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| Downtown Fargo |
Standing inside the Fargodome with the masses...waiting for the race to start...a woman in a tutu leans into her nervous friend's ear and tells her, "It's just another day ending in Y"...Indeed, after months of training it boils down to this one day, and you get what you get and you make it what you make it. I am in awe of this woman and this advice for her friend who is having a hard time coming to terms with the enormity of the adverseness that awaits her, and in fact all of us, just outside those doors. When Mother Nature throws down a warm sunny day for a marathon you have to look inside yourself and say it. Just another day ending in Y...Deal with it. I want a tutu.
So let me back up. The three of us, me, Mark, and Jamie, coming off the LA marathon, ramped up our training to run faster times on a flatter and supposedly cooler course choice. We each had really strong training sessions going into Fargo. Mark's goal was 3:25, Jamie, around 3:40 to qualify for Boston, and I felt like I could possibly break 4 hours, which I haven't done since 2010. When the forecast started showing warmer temps I was disappointed for all of us. Still, we kept telling each other that maybe without the humidity it would feel cooler, maybe it will be cloudy, blah blah blah...
We met up with Robin (who flew directly to Fargo while we drove in from Minneapolis) at the expo, and convinced Zelda to pick up her half marathon race packet even though she wasn't running it, due to her foot not allowing her to train. When she saw the bib with her name on it her wheels started turning...DO IT DO IT DO IT...We all went out to eat dinner that night at a really good Italian restaurant (thanks Robin!) and then off to bed!
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| Race morning...Zelda is going for it! |
So there we were, race day morning...indoors, trying to gauge what awaited us outside! I have never started a marathon indoors before. It was surreal, especially when the mayor of Winnipeg Canada took to the microphone (I'm not sure why) and started talking. His thick accent made me feel like I was in a Saturday Night Live skit. First they played the Canadian National Anthem (again not sure why), then ours, and off we went, out the doors into the bright, blinding sun!
Initially it felt somewhat cool, even though it was sunny. There was the usual jovial early mile mood among us. Robin and I ran together, sharing stories, but just past mile 6 I could tell I needed to back it down, so I told her I needed to slow down and let her go on, which was painful to do, because the distraction was really nice! I put my music on and started focusing on the fact that it was heating up rather quickly and I'd have to step it up on the water stops and electrolytes. Just after we split from each other we left a neighborhood and entered the first of two bike trails that undulated along a river and park area. Although pretty, it was annoyingly narrow, twisty, and hilly. Not a fan!
I must say that Fargo really gets into their marathon. The streets and bike paths were lined with spectators, bands, boom boxes, college kids when we ran though the University, water hoses, kids with squirt guns, you name it. Anyhow, by the time the four hour pace group passed me by (mile 13?) I was well aware of the fact that I was already on "survival mode". Each water stop would involve walking and double fisting, getting in as much as possible, and sometimes doubling up on electrolytes. I'd throw everything at it, just to feel "OK", but it wasn't working. After the college campus out and back we got on another annoying bike path. A woman running next to me, a local, yelled out to her spectator friend that it was a beautiful day for a run. What the heck? She sounded a lot like that lady in the Fargo movie when she said it was a beautiful day during the snow storm. Maybe it was a joke and I didn't get it. Her back was sweaty. I was so confused!
We were off the second bike path and back on the streets somewhere around mile 16 or so, which was kind of a relief, although the path did have more shade. When there was no shade it was a beat down. I had turned my music off at some point, but came across a horrendous voice of this guy trying to sing, oh my God! I shoved my plugs in my ears and cranked up my music as loud as I could until I got by him. I was succumbing to brief walk breaks by mile 18, getting high fives by little kids for "power" and interacting with the spectators along the way. A guy said to me, "It's a hot sucky day", and I said, "Is it? I thought it was me." We had our names on our bibs, so sometimes people would call out to me by name and that was nice. I'd whimper out a thank-you. At one water stop someone said something encouraging to me and I whined, "it's soooo hot", like a big baby. A lady was handing out bottled waters so I took one and downed most of it as I walked around the corner. Seemingly without warning there it was, the glorious 20 mile marker, unceremoniously standing there with a pile of discarded water bottles piled up beneath it. Usually when I encounter mile 20 I make some noise, because to me mile 20 is a big moment in the marathon. It's the starting line of the second race, the race within the race, where all the craziness of marathon running lies. I took my bottle and did an underhanded throw into the pile, saying "fuuuuuck you and your woooood chipperrrrr" and resumed running again in silence. Just another day ending in Y...suck it up, buttercup.
We ran through downtown Fargo around mile 22. The people were lined up gauntlet-like, which was really cool, but after that stretch it grew quieter and bleaker as we headed back to the Fargodome. Those were the toughest miles yet. I had consumed all I could without getting "slosh stomach", but my calves started cramping up regardless, causing me to half stumble on occasion and force me to walk again. I knew that if this thing didn't end soon I would reach a point where I couldn't run anymore. Thankfully, the Fargodome appeared and we began to round it. I thought I saw Robin in front of me, but wasn't sure it was her. My mind loves to play tricks on me, so I didn't believe it was her. We turned into the dome to finish and there she was, just ahead of me past the finish line! If only we knew we were so close to each other! We could have suffered together! Jamie, Mark, and Zelda were waiting for us. Jamie rocked it! She ran a 3:41, qualifying her for Boston! BEAST MODE! Mark went for it, almost knowing it wouldn't work, but he had to try, finishing with a 3:46. Zelda ended up running the half! Robin and I finished with a 4:13 time. I found out later that I finished 3rd in my age group, but what's more interesting is that I went from 6th to 3rd during the last 10K, which is a testament to how ugly that last 10K was for all of us. Thank you, Tutu Lady, because your advice helped me on that last 10K so so much...
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| Finish inside the Fargodome |
Later that day we participated in the 27th mile Pub Crawl, held in downtown Fargo. Thankfully all of the participating pubs were within walking distance of the hotel, so we managed to hit all the pubs and receive our 2nd medal of the day!
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| And a beer opener to boot |
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| Fun fun fun |
Although I wouldn't consider this marathon course one of my favorites, I did enjoy the people of Fargo and getting to hang with Robin for the first time, and also enjoyed the endless laughter that comes with hanging with the Saxtons and sissy Jamie! We missed Toby but he was car racing in New Orleans. His face time with us after the pub crawl was entertaining I'm sure. Best line of the week-end came from Zelda, "What is up with the kids these days and their snatch chat"?
I heard it was 29 degrees in Fargo for last year's race. Now I "betcha" that was a beautiful day!
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