangover!

Since I was staying in the hip downtown area, I went looking for a latte and bagel. Unfortunately, the coffee houses were all closed, so I ate breakfast at the hotel. Eggs, orange juice, and toast. Carbs and protein; a good start for a race. :-)

I'll talk about the race in the next post.