Forums >Racing>Fargo half-marathon report
I ran the Fargo Half-Marathon yesterday, and I have nothing but good things to say about the race itself! Very well organized, nice shirts, bags and medals, good food afterwards. The course was excellent! Well-marked, tons of support and they really did have as much on-course entertainment as they said they would--everything from Elvis impersonator, bagpipe players in kilts, high school marching band with drumline, DJs, garage bands (really--in their garages, LOL), if you can imagine it, they were there. It was like a whole city party.
I saw more medical emergencies than at any race, but it was not the organizer's fault, and they certainly responded with excellent speed and care. But three different ambulance rides for some folks--some poor girl literally screaming on the ground at the side of the course at about mile 11. I'm still worried about her, but she was getting great care. :-(
I would say they should mark the food areas in the Fargodome better--there seemed to be a lot of food, but you couldn't see where to pick it up around all the crowds. Also, don't waste your money on the "after-party" tickets. Half of what was promised for the after-party wasn't there, and what was there was lame.
That said, I'd definitely do this race again!
Dominater of Pavement
That's awesome!! Fargo is on my to-do race list since we just moved up here to Grand Forks. I think I might do the half next year - I doubt I'll be ready for the full.
Currently raising support for Give Kids the World and training for Disney's Glass Slipper Challenge. Come see how I'm doing at http://feetdominatingpavement.blogspot.com.
I've run full marathons in three locations: Fargo, Grandma's, and Twin Cities (twice). Fargo wins, hands down, of the three, as a matter of atmosphere.
Twin Cities is probably the nicest course for scenery, but I live in Minneapolis, so I run here all the time. Nothing new to me, and while the total volume of onlookers dwarfs the others, it certainly doesn't capture the attention of the cities as a whole (it goes through Minneapolis and St. Paul).
Grandma's was a great atmosphere, and the half there would probably be better than the full. Reason being, the first half of the full marathon runs along a somewhat desolate part of Lake Superior. That's nice to look at for ten minutes or so. Haha. But the town (Duluth) is super into the race once you hit the halfway mark, and that happens to be the start of the half. Grandma's would be a great half to run.
But the Fargo marathon engages the attention of the whole town. They love their race day. Not many major events happen there, and they certainly embrace it. Both the half and full are lined with an excited crowd the whole way, and once the race is done, it's still pretty much the only thing the town is talking about. I had a great time.
This year is the first time I ran the Fargo HM, just to check it off my bucket list. New to the midwest but am a seasoned runner. I have run HMs/FMs in many major cities, and smaller towns. The humidity was a killer though!! Still acclimating to it. But I agree, the Fargo event definitely greets you with an incredible enthusiastic crowd almost every block of the way!! It would be helpful to have a separate booth/line for runners who want to exchange their tech shirts for different sizes instead of waiting till end of 'packet pick up' day or on race day. Very NICE tech shirts, by the way!! Except for some potholes here and there (but what city road doesn't have them), and more 'turns' and 'turnarounds' which can slow you down, and they need to do something about the post-food line (crowded with few 'exits), the event was well organized overall.
I think you just hit Fargo on an unlucky year where the heat is concerned. You might run it next year, and it'll be in the 50's. It's been a crazy year for weather, generally, but the Midwest is pretty fickle (as opposed to cities like Seattle that have a 20 degree temperature spread all year).
The convoluted course complaint seems to be common. I think they do it because Fargo is a small city without much interesting stuff to see, so the only way to get a scenic course is by making it extremely convoluted. I'm not defending the course, just explaining my understanding of it. There is one benefit to their doing it that way: they're keeping you out of the wind. Most of Fargo is a flat, open plain. If they took you on most of their long, straight paths, you'd stand a good chance of facing unreasonably strong winds.