The Royce Files

I think I get shots of this guy every year. He is the Fargo Marathon's own Superman. Patrick Millard dons the full blue suit with the 'S' on his chest with cape and runs the marathon in under 5 hours. Superman goes by Superman says "Hi" Were there other characters running the marathon this year? Yes. SpongeBob. But I think he was running the half. SpongeBob Squarepants runs by

It is a cold run man The biggest story from the marathon probably has been- it was cold . The second and lesser known story I will discuss in a later post. A third does exist but it is more romantic. And that being said there were not too many interesting shots  to get since most people were bundled up good. The only thing I did not see was someone running in a ski mask, but I suppose that I might have missed that one. The marathon was fortunate to be run during the best weather of the weekend. As the weekend progressed the temperatures and precipitation made for a much cooler Fargo than previous years. But having the race this early in May is hit or miss with the weather. 2 of last years top finishers did not even run despite being registered. I would not say the conditions were adverse. They were good but certainly not ideal. The biggest challenge for running in Fargo is wind.  Nonetheless 20,000 is certainly a good draw for a race in cooler weather. Starting indoors certainly

There were a whole bunch of super heroes represented at the Fargo Marathon this year. The 1 I missed was a lady wearing an Ironman mask in the half marathon. And let us not confuse Mike Reilly with Robert Downey Jr. The Fargo Marathon's guest Mike Reilly is the voice of the Ironman Triathlon and not the super hero character. Mike is also on Twitter: @ironmanvoice The predominate hero was the man and woman of steel- Superman and Supergirl. First, I bring you Fargo's original and still running Superman. He has been at this for years now. Now the line up of super men and women- although everyone who ran is a super hero.

It seems a bit late to wrap up my Fargo Marathon coverage. The race is long over and sort of forgotten for the year, but today I wear my "Team Fargo Rocks" shirt from a 2011 to make concluding remarks about the region's premier and largest running event. So we know the winners but what about those who ran with style and vigour and panache? Let's meet a few memorable runners. Neon on the rise The trending style this year appears to be day glo neon. I saw plenty of runners apparelled in the brightest colors on the spectrum. More neon I tend to wear the neon vests more than the actual shirts. It ensures that I am seen and not run over. For what appeared to be a mostly overcast day the runners in those loud colors stood out. In typical years in my marathon coverage I provide a snippet of particular traits of runners- like costumes or mustaches or tattoos. Well, this year I was distracted and did not come up with any consistent trend to cover. But I did re-

You probably already know the winners of the races- the German, the Moorhead woman, the guy who sprinted past Andrew Carlson to victory, and the Ladia the defender of titles. However, you might not know the curious oddities of the Marathon- those individuals who seek running glory while in costume. I saw my share of costumes- Thor with a hammer, hula guys, a caped female. Let's start with the grand-daddy of costume figures at the marathon- Superman. Superman, faster than a speeding bullet, has run Fargo at least 3 times. I am not sure why he does not just fly a few miles. I am Superman and not blond  Below I caught the back of Luigi of Mario brothers fame. Oh no Luigi  Not to worry, Luigi made a 2nd appearance with Mario and the Princess. All I can say is that Luigi got hit by one of those moving crabs and had to go back to the beginning of the level. Mario, Luigi, and the Princess and older man

Another bearded guy without a shirt and red shoes. Not sure what to entitle this one. Perhaps he could be called gentleman barbarian.   Nearby, Elvis serenades the runners like he only knows how. Not many spectators were nearby. Not sure if it was just the oddity of being near Elvis that kept them away or a perturbed dislike for jumpsuits. Well, a few moments later another oddity runs by.  It's a bird, it's a plane- it's a runner dressed as Superman. Not many costumed runners this year but this is one of them. We had Supergirl one year so it makes sense that Superman would show up sometime. As Superman trotted by, Elvis stopped singing and yelled to him- "Hey, you're not real. I'm real." It was hilarious.