Fargo Marathon 2016: Wonderfully warm

Possibly the best weather for watching a Fargo Marathon yet although running in the warm weather may have been difficult. My volunteering marathon left me exhausted so I only posted a few things via Twitter while observing the Saturday events.
On Friday night I was tucked into the Fargo Dome helping with bib number look ups and so I missed perhaps the most competitive 5K finish for men. A just graduated Bison trackster, Brendan Skime crossed the finish line 1 second ahead of Jonathan Stoltman. You could have said it was the battle of the Falls as Skime is from Thief River Falls and Jonathan is from Little Falls. 15:31 is a pretty impressive time for a guy who did not even have the race on his radar until a few weeks ago.
In the women's division a 12 year old from Staples took the top honors. So much for experience and wisdom winning.
By the time I exited the dome on Friday most of the competitors had gone home and volunteers were readying the place for the start of the marathon the next day. Johnny Holm and his band were gone.
I wrote that Swanson's was missing from the Expo this year. However, that did not matter there were a lot of freebies to be taken. Minnesota State University Moorhead, appeared to have the most items to give out. I got stickers, shoe laces, fruit snacks, and pennants. Old Dutch, as always, was giving out lots of potato chips. Kenny's was also on hand to give out licorice and popcorn treats. And although Essentia Health were sponsoring the Expo, Sanford Health had a large representation at the event.

Below the speed limit

Come Saturday I was pretty tired but knew I needed to cross town to watch the race and take in the atmosphere. And it was probably the best weather one could want to do that. So I brought my family to the old watching spot on 9th although our friend no longer lived there and we could not have our typical marathon breakfast party. Half marathoners were trickling by as we arrived. We missed the leaders.
Oh, remember that Skime guy from the 5K above. Well I heard he won the 10K too. Incredible! He also broke the course record. Double incredible!  Now that is an impressive weekend for a fellow who missed going to regionals with the Bison track squad.