Fargo 1/2 Marathon Race Report - You Betcha!
Just over 5 years ago when my running life started, I happened to fall in love with a girl from the north country. Being a southern by her standards, Fargo to me was just a place where people say Uff-Dah instead of WOW, polka dance all night long and have doors on the second floor of their houses so that they can slide down the snow drifts when their front door is snowed in. Well, all of these preconceived notions were true and then some! Upon my first trip to Fargo I was amazed that I could see the northern Rockies...ok, maybe not but I had never been to a city that was soooo flat. Fargo is situated in an area that was once Lake Aggazzi which explains why it is so flat and suseptable to flooding - a perfect site for fast running.
Katie (now domestic partner) was always a runner but nothing more than a 5K runner. She never had any desire to run longer and always thought it was a bit crazy that I ran marathons. Slowly as her friends began to run 1/2's and fulls she started to entertain the thought of MAYBE running a 1/2. Her unpredictable and grueling work schedule as an OB/GYN resident makes a consistent running schedule difficult to adhere to and sometimes frustrating to see increasing running results. We would run together (never more than 3 miles) and we both enjoyed the time together to rewind the day and uncoil from the day's related stress. Many times I had tried to encourage her to try a 10K or maybe a 1/2 and finally in January she made a resolution to run the Fargo 1/2 Marathon. Two other friends decided they too would run (both had run a 1/2 before, one had run a marathon). We'd make a vacation out of it and it could be a training run for me and my running buddy (significant other of one of the girls running with Katie).
For a while my running buddy and I had thought about running the full but decided to just run the half. Katie was suppose to sign me up but failed to do so before online registration closed so we were going to need to sign up the day before the race at the packet pickup. She had already signed up so there were no problems there but we would find out upon arriving at packet pickup that the 1/2 was sold out. We could either run the 5K or the marathon they told us but we decided to run the 1/2 on the sidewalks instead and start well before everyone so that we could watch the girls towards the end of the race. I was pretty bummed that we wouldn't be able to run the actual race mostly because I wanted Katie to know that I was supporting her but she understood and we both were trying to take claim for the fault of not signing up in time. She was nervous about the weather and very nervous about how she would hold up over the last 5K. I was nervous that my running buddy who is much faster than me would want to run at a pace that I'm not trained for.
We dropped the girls off and took off from the Fargo Dome parking lot. We carried our own water and took the long way to meet up with the course as to avoid the start line. This ended up adding about .5 of a mile. I was the official time keeper, Andy was the official pacer. My training so far this year has been a slow build up and built upon running 3 days a week with significant cross training. Grandma's will be my first marathon of the year and is intended to be an easy run instead of a race so the Fargo 1/2 fit pretty nicely into my training. Having run a 1/2 about 3 weeks prior to Fargo in 1:56 I was thinking we would run sub 1:50 maybe sub 1:47 at the fastest.
Our pace for the first 2 miles was pretty easy and I liked that Andy was fine with this...he tends to get bored easily on long runs so he runs them fast just to get it finished. When we hooked up with the course the spectators were just beginning to setup their personal aid stations. I have never seen a course with so many personal aid stations / stereo systems before. It was amazing. There were polka bands, high school bands, square dancing groups, high school jazz choirs and much more! Andy and I kept joking about when the leader was going to catch us and we both agreed it was most likely going to be mile 5. As we ran down the sidewalk on 8th street we heard the cheers getting louder and louder behind us. This could only mean one thing - the leader was coming. He flew by us like we were standing still...no one was even close to him. We yelled as loud as we could for him as he is the brother of one of Katie's best friends and a native Fargoan. He gave a quick glance...I think he was nervous that we were ahead of him...yea right! Anyway, this was probably the worst thing that could happen for our pace. As the leaders continued to pass us, Andy began to pick up the pace.
We hit the 6 mile mark in 52.27. I figured that we had run about 6.5 miles at this time because of our non-standard start. This would mean we were on ~8:10 pace which is exactly where I wanted to be for a 1:47 - 1:48 finish. This didn't last. I noticed Andy was now about 20 feet ahead of me and I felt like he had picked up the pace significantly. My breathing rate was increasing but still controlled but my legs felt heavy. Having ridden my bike 60 miles over the course of the previous 2 days for National Bike to Work Week, my legs were tired to begin with and I was shuffling more than running now. Andy noticed and asked how my legs felt. I guess my comment about them feeling trashed inspired him to pick the pace up again! This actually did help them a bit and we hit a section of the course that had some elevation changes that I believe sparked some new found energy.
The course was very well protected from the wind and the crowd support was very good for a small marathon. Temps were a bit cooler than I would like but probably ideal for most runners. Once we reached the 10 mile mark I had pretty much decided that I was simply just holding on as best I could because the pace was getting faster and faster by each mile. Andy was out in front by his usual 20 feet and looking as fresh as when he started. My desperate comments of "buddy, we're flying right now" were followed by his retort of "you always say that...". It was no use, he wasn't slowing down and I was just going to need to suck it up. My legs began to finally feel good and my breathing had settled. I'm not sure why I always seem to find my stride later in a race but it finally felt good to run at our pace and we were now picking off other runners who had once passed us and were dying.
We stopped when we hit the turn that led to the opening of the Fargo Dome and the watch said - 1:43:40. After mapping our course, we ended up running 13.6 miles which translated into a 1:39:47 1/2 marathon...much faster than I wanted to run but my first sub 1:40 1/2 in a couple of years.
We headed straight to the car for the camera and dry clothes so that we could catch the girls out on the course and cheer them in. When we saw them they looked so happy and totally in control of their race. They powered their way in, ran almost even mile splits the entire time and finished in 2:13. Katie was very happy to be done and I couldn't have been more proud of her. It was fantastic to see her with a post race glow and twinkle in her eye. I knew she would do great - she's too stubborn not to
The rest of the vacation was wonderful and I even heard her say that she had thoughts about possibly trying a marathon. Oh, the joys of watching someone become a marathoner. We talked about how far she's come and how far she could go. It's magical to see the power of positive thought that can come from running...
Katie (now domestic partner) was always a runner but nothing more than a 5K runner. She never had any desire to run longer and always thought it was a bit crazy that I ran marathons. Slowly as her friends began to run 1/2's and fulls she started to entertain the thought of MAYBE running a 1/2. Her unpredictable and grueling work schedule as an OB/GYN resident makes a consistent running schedule difficult to adhere to and sometimes frustrating to see increasing running results. We would run together (never more than 3 miles) and we both enjoyed the time together to rewind the day and uncoil from the day's related stress. Many times I had tried to encourage her to try a 10K or maybe a 1/2 and finally in January she made a resolution to run the Fargo 1/2 Marathon. Two other friends decided they too would run (both had run a 1/2 before, one had run a marathon). We'd make a vacation out of it and it could be a training run for me and my running buddy (significant other of one of the girls running with Katie).
For a while my running buddy and I had thought about running the full but decided to just run the half. Katie was suppose to sign me up but failed to do so before online registration closed so we were going to need to sign up the day before the race at the packet pickup. She had already signed up so there were no problems there but we would find out upon arriving at packet pickup that the 1/2 was sold out. We could either run the 5K or the marathon they told us but we decided to run the 1/2 on the sidewalks instead and start well before everyone so that we could watch the girls towards the end of the race. I was pretty bummed that we wouldn't be able to run the actual race mostly because I wanted Katie to know that I was supporting her but she understood and we both were trying to take claim for the fault of not signing up in time. She was nervous about the weather and very nervous about how she would hold up over the last 5K. I was nervous that my running buddy who is much faster than me would want to run at a pace that I'm not trained for.
We dropped the girls off and took off from the Fargo Dome parking lot. We carried our own water and took the long way to meet up with the course as to avoid the start line. This ended up adding about .5 of a mile. I was the official time keeper, Andy was the official pacer. My training so far this year has been a slow build up and built upon running 3 days a week with significant cross training. Grandma's will be my first marathon of the year and is intended to be an easy run instead of a race so the Fargo 1/2 fit pretty nicely into my training. Having run a 1/2 about 3 weeks prior to Fargo in 1:56 I was thinking we would run sub 1:50 maybe sub 1:47 at the fastest.
Our pace for the first 2 miles was pretty easy and I liked that Andy was fine with this...he tends to get bored easily on long runs so he runs them fast just to get it finished. When we hooked up with the course the spectators were just beginning to setup their personal aid stations. I have never seen a course with so many personal aid stations / stereo systems before. It was amazing. There were polka bands, high school bands, square dancing groups, high school jazz choirs and much more! Andy and I kept joking about when the leader was going to catch us and we both agreed it was most likely going to be mile 5. As we ran down the sidewalk on 8th street we heard the cheers getting louder and louder behind us. This could only mean one thing - the leader was coming. He flew by us like we were standing still...no one was even close to him. We yelled as loud as we could for him as he is the brother of one of Katie's best friends and a native Fargoan. He gave a quick glance...I think he was nervous that we were ahead of him...yea right! Anyway, this was probably the worst thing that could happen for our pace. As the leaders continued to pass us, Andy began to pick up the pace.
We hit the 6 mile mark in 52.27. I figured that we had run about 6.5 miles at this time because of our non-standard start. This would mean we were on ~8:10 pace which is exactly where I wanted to be for a 1:47 - 1:48 finish. This didn't last. I noticed Andy was now about 20 feet ahead of me and I felt like he had picked up the pace significantly. My breathing rate was increasing but still controlled but my legs felt heavy. Having ridden my bike 60 miles over the course of the previous 2 days for National Bike to Work Week, my legs were tired to begin with and I was shuffling more than running now. Andy noticed and asked how my legs felt. I guess my comment about them feeling trashed inspired him to pick the pace up again! This actually did help them a bit and we hit a section of the course that had some elevation changes that I believe sparked some new found energy.
The course was very well protected from the wind and the crowd support was very good for a small marathon. Temps were a bit cooler than I would like but probably ideal for most runners. Once we reached the 10 mile mark I had pretty much decided that I was simply just holding on as best I could because the pace was getting faster and faster by each mile. Andy was out in front by his usual 20 feet and looking as fresh as when he started. My desperate comments of "buddy, we're flying right now" were followed by his retort of "you always say that...". It was no use, he wasn't slowing down and I was just going to need to suck it up. My legs began to finally feel good and my breathing had settled. I'm not sure why I always seem to find my stride later in a race but it finally felt good to run at our pace and we were now picking off other runners who had once passed us and were dying.
We stopped when we hit the turn that led to the opening of the Fargo Dome and the watch said - 1:43:40. After mapping our course, we ended up running 13.6 miles which translated into a 1:39:47 1/2 marathon...much faster than I wanted to run but my first sub 1:40 1/2 in a couple of years.
We headed straight to the car for the camera and dry clothes so that we could catch the girls out on the course and cheer them in. When we saw them they looked so happy and totally in control of their race. They powered their way in, ran almost even mile splits the entire time and finished in 2:13. Katie was very happy to be done and I couldn't have been more proud of her. It was fantastic to see her with a post race glow and twinkle in her eye. I knew she would do great - she's too stubborn not to
The rest of the vacation was wonderful and I even heard her say that she had thoughts about possibly trying a marathon. Oh, the joys of watching someone become a marathoner. We talked about how far she's come and how far she could go. It's magical to see the power of positive thought that can come from running...
posted by imarathon.org at
7:27 AM
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