Fargo Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Beginning of the race was a cluster. Voluntary lineup. I got next to the 2 hour pace guy and figured I was good. First mile ended up being about 10 minutes due to walkers, kids, strollers and other assorted crowds. Second mile was slow too. By the time we got to mile 4 we were about 3:30 slow. Then, in his infinite wisdom, our pacer decided to catch up all the time in two miles. So, I was spent by mile 6 since I was not ready for 7 minute miles at that point. Managed to plod along OK till mile 11. Then, had to go walk/run as my right calf cramped up big time. It ended ugly. From the sounds of it my friends doing the relay had much more fun.

Not follow pace guy, run my own race. More sodium. More liquids.

For Fargo, it was great. Good crowds along most of the route, despite folks obviously being preoccupied with the flooding. Finishing in the FargoDome was very cool, as was the ability to see finishers coming in around the final turn from inside the Dome. Post race food was awesome. Even included free pizza. Nice to be able to stay inside the dome afterwards and stay warm too. Only thing this race could REALLY use that it didn't have was wave starting. Aid stations were well staffed and friendly. From the sounds of it, they plan on expanding the size of the race. Considering the mess at the start this would turn me off from doing it again.