The Royce Files

When you have little time but lots to write you make lists. I think David Letterman's writers must have perfected this mode of writing. I don't have 10 things but I have enough things. 1. This event draws because we are friendly. Now with it being Fargo, we have a reputation of being cold and located someplace in the armpits of America. And thanks to a movie we are thought to be a hideaway for suspicious characters. But really Fargo is nothing like that. We may have cold weather but mostly we are friendly (at least during the marathon.) Case in point. While volunteering Thursday night a man from Indonesia who was in town to see his son graduate from NDSU the next week asked if he could register for one of the big races. As far as I knew only the 5K still had available spaces- every other race was closed. Still we sent him to another table to inquire about entering assuming he would be turned away again. Not long afterward he returned to our tent with registration for the ...

Kenyan James Kirwa has about a 2 block lead on next runner at mile 18 Although I was not anywhere near the finish, overall this was one good race. Sure the humidity was high a times and it was a bit wet in the morning but the race finished with a flourish not seen in Fargo since 2008 when Eric Sondag won. Sondag was on hand this year providing color commentary for the Forum's live blog. Let's rewind back to the 4th mile. James Kirwa sped by followed by a bit of a space and then Chris Erichsen. And this was how it was for a majority of the race: Kirwa was holding a decent lead on Erichsen. Chris Erichsen is steady at mile 18 Near mile 18 when I saw the leaders again Kirwa had what I would guess to be a under a quarter mile advantage over Erichsen. The rest of the elite men were further back and actually one of them, Eric Chirchir, withdrew around mile 18. He looked to be favoring his knee. He was in 3rd at the time he withdrew and got carried away in a golf cart. B...

A real cool morning welcomed runners and myself during the 5th Fargo Marathon. There were some brave souls who went sleeveless and even one who wore what appeared to be only a towel. The news on Eric Sondag was he's a bit too injured to have prepared for the marathon distance. That is actually one of the reasons I have used not to do the marathon here. I still run but rarely do any monster distances. Results are not posted on the marathon website yet to see how Eric did in the half (if he ran the the half at all). So this year the Marathon champ is Minnesotan Peter Gilman in 2:25.54. (course record!) He bested 4 Kenyans to win top honor for the men. I'm not sure if he was rated for the event. The Internet is coming up blanks- there was one link that said he was dead . Nix that, I found an interview with him from 2006. Apparently he ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:20. Very good. On the female side of the world, Grinell gradate Nicole Cueno took the top honors in the marathon wi...

I wonder if the marathon is stale news. Over 3 weeks have past since Eric Sondag out-foxed the competition to win the marathon. I tried to keep abreast of any news but haven't had any time to blog stuff that comes over the wire. However I did take a peak at Eric's blog entry about the race. It's in 2 parts, but I linked the 2nd part. Be smart and find the 1st on Eric's blog . In other Marathon results, about 40K was raised for charity. This is split between the Children's Museum and I think a particular children's hospital in town. The picture to the left is of Mark Knutson and partners running the marathon in the evening after the race in honor of Caroline Ruby Vetter. You can just barely make them out in the center. I was on top of the parking ramp waiting for them to pass. I nearly gave up. I didn't think the Moorhead portion of the course was that long. Well, I gotta run. And I mean it.

J eff Kolpack blogged the men's race suboerbly from start to finish but did not get his early predictions correct. He was probably quite surprised by Eric Sondag overtaking the Kenyan John Rotich in the last few miles. On Monday, Rotich's coach reported that Rotich injuried himself during the race and was not fatigued by his previous Lincoln marathon. He thus downplayed Sondag's strategic assumption that Rotich may not have enough to keep pace in last 2 miles. Sounds a little bit like rhetoric to me. Injuries in running can be the result of fatigue, lack of stretching, or over-exertion. There might be more. Nevertheless, even injuried, Rotich finished 3rd. The men's half and marathon course records made this weekend were not too substantial. Neither broke the previous record by large amounts. I suspect the wind may have been doing a bit of damage. Fargo has yet to break the 2:30 barrier in the marathon despite a few runners who have bested that mark. The presence of the...