32 - Fargo, North Dakota

Start slow and easy, finish fast and strong— this is my marathon philosophy.  Sometimes this transpires during my marathons, but other times I start slow and easy, but finish even slower and easier! However, the stars were aligned for the Fargo Marathon and my marathon philosophy panned out.   What can I attribute this to? My pre-race dinner, running Kentucky 4 weeks prior, the Tyenol 8 hour I took prophylactically an hour before the start, the Vibram FiveFingers I've been running in more consistently, who knows?  All I know is that I felt FANTASTIC!

The Fargo Marathon was listed as the "8th Best Overall Marathon in America" by Runner's World in January 2010.  So Fargo became my choice for my North Dakota marathon.  "Yah, you betcha!" But to be honest, I did not really look for other North Dakota marathons.

This is a popular marathon, as I discovered when I was trying to book a hotel room for the weekend.  Everything was sold out.  I decided to wing it and find a room once I got there.  I flew into Minneapolis, rented a car, and drove to Fargo, which took about 4 hours.  Marathon "headquarters" was the Fargodome; number pick-up, the expo, the starting and finished area for the marathon were all there.


The hotel search was on after I picked up my number and walked around the expo. Across the street from the Fargodome I saw a hotel, stopped in there first.  They had one room left...and it was mine, luck of the Irish, thanks Dad!

The women at the front desk recommended a local Italian restaurant for dinner. I drove into downtown Fargo and found the restaurant, but there was a wait.  Every runner in town must have been there. I noticed a funky little place around the corner that wasn't too crowded ... HoDo Lounge, in Hotel Donaldson.  It seemed like the "place to be."

They had an adequate dinner menu, my pre-marathon dinner was there.  Some runners who had run the 5K that night came in too.  It was fun to chat with them and get the low down on the local scene.  This WAS the place to be.

Started with a salad,
Organic Garden Greens
mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers,
red onions, carrots, croutons, choice of house made dressing

And then, for my main course, had the bison (remember, I'm in North Dakota!).
Bison NY
black truffle and yukon pavé, wild mushrooms, broccolini,
micro greens, shaved black truffles, white peppercorn demi glacé

Everything was delicious.  And everyone was so friendly!

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at Cherry Berry a self serve yogurt bar.
While I was sitting out front eating my yogurt, I met Ryan Taylor, a North Dakota senator running for governor.  Literally and figuratively: running for governor.  He was running the marathon the next morning.

Saturday night after the marathon,  I followed the same pattern, dinner at HoDo Lounge and desert at CherryBerry.  As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing, can be wonderful." My cuisine choices were a little different,

Started with,
Fresh Manila Clams
white wine broth, grilled bread 
and Grilled Olives
artichoke and tomato beurre blanc, crostini 

then had a
Bison Burger
local bison, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, Wisconsin cheddar . 

The night before the marathon, the sound of heavy rain woke me up.  In the morning, it was thunder and lightening.  Chance of rain was 80% for the day.  But the 20% won out!  It didn't rain for the rest of the day.

I felt mellifluous during the run— yes, mellifluous!  The course was flat as they said, and there was lots of music along the course to keep it interesting.  I held back, took it slow and easy, until mile 20 and then I started to "pick off" people.  My strategy is to find a target person ahead of me, catch them, run with them for a little, and then find another target ahead.  And I keep doing this for the last six miles; it helps to pass the time and makes it a little more fun.  As you can see from the following results, I passed 195 runners. I'm sure it wasn't all in the last six miles, but many were.

After the run I happily walked across the street to my hotel, took a long hot shower, and then crashed for the afternoon.  VERY happily, since I had a room and didn't have to drive anywhere!

For the movie buffs out there, the movie "Fargo" is named after the city but was not shot in or near Fargo.  It was filmed in northeast Minneapolis and the local areas around Grand Forks, ND.  "Fargo" as the title was chosen because it sounded more interesting than "Brainerd."

Enjoy some more pictures from Fargo...

Two weeks until South Dakota.  Maybe I should have just stayed?