Fargo Marathon Weekend Recap

I wasn't going to do a recap becuase I was not 100% happy with how the weekend played out. But, I knew that if I didn't write something up, I would be kicking myself for it. So, here goes.

Fargo Marathon Weekend kicked off with the Youth Run Thursday evening. The weather couldn't have been better with 72 degrees or so, a slight breeze and partly sunny! We had approximately 2,000 little kiddos running either in the 1/2 mile race or 1 mile race. There were kids as little as 2 years old running. It was so exciting to be a part of something like this ... and watching kids fall in love with running!

The forecast for the rest of the weekend wasn't looking nearly as good as it was during the Youth Run. Storms were supposed to roll in Friday, leaving us with 70-80% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Lovely.

Friday evening was the 5K. The plan for me, my sisters, brother-in-law, parents, and another friend was to walk the 5K and then run the Half Marathon the next day as part of the Go-Far Challenge. Well, we walked the 5K and the weather was decent, in the low 60's, but extremely humid. I think it is honestly more painful to walk a 5K than it is to run. It seemed to take us FOREVER to finish.

After Friday night's 5K, I knew I didn't have the Half Marathon in me. I wanted to run it so bad. I knew that I probably could have finished the 13.1 miles even if I had to walk a good chunk of it. But, I knew that I didn't want to injure myself further for lack of quality training. It just wasn't there. So, I made the decision to not run it. I was kind of excited to be on the other side of the race, watching, cheering, and taking photos of family members coming to the finish line.

The weather held out. It was in the low 60's again for the morning events, with a few sprinkles from time to time. Over and over again, I heard so many people saying how the conditions were ideal for half marathoners and marathoners. Cool temps, flat route, tons of fans, music at every mile marker, etc.

The excitement of being a fan on the sidelines soon diminished as everyone took off running and I realized I had a good 2-3 hours of nothing to do. I took some more pictures, ran into people I knew who had finished the 10K, and spent a lot of time thinking about my running. I thought about my poor training, about my struggles with random "injuries" occuring just as things seem to be falling into place, I thought about what my goals are, whether or not I want to attempt the HM distance again... etc.

I have an awesome long-sleeved Half Marathon shirt in my closet that I will probably never wear and it bugs me a lot. I feel like I owe it to myself to redeem myself and get back out there. I want to do another half. Someday.

Overall, the weekend was nice and it was wonderful to spend it with family. My brother-in-law completed his first HM. My sister completed her first since being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and my parents completed there 12th or 13th HM! I am so proud of all of them!!

GoFar Challenge Recap - 5K/10K

If you missed it, I posted about the Fargo Youth Run HERE. Go check it out!

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."
~John Bingham, running writer and speaker~

GoFar Challenge!



This was the first year that the race director decided to move the 5K from Saturday morning to Friday night. With that idea, they added the GoFar Challenge. To participate in this challenge, one would have to do the 5K Friday night, and then another event on Saturday morning, whether it was the 10K, 1/2 marathon, or full-marathon! So, not only would one receive a finisher medal for the Friday 5K, but also for the race of choice on Saturday morning; including two t-shirts, two swag bags, and the GoFar Challenge Finisher medal! That's 3 medals!!


I thought this was a great idea and knew that it was something I just had to do! Initially, I was hoping to do the 5K/Half Marathon GoFar Challenge, but decided to scale back a bit and do the 10K instead of the Half Marathon. Looking back now, that was a good choice on my part.


So, without further a-do, here's the low-down on how both the 5K and 10K went down.


Friday, May 21st, 2010
Fargo 5K


This race started at 6:30pm. The temperature was about 78 degrees with high humidity. The high humidity was a huge concern for the weekend and the talked about pulling out the black flags, just in case they needed to put a halt to the marathon the next day.

I struggle with running in the heat, especially when you add in the nasty humidity and no breeze in sight. I usually end up overheating and have a hard time cooling down after a run in such conditions. So I went out there with a plan to run this race with ease and not push myself too hard. I reminded myself I had a 10K to do in approximately 12 hours and didn't want to overdue it.


A friend's fiance and his sister were also running this race and I planned to run with them as long as I could. We kept a pretty good pace for the first mile and then I lost them when I couldn't get around all the walkers and strollers. I refused to jump into people's yards and run on the uneven grass, so I let them go ahead.


About 2 miles in, I was started to get pretty warm and there was no water on the course. Coming back in for the last mile or so, I was running directly into the sun and wanted nothing more than to finish this race and finish it STRONG.


The last quarter of a mile I kicked into high gear, passing runner after runner on my way to the finish line. It felt great. The finish line was so congested when I crossed it that there wasn't a single good photo of me finishing.


There were 5197 people participated in this 5K. I finished right about in the middle of the pack, 2523 out of 5197 people. I crossed the finish mat at 37:52, a 12:12 min/mile pace. I am not particularly thrilled with my finish time, but I was starting to feel overheated and new I need to save something in the tank for the 10K the next day.


Pros:

• All the people participating in the race
• Nice weather - even though it was pretty warm
• All the people cheering along the course
• I like that they moved the 5K to Friday night so people can participate in that and any other event if they would like!

Cons:

• All the people participating in the race (yes, also a pro)
• No water on the course - very disappointing

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
Fargo 10K

This is the first year that they added the 10K distance to the marathon weekend. Prior to this year, the only way one could do a distance similar was if they were participating in the 4-person marathon relay; and even then, some were running less than 6 miles and some were running well over 7 miles, depending on which leg of the relay you would be.


My alarm went off at 445am. The 10K was to start at 7am and they advised people to be at the Fargodome an hour before. Jill met me at my house shortly before 530 and we planned to pick up another friend at 545. Traffic wasn't as heavy as I thought it was going to be. I pointed out the fact that we got to watch the sun come up on this beautiful Saturday morning... but I think I was the only one that enjoyed it and found it to be very calming.


We stood around for almost an hour, just waiting. I couldn't believe how many people were there; either doing the 10K, half marathon, marathon, or marathon relay. I had picked up my cousin's 10K packet and was afraid that I wasn't going to find him. I had told him to meet me on the west entrance of the dome, but forgot that it was going to be filled to the brim with runners. With only a few minutes to spare before heading out to the starting line, I found him. Phew.


A few minutes before 7am we ventured our way out the starting line on the street. At this point, the clouds had rolled in and there was a light mist. I think it was about 55 degrees. To many, this would be miserable running conditions, but I was looking forward to be cool. There was a combination of rain and mist the entire 10K, but I enjoyed it.

The route for the 10K was a bit different the the route for the half marathon or marathon and I was worried there wasn't going to be as many people out watching and cheering with the wet weather, but boy was I wrong!

I finished somewhere in the middle of the back half; 2165 out of 2668. My finish time was a very slow 1:22:39 with a 13:19/mile average. However, I ran the entire 6.2 miles and finished strong with a sprint through the finish chute! This was my first 10K evah, and I look forward to breaking this PR in the near future!

Pros:

• Cooler temps
• a little moisture in the air to cool one off
• enough water/powerade stations
• Route with many spectators

Cons:

• There were some dead spots along the way, where one could have really used a cheering section.
• The rain made me wet from head to toe - and my cell phone was sliding around in my sports bra towards the end... very uncomfortable.

Here's a collage of the weekend's festivities:

I know I have said it before, and I am going to say it again... If you are looking for a friendly, fun, and flat race course, you HAVE to check out the Fargo Marathon. Did you know that it is a Boston Qualifier?!

Have a great weekend, y'all. I look forward to catching up with you all, soon!

Fargo Marathon Weekend - Part 1: Youth Run

Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Fargo Youth Run: 1/2 mile and 1 mile run (ages 12 and under)

For the past couple of years I have taken part in the Fargo Marathon as a race participant but wanted to do more. So, when I overhead one of our gym teacherss talking about the Fargo Youth Run Committee last year, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I told her I was interested if they needed more help. Flash forward about 7 months and the Youth Run Committee met to begin preparing for the 2010 event, with an additional member, muah. I jumped in head first and learned first-hand how much work really goes into putting something of this multitude together!

The committee was made up of about ten people, including our wonderful race director, a few elementary gym teachers, a retired teacher, a couple parents, and of course me. During our first meeting, we discussed the idea and purpose behind the Youth Run - inspiring the young to build healthy and active lifetyles. The Youth Run would be the event to kick-off the marathon weekend. It all begins with our youth, right? They are our future. Far too many kids are facing health challenges, particularily childhood obesity and diabetes, and this was a great reminder to kids and parents how important a healthy lifestyle is.

By Sunday of last week, 5 days before the Youth Run, we had approximate 1,200 kids pre-registered. Registration would be open until 5pm Thursday evening, with the hopes that our numbers would double.

I left work early Thursday afternoon to get to the site of the Youth Run and help with set-up and other odds and ends. I, with the help of another committee member were in charge of the finishing corral. Thank goodness we had the help of about 15 other volunteers and a dozen Boy Scouts. Thank you all for volunteering your time and helping out! We wouldn't have been able to do this, successfully, without you!

Both the 1/2 mile and 1 mile races were out and back routes. After crossing the finish line, the kids would be corralled into the fenced-in football feild about 25 yards from the finish line. The kids would come in through one end, grab their water and finisher medal, and be guided to the other side of the field where the parents would be able to pick them up. We had high security here, specifically at the end where the parents were able to pick up their child, with the help of police officers. Parents were required to show their matching bib numbers to pick up their child. I was working the other end, trying make sure parents weren't jumping the bike racks or trying to help their children climb over them. I had about 5 parents extremely upset with me for not letting them in or out without proof of identity. Being the loud and bossy person I can be, I stood my ground, for the safety of not just their children, but the other children on the field. Why is it hard for some parents to understand that we had things set up like this for the safetly of their child(ren)?

Asside from a handful of difficult parents, I would like to say things went pretty darn well. I don't know the exact number of kids that finished the race, but I do know that we had close to 2,500 kids participating! The weather was great - in the high 70's with a nice breeze. Almost every child finished the race with a smile on their face. It was such a great event to be a part of and help organize! I look forward to helping out again, next year!

*Next post: Fargo Marthon Weekend - Part 2: 5K/10K GoFar Challenge