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...