The Royce Files

War at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible. Abraham Lincoln 16 June 1864 Not being in a war with weapons and being shot at I would agree that war is unpleasant to say the least. My family doesn't have many veterans. None died during their service. My great-great-grandfather, Robert Palmer (not the singer), during the Civil War and may have been injured during his term but I can't make out the words on the 1890 Veteran's Census form. Above is the monument in Grand Forks, ND to the lads who fought in the Civil War. It stands on its own ground less than a mile from the downtown. I am not sure how oft it is observed what with the downtown mostly quiet these days. But I took note of it many times when I was in town. It looks very similar to one in Island Park in the Go. I recall another lonely monument in Washington DC. A WWI monument that sits on the edge of the Mall. Not sure if it gets much atten...

I am hoping you will enjoy the third and final installment of marathon mustaches. I can't believe I've got this much to blog about the marathon this year. It really was memorable and now this Memorial Day weekend seems so lonely without the 20,000+ people around town. I was actually surprised to go downtown and find some businesses were closed for the entire weekend. I guess last weekend made up for it. Well, here come the mustaches. This one is a little hard to see. But this is indeed a stellar English military mustache. This guy could have been in G.I. Joe (maybe Bazooka .) Plus he ran a very respectable 3:25 marathon.  I think I wrote about how the ND governor and his wife ran the 5k even though I doubt many of the 5000 ran the entire thing. I was one congested race. Well, not to be undone and former Governor is running under cover going by the name "Gene." I know it is just a cover. But Jesse Ventura indeed ran the marathon. Am I right? Not sure if the spottin...

Nothing but stellar reviews coming in about the Fargo Marathon. It tipped the scales with 20K+ registered runners. That's a whole lot of shoes. However, this post is not about the shoes. It is about the mustaches. So let's get to it and see what kind of mustaches were running this weekend. Sometimes finding the mustaches was a little difficult because from a distance the optical illusion shadow mustache.  Below we've got a pretty good Jesse Ventura going on. He could take your Governor any day in the marathon.  This one below had the added bonus of a full arm tattoo. I believe this mustache is an English. Not sure what to call that one below. Has a Tom Selleck feel to it. But this guy is ready to rock with a few flasks around his waist. This one is an exception. No stash. The guy in the middle of the picture has worked up quite a sweat. However the red headed fellow with the nice chops is bound to advance to the finish before him if only by the length of his sideburns....

A fews days of recovery from the Fargo Marathon have passed. The blogoshere is beginning to churn out race reports. Not too many as of today. Most of it is crappy news aggregator posts which usually discuss the amount of registered runners which was about 20,000. I saw one post even got the winners totally wrong. Someone must have just put up a post as Fargo Marathon was trending high most of the weekend on Twitter. Here's a few to check out: A guy named Bill from Milwaukee ran the marathon Jordan ran the 1st leg of a the marathon relay- had an elite pace Jenn mentions running the ½ marathon and her daughter running in the 5k Steve ran the ½ marathon in preparation for Grandma’s (the marathon not the person) Overall, the marathon this year was fantastic. Steve in his post above makes the best points about the good vibe of this edition of the marathon. I had the most fun spectating this year. As a volunteer, it felt well organized. The e-mail reminders were good especia...

As a spectator you notice the sublime effects of a a stash. Men with mustaches just run better. Need I remind you of Prefontaine . He ran awesomely with a mustache. Dick Beardsley ran well with one too. At Fargo there was plenty of mustaches but I only count the ones without the beard accessory. Let's take a look at some of them. Here we have a crowbar stash.Give him a competitor's edge. I believe this is Tom Selleck running his first Fargo Marathon. He came by helicopter and will leave by Ferrari. And top off this set, a Hulkster Stash. The guy behind him is quite envious. I'd watch out lest this Hulkamaniac pile drives the guy into the pavement for stash stalking.

It is a bit fitting that an Erichsen and a Thorvilson win the Fargo Marathon. Ufdah! Here's Leah Thorvilson having a commanding lead just after mile 21. She would go on to make a "b" Olympic qualifying time. Holly Ochs apparently fell a bit behind but came in 6th right behind Cindy Sondag. I was unaware of the identities of the women that came in 2nd-4th. The press didn't seem too interested in them either. I never get to meet with these elites. The directors shuttle them off to who knows where. So I am left with just a electronic trail of race results and if I am lucky- a blog. I digress. Onto other tidbits. The most common name beginning with "Q" that ran any race was Quinn. I only spotted 2 costumed runners this year: slender Santa and Superman. Unfortunately, no Elvis except I think I saw a guy named Elvis run by. With a race this large you'd think there would be an Elvis costume in the bunch. By the time I got to the Dome, most spectators and...

I spectated at wonderful spot on 9th street. I got there just as the bulk of the halfies were coming. The weather greatly improved but couldn't find time to blog my observations as I was having too much fun. At this vantage point I was at key point in the marathon. This is where the the so called "2nd Race" begins. When I ran Sioux City a number of years ago, this was the spot were you needed motivation because you were really hitting the wall. And there was plenty of motivation at the corner in addition to some big farm equipment. The aid station was just a block south of my "perch." I ate a little breakfast with my friends on the porch and eagerly awaited the men's marathon leaders. The wheelchair leader went by in a breeze. Then almost 30 minutes later I could see an official bike coming. Who was it? It wasn't a Kenyan! It was Minnesota's own Chris Erichsen (see picture below)!! Chris Erichsen opened a lead from the Kenyans a few miles back. It...

A wet morning in Fargo instead of a warm one. Could this race go to a mudder? :) Just moments from the start of the full marathon. I already hear the half approaching middle Fargo from my perch. The rain is letting up a bit but definitely still wet. If the wind and sun return by 9 it may dry up. Well, last night was fantastic. The 5k went on without a hitch as far as I could tell. Inside reports say it was very congested and hard to run if you weren't near the front. I also heard the Governor and his wife were running. Sorry, but I don't think Miss North Dakota is running this year. The Marathon apparently hit 20000 registrants in the mid afternoon. The Fargo Dome was hopping. One sad note: we ran out of bags and the 10k ran out of T-shirts. I hated having to give people what we had left when they paid to enter. Especially if they ordered small and had to accept large. Our value quotient might go down. Not sure, it could be just a small contingent. Nevertheless, I loved me...

There should be a caveat to that statement. There are returning champions-2009 half-marathon winners Chris Erichsen and Lindsay Henkels but they will be running in the full marathon this year. Both Pete Gilman and Nicole Cueno will not be returning to defend their titles. It looks as if Pete got his Boston qualifying result last year and placed 38th at Boston just over a month ago. He probably deserves a rest. Nicole is working at a YWCA in the Twin Cities and appears to be co-coordinating triathlons. Best of luck to her. So the field is wide open. Let's look at the half. The Duma Runners Club is back again with some real quality Kenyan athletes. Richard Kandie looks favorite but could local runner Eric Loeffler pull down a victory? Richard won the Illinois Half a few weeks ago and won the 2008 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Papers are reporting that non-Duma runner Sammy Malakwan will be running the half too. However his registration claims he is set for the full maratho...

From Fargo Marathon One more day. Things are heating up as the hours are whittled away until the start of the 2010 Fargo Marathon. And heating up is not an exaggeration. The weather is going to be a scorcher by running standards. Forecasts seem to point to an upper 50 degrees at the start and nearing 80 big ones by the afternoon. Remember to stay hydrated and make sure to stretch out appropriately. The Youth Run was tonight. Didn't get to see it as I was doing the community garden. Tomorrow night the is the 5k. I'll be volunteering that evening as well. Too bad they don't have chip checking anymore. However, I've got a friend and an acquaintance running the 5k. This is my friend's first competitive running event. She has been training hard for weeks. George W. would say she has been "workin' hard and ordering in, staying late and coming in on Saturdays." My acquaintance, Jeff W, will not only be running 5k but the marathon the next morning. He ran...

I think ugly-weird should be one word but to the fact the English language adapts so slowing to things that don't have to do with technology I will just use the ever useful hyphen. But back to the online ads. I came across a rare one. I have only seen this one once but it needed a write up. This ad isn't really ugly but more disturbing. No old men or women, no weirdos, no unusual image connections, it is just a anamorphic dog. Dog reading news and pet medicines- they sorta relate. It appears the ad channels Cassius Coolidge's work (Dogs Playing Poker.) Check out the link. Cassius was quite the illustrator of dogs living in man's world and same dogs playing poker. He branched out a little. Ardent R.E.M fans will recognize his work of the monkey with a parrot on a Columbia bicycle . This advert also seems to be parodying another online ad making the rounds- young effervescent woman reporter discovers secrets of acai berry, making money from home, etc. You've pro...

Starting Line for Marathon From Fargo Marathon The 6th edition of the Fargo Marathon will be run this weekend and it appears to be some really great weather arriving just in time. In January 2010 Runner's World Magazine ranked the Fargo Marathon first in value and 8th best marathon in the U.S.  Wow! I don't know how we do it. A marathon in Montana gets the top spot. Boston comes in at 5th.  The marathon course once again has been changed. The marathon route looks a bit more serpentine this year but will indeed pass through Moorhead this year (it didn't last year due to the extended flood.) It may get a little dicey in the neighborhoods just south of downtown Fargo, as the course twists and turns through those neighborhoods 3 times. Looks like it will be one of the better places to watch if you are on foot or bike or board. Lindenwood Park should be a good place to spectate as well. The new race, the 10k, will not cross into Moorhead due to the 12th Avenue toll bridge...

Another entry into the ugly online ad category crossed with an Obamavertment. Although this one is not entirely ugly the old guy used in the image for this advert is a little unnerving. The guy looks like Don Quixote cum Father Time crossed with George Armstrong Custer (remember Little Big Horn) after a night of drinking and quoting Shakespeare. Maybe this is Nick Nolte . He's been heading in this direction for years. Like the typical offenders invoking the name of Obama, this one goes from some bizzare images to Obama's urging the viewer to do something. In this one refinance. And indeed Obama has made this urging way back in 2009. Apparently nobody is responding to the urges of the top guy because these ads keep popping up and rarely with the President's image. I'd rather there be an Obamavertment that urges us to get off our butts. This may be in the works as Michelle Obama will be taking on obesity. I could imagine the possibilities for these ads.

It has been a horrendous week in Nashville, Tennessee. Storms earlier this week inundated  the Cumberland River and flooded much of Nashville and the surrounding area. 29 and possibly more have died.  A report is here . Most assuredly our prayers go out to the citizens of Nashville and middle Tennessee. Having experienced an reported on flooding on here before, I know how dangerous and heartbreaking floodwaters can be to individuals. I think estimates are around a billion dollars in damage. Unlike the Fargo floods, there really wasn't much warning. This was real flash flood- kind of similar to my April Fool's post this year.  I am not sure how accurately the  weather system that came through that region could be predicted much less prepared for a flood of that speed. It was over twice as much rainfall as the previous record and the Cumberland River crested at 12 feet above flood stage. The Cumberland is nothing like the Red River. It...

By "it" I mean the 1986 Disney Sci-Fi movie- Flight of the Navigator . I recall that the movie was shown on a movie day at school. Not sure why. My class may have met some goal or something. However, I broke my glasses earlier in the day and literally could not "see" the movie. More accurately I could not see the movie clearly. I recollect a kid and a mirrored saucer ship and a wacky alien thing that sounded like Pee Wee Herman. But that's the end of the memory. Yesterday I finally got to see it at the little known Jesse's Basement screening lounge. 2 episodes of MacGyver were also screened. They really love the 80s at the Basement. I actually like the movie. It's a little less classic Disney but fairly decent plot and good cast. I would describe it as E.T. meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Pee Wee Herman. Paul Reubens did voice the alien robot Max but due to other circumstances he gets credited as Paul Mall. Other than creator of Pee Wee H...

The World Cup is fast approaching as most of the world knows. Well, this part of the world doesn't know it that well. They couldn't tell Lionel Messi from Clint Dempsey. The game stateside is still developing. It's adopted more American ways by eschewing relegation and embracing playoffs. Hence, why last season in MSL Real Salt Lake won the MLS cup despite having a losing record. Oh and Beckham and Co were on the losing end. Enough with the intro. This whole thing precipitated when DJ Segue had some questions concerning soccer this week. You see, he was confused why Barcelona won on Thursday night but Inter Milan go to the European Cup final. Well, its on of those insider things. The match was played over 2 games and the highest aggregate score advances. And if tied the goals scored away from home count more. Inter had 3 total goals to Barcelona's 2. The World Cup used to be played similarly during the early years of the tournament. Now it follows a league and knock-out...