Crossing the line: Fargo Marathon

3:25 pace group coming through aid station

The races are done and I feel exhausted even thou all I did was watch and ring bells and hunt for GU after the course closed.
It was a real cool and windy morning on Saturday for the Marathon and Half. After reaching 90 the day before in Fargo, this was more than relief- it actually felt chilly at times. A German, Oliver Hoffman, and a local woman Lisa Dyer took the marathon championships. Lisa had come in 2nd in the half last year. It seems the few Kenyans that did enter did not make it to the top ten. Hilary Kogo had been behind Hoffman at the start of the race but fell off in the later stages. Hoffman held the lead the entire race.
In the half Joe Moore must have been closely pacing Andrew Carlson because right at the end Moore sniped the Fargo South grad by a few tenths of a second. Probably the biggest upset of the weekend.
Ladia Albertson-Junkans bested the females in the half marathon again.
In the 10K Cley Twigg won it for the men and Gina Aalgaard-Kelly wins it for the ladies. I got Gina her race packet on Friday and at that time she was unsure if she would run the 10K or the half. I guess she made the best decision.
It was a slower marathon than last year- 2:28 was Hoffman's time. I think that may have been due to the wind coming out of the north. The men's winner had aimed for 2:22.
The half on the other hand was nearly 3 minutes faster than last year. But Moore did not set the course record. But only barely missed it.
My friend Dan finished 52nd overall in the half and 2nd in his age group. Not bad but he ran so fast I totally missed him at mile 8.
I ran a few meters with a high school buddy of mine. Chris has run the Fargo marathon numerous times. He has actually become a marathoning maniac recently by racking up finisher medals at quite a few marathons.  He told me he aimed for a 4:10 finish. He got 4:11. I hope I didn't slow him down just before mile 22.