May 10, 2014 - Fargo Half Marathon. Fargo North Dakota

Why would anyone intentionally go to Fargo North Dakota?  A great question indeed!  Well, I intentionally went and actually enjoyed the trip.  Mostly so I could add state number 7 to my "run a full or half marathon in every state" goal.  But also because I've never visited North Dakota and was curious if people really talk like the folks in the FARGO movie!


"Yah", "you betcha", the movie is kinda weird and not sure I would recommend, but it was the first thing I thought of when looking to run in North Dakota.  Now on to the trip and race review.





Registration for the race was easy and there was great email communication up to the day of the event.  Hotels close to the finish were a bit difficult to find unless you registered many months in advance.  I registered in February, 3 months before the event, and the best hotel options were already taken.  We ended up staying at Comfort Suites Fargo which was about 7 miles from the race start.

My wife and I arrived in Fargo Thursday evening and were welcomed right away by pouring rain and the friendly people of Fargo.  There were welcome signs at both the airport and the hotel.  We stayed at the Comfort Suites Fargo and I would definitely recommend it if you have a car.  Without a car, it is too far from the race.  The hotel also gave me a "Welcome runners" bag that contained 2 bottles of water, almonds, and a clif bar.  A very nice touch.

Saturday we went to the race expo which was held at the Civic Center.  Parking was free and easy, the expo was laid out nicely and had plenty of vendors and freebies.  Packet pickup went smooth and the packet included everything I needed for the race.  For the rest of the day we toured Fargo and went to Olive Garden for dinner.  My pre-race meal was pasta with butter sauce and chicken along with salad and bread sticks.   

The Famous Wood-chipper from the movie called Fargo

With my babe outside the famous Fargo theater.

Once we got back to the hotel, I laid out everything for the early morning wake-up and then hit the sack.

On race day the alarm went off about 5am.  We got up and dressed and then my wife drove us to Island Park which was the pre-race area designated for all half marathoners.  There was minimal traffic, parking was abundant, and not too many people were there when we arrived around 6am.  It was pretty chilly out (35 degrees) which may explain why people waited as long as they could to get out of their cars. I was glad to have grabbed a throw-away sweatshirt and gloves before leaving the hotel.  As the time approached 630am, the sun came up and the area became much more crowded.  There were plenty of porta-potties at Island Park and the lines were not bad at all.  Around 630am the announcer suggested people start moving toward the start line, which was a half mile walk to the Veteran's Memorial Bridge.  I took the time to stretch while the area thinned out.

Around 645am we walked towards the bridge and also got to see the famous Red River that floods every year and also forms the boundary between North Dakota and Minnesota.  Half marathoners were lined up on one side of the bridge and marathoners/10kers on the other side. There were about 15,000 people crammed on the bridge. The start time was organized by estimated finish. I was in the 1:45 to 2 hour group.  I stood near the 1:55 pacer hoping to finish a few seconds in front of her. The announcer starting yapping a few minutes before 8am (race start time) and there was a prayer and national anthem. A great way to start a race!  Also there was a drone overheard taking pictures of us and a helicopter with some dignataries filming us. The temps were a bit chilly at the start (low 40's) but I knew it would warm up quickly with the sun out so I gave Julie my gloves and sweatshirt before the race started.  If she hadn't been there I would have tossed them by mile 2.  I wore a short sleeve technical shirt over a long sleeve technical shirt.  This combination gave me a PR in Daytona so why mess with success!  

 

 We started right at 8am. It took a minute or so to get to the actual start but since there was chip timing it was not a big deal. The half marathoners split off from the marathoners right away so the congestion was not as bad as it could have been. The first 3 miles were fast and felt downhill. I was ahead of the 1.55 pacer but barely. When I stopped to take gels and drink water around mile 4, I was surprised to see her passing by me. All of my early miles were sub-840 yet she was right on my tail. I asked her if she was trying to run negative splits and there was no answer.  Once again, I was was glad I didn't run with a pacer because I would have been frustrated with her quick pace right off the bat. 

The course was mostly flat but towards the end it felt like we were going uphill. Nothing like hills in Colorado but enough to notice. The fan support on the entire course was awesome. There were several bands and DJ's playing music along the route which helped keep me moving.  We mostly ran through neighborhoods with many people out cheering for us. Several made up signs and they were friendly and enthusiastic!  Personally I really got a kick out of high fiving the kids along the running route. Every water stop had poweraid as well as water and there were plenty of volunteers handing it out. At one point they were handing out gels but I brought my own so passed them by. Several streets along the course had trees hanging over them from both sides so this helped shade us and made for great scenery.  

Crossing the FINISH line with a PR in FARGO!

The race finished at the Fargo Theater. They called the names of some of the finishers but I didn't hear my name. I PR'd, finishing in 1:53:04!  Almost 2 minutes quicker than my previous PR so I was very happy. I saw my lovely wife at the end and she snapped the photo above.  After crossing the finish, volunteers handed out water bottles, a FARGO marathon logo-ed  paper zip jacket, and our finishers medal.  Next we stood in a congested area for about 15 minutes waiting for after race food.   The food they provided was great (pizza, bananas, cookies, chocolate milk, etc.) but it was really tough standing in a slow moving line for 15 minutes after running 13 miles.  This was the one area I would suggest improvement if they asked. Also there was a band playing in the food area which was fun.

 The only other complaint is that there were no potties at the start. We had to either go back to Island park or down (and back up) a hill from the bridge and stand in long lines. Overall this was a great race experience that I would recommend.  The town of Fargo goes all out for this event.  We saw all the sites we wanted to: The bridge and river, Fargodome, Fargo theater, wood chipper, and space aliens. There's not much to do In Fargo but it's fun for a short visit. It was also fun having Julie there with me to enjoy the experience. 


Other race review stuff.

Race shirt:  Nice long sleeve shirt that fit perfectly so I wore it on the plane ride home!

Finishers medal:  Cool medal with bible verse (Hebrews 12:1 - Let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us) on the back.




















Photographers:  There were 7 picture taken of me.  None were very exciting and I didn't buy them.

Numbers:
My race pace was 8:38 per mile.
Overall runners - 1067th out of 5172.
Male runners - 658th out of 1870.
Age group - 30th out of 114 (Men 55-59).

Would I recommend this race?  Definitely.

What's next for me?  The Bolder Boulder 10K is next on Memorial Day.  After that, on June 1st, will be state number 8 at the Casper Wyoming Half Marathon.