Race Report - Fargo Marathon

To be completely honest with you, I only did this marathon because Mike was going to it alone and needed some company, and that it was in a state that I had not run a marathon in yet, North Dakota. What I received was an absolutely wonderful marathon that had almost everything going for it, almost everything.

Mike and I got up early on Saturday and left for the race in plenty of time. It was cloudy and looked like it could rain at anytime. Driving to the FargoDome where the race started and finished was not too much of an issue. Yes, there was traffic, but since we left in plenty of time, there were no worries as we found parking about 2 blocks from the Dome. As we parked, the rain began. It wasn't a down pour but it was steady. About 45 minutes from the start, we headed out in the rain to walk to the Dome where they let everyone stay dry and warm. This was a really cool thing they have going for them especially since the weather was rainy.

The 10K started at 7AM and the half marathon at 7:30 so since the full started at 8, we wouldn't have to deal with all the half runners. Awesome to have them start separately. 10 minutes before the start, Mike and I make our way toward the start area complete with ponchos on to stay dry at least until the start. After a good national anthem and a few words from the Gov., we started off with the rain coming down.

I had planned on running with the 3:50 pace group and since the wind was low, I kept them in my sights for quite awhile. At mile 3, I turned to my right and there next to me running was Dean Karnazes. We chatted for about 3/4 of a mile and he said he had run the 10K prior to the marathon. What!?!?!, Well, I suppose, it is Dean Karnazes, so that makes complete sense. We had crossed into Morehead, Minnesota now for a few miles. I wish they had put up a sign stating this. Maybe they had one but I did not see it. We ran in Minnesota until mile 7 when we crossed the Veterans Memorial Bridge back into North Dakota. This is the memorial that is shown in the Fargo Marathon Poster and on the Finishers Medal. It was also at this time the rain finally stopped and all that was left were the puddles and not too much wind.

Miles 9 to 17 are one giant out and back which was a nice course but did not allow us to run in tangents to any curves or turns. Since all courses are measured to the tangents, this made us all run extra distance which was confirmed by my garmin which said 26.45 miles. Running the tangents is really the smart thing to do and is allowed since the course is measured that way, even if most runners do not follow this.

At about mile 10, I see blue skies in the distance. This did not make me happy as I knew the humidity was going to come and the wind with it. People along the course were asked to put out sprinklers for the runners and many of them did. I think I pasted maybe 15 or so people with sprinklers. This was a big help. At about half way, the sun peaked out and it got warmer and humid. It was about 60 at the start and now climbed into the 70's. I was feeling good through the half with a time of about 1:56:30, only a minute and a half off goal pace and still very confident. By miles 18, I was feeling the heat and humidity so I dialed it back a touch to make sure there was no crash and burn. I went through 20 at 2:59:06 but now giving up on 3:50 and pursuing a sub 4. Unfortunately, this is when the winds really picked up. Running though the downtown Fargo area between 21.5 and 23 turned into a very big challenge as the winds were whipping at over 20 mph with gusts over 30. One gust even pushed my into my other leg almost causing me to trip. But after 23, we ran with the wind for quite a bit but while it did help running with the wind, it did not offset the time we had to run into the wind. A little sand on the street didn't help either as if felt like a small sandblasting at times.

So far, I followed my plan of walk breaks only at water stops which were every 2 miles. At mile 22, the water stops were every 1 mile and I did take the breaks there. Only 30 seconds of walking but enough to keep me going. I got to mile 24 and I thought 4 hours was not going to happen or at least I needed a major push to do it. Also this is where the 4 hour pace leader passed me. At mile 25, I took my last break and calculated that I needed to run something like 8:30 pace to break 4. It was already off the mile marks by 0.2 of a mile so according to it, I was under 4 pace, but the race it to the finish line, not the garmin's 26.2 mile mark. I must have increased my pace but as I enter the FargoDome I knew I was in trouble. Turns out the clock changed to 4 hours just as I entered the building, a mere 75 meters or so from the finish line. Final Official Time was 4:00:16. Could I have picked up the 17 seconds needed to break 4 somewhere on he course? Sure, but that is the way it fell and I am OK with it. Not as OK with it if I have run a 3:59:59, but OK with it anyways. Considering the rain at the start, the warmer temps than I usually like to race in, the sun and humidity in the second half of the race, and he wind for the last 5 miles, I would say this effort and run was better than the 3:58 I ran at the Albany Marathon in March.

I was a touch dizzy after the race and had a quite warm head, so I was able to get an ice bag to help cool off. Then after a short line, was able to get lots of good food and drink after the race. They even had CHOCOLATE MILK! About time race officials realize many runners would like this. Bananas, bread, cookies, cracker, chips, pizza, water, all there for the runners and it seemed like they had plenty for all. After downing a few chocolate milks, I made my way to the Go Far Challenge table and got my 3rd medal for completing the challenge. 5K on Friday and the Full Marathon on Saturday. I was able to find Mike who was not feeling well and he crashed and burned pretty bad for himself even though he finished ahead of me. To use his words, he "sucked beyond sucking". I wish when I sucked I ran that fast.

After a nice warm showers and a few pictures, we headed out on the road for home.

So in a nutshell, here are my thoughts on the race. The organization was excellent. No problems at all getting registered, picking up my packet(s), starting the race on time, and finishing area. the FargoDome was an great central marathon location for the Expo, finish line, and post race area. With the very high winds by the end of the race and the rain at the start, being inside was awesome. The past feed was good for only $10 and all you could eat with Dean Karnazes to listen to while you eat. Really cool! The course was flat and fast. A great course to PR on if you wanted to. The only problem here was the inability to run the tangents. Fan support was excellent. It seemed like everyone in all of Fargo was either in the race or on the course cheering runners on. The finishers medals were really cool, way above average, the picture later doesn't do them justice. We even got a medal for finishing the 5K. Odd? Yes, but many people in that race where 5K virgins so it was cool for them to get a medal. The middle of the Go Far Challenge medal is a spiny piece says "Go Far Challenge" on one side and "How Far Did You Go" on the other. the back of the Marathon Medal had Hebrews 12:1 engraved. If you don't know it, look it up.

The shirts were the only bad part of the entire event. Marathoners got a long sleeve thick technical black and blue shirt with a zipper to the neck. Not my style and not one I would run in later. The 5K shirt was OK but not too colorful.

So I started out coming to Fargo to keep Mike company and to get check off another state but what I received was a really awesome race. I would definitely consider running this one again and I only wish Fargo was closer to home so I could easily do so. I highly recommend this marathon and it ranks in my top 5 for sure, maybe even top 3.

I have now completed 24 marathons so my next one will be a milestone race. Which one will it be? Not sure as of now. Very well may be in the fall, Grand Rapids or Des Moines are good possibilities.

Here are a few pictures from Fargo:

Mike and I after the race. The clouds returned.

This is the outside of the FargoDome and about 500 meters from the finish line. Look at the trees and the flags to see how much the wind was blowing.

This is the Finish Line inside the FargoDome by about 75 meters. The jumbo tron in the upper right side of the picture showed all runners finishing.

Here are the finishers medals. The picture is dark to they look more colorful in person.

Trip Report - Fargo Marathon

I am going to take my trip to Fargo to run the Fargo Marathon and put it into 2 posts. I will start with a report on the trip, expo, and 5K and then write a report on the actual marathon later. I will tell you that I did run and finished in 4:00:16. Yes, 16 seconds over 4 hours. Like I said, I will write about it in the next post.

Mike and I left on Friday morning to drive from outside Milwaukee all the way to Fargo. It was raining when we left but no problems as we took to the road. After close to 9 hours and a few short stops, we get to Fargo around 3 in the afternoon. After a quick check in to the Red River Lodge, we were off to the Fargo Dome for the Expo and 5K. 5K? I thought you were running a marathon?? Yes, I did run both. They had something called the Go Far Challenge which consisted on a 5K run on Friday evening followed by either the 10K, half marathon, or full marathon on Saturday. 3 medals is always better than 1, even if 1 of those medals is only for a 5K.

We find the Fargo Dome which very well may be the largest building in Fargo. It is a cool looking facility where the North Dakota State University football team plays their home games. Also, many concerts have been held there. The expo is held on the floor of the dome and was larger than I thought it would be. They had quite a few free samples to get and lots of vendors to check out. The Fargo Dome floor also served as the finish to all the races on Saturday including the Marathon. If you look at the small blue sign on the right side of the picture seemingly floating in the blue seat, that is the finish line.

After Mike and I were done with the expo, we get ready for the 5K which started at 6:30. I wanted to run this extremely easy to not tire me at all for the marathon 14 hours later. It seemed like the entire town was there for the 5K as there were 5197 finishers. It was warm and sunny so I tried to stay in the shade as much as I could until 5 minutes before the start. Since I wanted to run very easy, I started a about 50 yards back of the start line. There were still about 4000 people behind me so you would think all the runners ahead of me were actually just that, runners. Nope. The horn sounds to start and not 1 block into the race, there are walkers 4 abreast. Some people have no clue.

I did drink a lot of water during the day so I was well hydrated, a little over hydrated because a little over 1 mile in, I had to stop by a tree next to a gold course. (Sometimes it is good to be a guy). All of a sudden I hear a golf ball hit the street, good thing I heard it hit the street and not a loud scream of pain. I did finish the 5K at the easy pace I wanted to. 27:57.

I found Mike and we quickly headed to the pasta dinner. We needed to hurry because we wanted to see Dean Karnazes speak at the dinner. Dean Karnazes is also know as UntraMarathon Man. He is the guy who ran 50 Marathons in 50 States in 50 Days a few years ago. We got a seat up close and had a very good pasta dinner and watched Dean speak. He was a little late as he had just run the 5K as well. It was a good program he put on and after the dinner, we met him down at the booth he was at for a quick conversation, and signed poster and a picture. We talked a bit about the Kids Marathon I am organizing and he seemed quite interested in it and made a quirky comment. He asked if the kids had to read the 0.2 of a book as well. Hmmm, good question.

Mike and I went back to the hotel and it wasn't long before before the lights were out and the zzzz's were flying.

After the marathon, we had already planned to drive all the way back home. Nothing like being in a car for 9 hours after running a marathon. The trip was smooth and Mike took a good nap as I listened to the Milwaukee Brewers baseball game as we drove through Minnesota. Good thing they were playing the Twins so I could find the game. Surprisingly I wasn't all that sore except for my back which really needs an adjustment. We made sure we stopped along the way to get a picture of the store we saw on the way up. Maybe I am weird (maybe?!?!?!) but I found the We Do Cows dot Com store quite funny. We finally got back to Mike's house just before Midnight and I got home 30 minutes later and was out quickly.

The driving, expo, and dinner portion of the trip went smoothly and well. I will tell you all about the race next.

Tapering Sucks!

Tapering sucks! Well, not the benefits from it, but the process sort of sucks if you ask me. I am not running today and did not run yesterday. Monday and Tuesday were only 4 and 3 miles respectively. I do feel like I have some extra energy which is good but what I hate is all the little aches and pains that I seem to get whenever I taper. Tuesday, my left knee was bothering me. Why? I have no clue, it just started hurting to the point where I was limping a bit. It is gone but now I have achy muscles. Must come from the lack of exercise that they are used to. This causes me no worries for the race though. It will all be gone when the race begins.

Speaking of the race, I leave tomorrow, very early, with Mike for the 9 hour drive to Fargo. We plan on getting there mid afternoon and in enough time to get through the expo and be ready for the 5K race at 6:30. We are going to run this very slow and relaxed.

The weather for Saturday is looking a bit crappy all of a sudden. Rain may begin at 6:00AM with temps about 61 at 8:00AM. This is warmer than I prefer but I will take what I get. A big issue may be the wind. Right now it looks like winds of 16 to 19mph from the southeast for the race. This could cause problems for the first half of the race. I may have to back off my plans a bit in order to avoid a crash and burn situation. It will now be a race time decision of what the pace will be. Best case scenario will be run with the 3:50 pace group (8:45 pace) and try my best to relax at that pace. If the winds are howling, I will back it off and run at 4 hour pace (9:09 pace).

That is all for now. See you on the other side of Fargo!

No Watch = No Worries

I decided to run without my watch today after work. I was only going an easy 4 miles so I left it behind and just ran how I felt but kept it easy. My left arm felt naked but the run felt great. I have no idea how fast it was. Could have been as fast at 8:15 or a slow as 9:30, don't know!

I am in taper mode for Fargo. I only ran 8 miles this weekend on the track near my home. That was at 8:48 pace on Sunday morning. Now I plan on running tomorrow, maybe 3 miles easy and then take Wednesday and Thursday off. Friday is the long drive to Fargo with Mike and maybe Paul. It should take us a bit over 9 hours to drive there. We are then going to run the 5K on Friday evening as a part of the Go Far Challenge. I would like to run the marathon well so I plan on running this very easy, maybe 9:00 pace. After that we may try to go see Dean Karnazes speak as he is one of the guest speakers. I usually don't go to see these speakers but I saw his 50 states in 50 days video and he seems interesting.

So far the weather looks like it is good. At least no rain forecasted. A little warm for my liking but I will run in whatever I get. Than after we are done, we hit the road and try to get home by midnight, that is if we don't fall asleep on the way home.

The Future Holds A Lot

Today, I officially signed up for the Fargo Marathon which is on May 22nd in, you guessed it, Fargo, North Dakota. I have never been in North Dakota before so that should be a treat. A little while before I counted all the states I have been to. To qualify, I must have been on the ground and not flying over. I am at 35 or 36 now so I will be 1 more closer to all 50. If I want to join the 50 states club, I will have to run a marathon in all 50 states so by definition, I will have been in all 50 states that way. It may be the only way I get to Hawaii or Alaska, maybe not.

Anyway, I did sign up for the Fargo Marathon and the Go Far Challenge. What is that you may be asking. Well, they have a 5K on Friday evening and then marathon, half marathon, and 10K on Saturday morning. If you do the 5K and any of the other races, you get 3 medals total. Kind of like the Goofy Challenge at Disney World and Gold Medal Challenge at the Icebreaker Marathon but only a 5K instead of the half marathon. Mike and I will be driving up on Friday and we both will do the 5K at a very easy relaxed pace. I am predicting a time of 27 to 29 minutes easy. We both want to run the marathon in a good time so no need to crunch out a fast 5K and kill ourselves.

In other non-running stuff, this weekend is the annual Father/Daughter Dance at my girl’s school. This year I am taking 2 of them. I will be sure to include some pictures as the girls love getting all dressed up and going out with Dad in his suit and tie. It is an interesting experience. The girls are usually dancing (jumping around) with all their friends while a lot of the Dads are watching and talking. Then they have some Dad/Daughter songs they play and we get to dance with our little princesses. They love it.

This past week I even took them out shopping for new dresses. Yes, me! We ended up getting them at JC Penney’s for a real steal at 80% off. Melissa, being older and a whole 8 years old, took a more mature dress with sequins while Megan (5 y/o) took the "poofier" pink dress that is more like a princess. For the most part I let them pick it out but with my approval, of course. I had a Mom or two at the stores looking at me and one even said I looked lost. I don’t think I was that bad but maybe I was.

I have also been working hard on the WELS Kids Marathon that I am the director for over the past few weeks. We are now ready to send out the information sheets and sign up forms to the school that have decided to participate. As of right now, there are 18 schools signed up, last year we had a total of 10. The deadline for the schools is 1 week before the school year ends so I can then get them their running/reading logs to hand out to the kids before school lets out for the summer.

I know I promised you all a recap on what the WELS Kids Marathon is. I will do that in the next few posts here. It really is a cool program to get kids off the couch in the summer and out exercising. And also getting them to continue to read when school is out.

I am planning on a somewhat longer run tomorrow, maybe 13, that is if it is not to bad weather wise outside. I could always use a weekend off but I think I will be out there anyways.

Dodging Drops

It has been cold, cloudy, and rainy the last few days here in WI. But that does not stop me from getting out and going for runs. The good news is that I was pretty lucky on them by avoiding the rain both the last 2 days.

Yesterday, Mike and I planned to run after work but it was raining almost all day. By 4:30, it had started to slow down considerably and by the time we got out the door, it was just a light mist. Jeff joined us again for an easy 4 1/2 miles on the ole hills loop. We ran well and had good conversation along the way. Once we finished, we went inside and not 2 minutes later, it began to pour outside. We would have been soaked!

Today, Jeff joined Mike and I again for 5 1/2 miles. Again easy paced and no rain.

I made a minor decision today. If I run the Jailbreak Marathon in 2 weeks, I am going to make it another training run marathon. Here is why. This weekend, I am running a 20 miler on Saturday that will include a half marathon race over the last 13.1 miles. I am planning on running that one faster that I would normally run a long run. I hope to run it at an average pace of 8:30ish.

Then next weekend I am running the Gary's Gallop 5K near home. This race takes place at the same place where I have my Kid's Marathon race at and it run bu some people I know. Good news on this, since I run on the InStep Racing Team, I was able to get a comp entry into the race. This is the first comp entry I have been able to get so this is all good. It is a 5K so ideally I would love to break 20 minutes but it has a few hills in it and one that is not small. The last 2 times I ran this race, I ran about 20:40. I can hope though.

That would mean the next weekend is the Jailbreak Marathon with 2 races the preceding weekends. Doesn't sound like the best way to prepare to run a fast marathon so training run it will be. It is all good though, I do get to count it as one more marathon completed.

I am still debating going with Mike to Fargo in May. That one I would like to run hard and get a fast time. I will continue to debate this one the next few weeks though.