Fargo Marathon 2017: Celebrity watching and some results

Once of the stunts I think the marathon could pull off would be to have a celebrity run the race. And I don't mean Dom Izzo or Doug Burgum. The closest we get to this in Fargo is celebrity lookalikes as I noted in a post last year in addition to the guy who runs dressed as Superman and that Elvis impersonator just south of the 13th. Also concerning the Governor (aka Doug Burgum), he did run both the 5K and 10K instead of stroll this year. Dom also kept decent pace in 5K.

One can always depend on Coach GP being in Fargo for the race.

Coach GP

Just learned that GP Pearlberg was the voice of the marathon. I knew he had something to do in Fargo besides coach runners. I think a local guy named Guy shared the voice responsibility in the past. Not sure that is still the case although I did see Guy at the Fargo Dome. Anyways, Coach GP does lend his renowned in the running world to our event and has a great story. I need to go to one of his talks in the future. 

Speaking of voices, they kept announcing that the voice of Iron Man was going to do a talk. I wonder how many people were thinking "Oh, I did not know Robert Downey Jr. was going to be here?" They were probably just as surprised to learn Mike Reilly was the guy who can claim to be the voice of Iron Man yet never appear in any of the movies. Then they realized that Iron Man is also a triathlon. And concerning triathlons, all the Fargo marathon needs to add to its list of events is a swim and you have an unusual segmented triathlon. However in the juggling half marathon event, Ivan Schleppenbach still retains his Fargo title. The juggling runner has yet to face any competition in the event.  He ran it in 1:39. No word if any Kenyans are already training for this running discipline. However, freshly unemployed Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily Circus jugglers may be in a hunt to gain fame in such races.

A few elite runners standing around

These days there are usually around 3 or 4 Kenyans running in the Fargo Marathon and 0 circus clowns. Winning one of the long races is a decent payout- $1500. Nothing incredible but pretty decent. Winner David Tuwei deserves a rest after winning the Lincoln Marathon and the Fargo Marathon in the same month. Paul Getembe cruised to victory in the half and despite the "ideal" conditions only ran 1:07.58- not even a top ten record time. Regional elite runner, Dan Greeno took 2nd after keeping up with Getembe most of the race.
Jaclyn Adamson astounded herself by running to victory in only her 2nd attempt at the half.