Fargo Half Marathon
Fargo, North Dakota
Saturday, May 22, 2010

It started to drizzle fifteen minutes before the start of the Fargo Half Marathon in Fargo, North Dakota on Saturday, May 22, 2010. The rain lasted for the first hour of the race with the temperature in the low 60’s and a gentle breeze. When the rain stopped, the sun came out for a little while, moving the temperature to near 70 degrees. This was followed by clouds with wind between 25 and 35 miles per hour. Fortunately, I was finished before the winds increased so greatly; however, most of the full marathoners had to fight the strong wind. Fargo is about as flat as anywhere and, thus, the course was flat, only changing 20 feet in elevation throughout. The roads were closed to traffic and most intersections were controlled by police and volunteers. Water/Powerade stations were located generally every two miles and were manned by plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. Surprisingly there were quite a few spectators throughout the course even during the rain. The finish line was in the Fargo Dome. The prerace pasta feed only cost $10 and had ultra runner, Dean Karnazes, as a speaker. He was quite entertaining, especially the video of him on the David Letterman Show after he had finished in 2005 his continuous 350 mile run in 80 hours 44 minutes without sleeping. I enjoyed my trip to Fargo.