Hello! How's your Thursday going?
Anyone else feel like this has been the loooongest week?
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| my thoughts exactly...all week |
Ok, so I said I would be back with a race review. Not a ton of new stuff to report since last year, but since the start and finish were different I've got a few thoughts. So there were two main differences this year, and it was the facT that all the races (with the exception of the 5k, which was the evening before), all started at the same time. Also, the fact that the start the end location were moved from the Fargo Dome to downtown Fargo.
But let me start at the beginning. We took the shuttles to the athlete village/bag drop. Getting to the shuttle was easy peasy, but our poor bus driver didn't really know where he was going, and ended up dropping off the marathon runners at the wrong spot, so we had to turn around. He had a good sense of humor about it, but I could tell some people were annoyed. I think the change in location left a lot of people confused about where they were supposed to go and the signage for everything wasn't the greatest.
Getting to the bag drop and start was pretty easy though. I was thinking that because everyone was starting at the same time that it would be really congested, but it actually wasn't too bad, and we were able to line up pretty easily.
The course this year was great. A few more "hills" than last year, but honestly, it's Fargo, when I say "hills" they are basically just bumps in the road :) I loved starting on the bridge with everyone and finishing right in downtown. The crowd support again was great this year. Bands pretty much every mile, and SO many entertaining signs and people. I think my favorite was an old man dancing on a piece of cardboard to Blurred Lines - the best.
The water/sports drink/GU stations got a little congested towards the end, but nothing too bad. Part of me wished that those who chose to walk through the water stops would stay to the sides - I almost ran smack into someone, but really, it wasn't horrible.
The one thing that bummed me out was that they advertised that there would be a jumbo screen at the finish so you could see yourself run in (just like last year), but when I turned the corner to the finish, there was nothing. The screen wasn't until you came through and got your medal. Now, I'm not that vain (wait....yes I am), that I need to see myself on the big screen, but it was SO COOL last year that I was excited for it. So really, that was my only thumbs-down about the race.
So it's super obvious that Fargo holds a special place in my heart, and while I really liked how they moved the race back to downtown for the 10th anniversary, there is just something about running into the dome, with tons of people cheering, that just cant be beat. So I'm hoping they move it back there next year.
So if you made it to the end of this, congrats, sorry I'm so boring, and before this gets any longer here are my official results....
Getting to the bag drop and start was pretty easy though. I was thinking that because everyone was starting at the same time that it would be really congested, but it actually wasn't too bad, and we were able to line up pretty easily.
The course this year was great. A few more "hills" than last year, but honestly, it's Fargo, when I say "hills" they are basically just bumps in the road :) I loved starting on the bridge with everyone and finishing right in downtown. The crowd support again was great this year. Bands pretty much every mile, and SO many entertaining signs and people. I think my favorite was an old man dancing on a piece of cardboard to Blurred Lines - the best.
The water/sports drink/GU stations got a little congested towards the end, but nothing too bad. Part of me wished that those who chose to walk through the water stops would stay to the sides - I almost ran smack into someone, but really, it wasn't horrible.
The one thing that bummed me out was that they advertised that there would be a jumbo screen at the finish so you could see yourself run in (just like last year), but when I turned the corner to the finish, there was nothing. The screen wasn't until you came through and got your medal. Now, I'm not that vain (wait....yes I am), that I need to see myself on the big screen, but it was SO COOL last year that I was excited for it. So really, that was my only thumbs-down about the race.
So it's super obvious that Fargo holds a special place in my heart, and while I really liked how they moved the race back to downtown for the 10th anniversary, there is just something about running into the dome, with tons of people cheering, that just cant be beat. So I'm hoping they move it back there next year.
So if you made it to the end of this, congrats, sorry I'm so boring, and before this gets any longer here are my official results....
And now, commence the 3 week freak out until MPLS...
