As They Say in Fargo... Uffda!

Welcome to Fargo!

Bison - the mascot of North Dakota

Well, I finally made it to Fargo North Dakota after registering for their marathon what seems like ages ago.  I was supposed to run it last year with Miri but thanks to the NATO Summit and my employment with Cook County, Fargo was a no-go. And a year later, I suspect little had changed from the year before, with the exception of the marathon course, which was altered in anticipation of potential flooding.

One thing that struck me about downtown Fargo, was this feel of still being in small town America, and somewhat one of yesteryear.  Maybe it was all of the old signage that seemed to still exist from 50 + years ago, or maybe it was the drugstore that, when you walked in, you expected to see a soda fountain. Whatever it was, it felt inviting and safe.  The city seems to have been inhabited by Norwegians who brought their Lutheran faith with them as almost every church I saw (and I saw many) was a Lutheran church.  The Norwegians even came out to the race course to cheer the runners on with their accordion music!

The old Fargo Theater

Another of many old signs

Missing only the soda fountain

My hotel - the Hotel Donaldson

I stayed in downtown in the Hotel Donaldson, which I would recommend although a little in the pricey side. But they have turn down service, which includes some delicious chocolates, dimmed lights and soft music to welcome you home from your dinner at the delicious restaurant downstairs, the HoDo.  In the morning, complimentary coffee and warm baked goods are brought to your room anytime between 7 and 10, whenever you indicate the night before. I'm not sure how the other rooms appear, but mine felt like a modern urban apartment, with exposed brick, a living area and a separate dressing area.  Each room features a local artist's work and I was in the blown glass room. To top all this off, the bathroom had a rain shower AND heated floors.  Overall, I felt pretty comfortable here, and, of course, warm chocolate chip scones never hurt!


A brief food diversion..... In addition to the HoDo, my other dining recommendations:  Monte's Downtown and JL Beers.  JL Beers had a really great beer selection.  Plus, if you're starving after a race (which I was) the food comes out lightening fast!  The only have burgers on the menu, but nothing hits the spot after a race more than a burger and a beer in my opinion.  Monte's Downtown also had great food (I recommend the coconut crusted walleye) and is what I might describe as casual fine dining.

I arrived in Fargo the afternoon before the race. I recommend renting a car for nothing more than convenience.  Cabs are available pretty much only by calling ahead and there were only 2 sitting at the airport.  I even had the same cab driver from the airport and back to my hotel after the race.  Since cabs were less than plentiful, I decided to see all the sights Fargo had to offer and walk the 2 miles to the Fargodome to hit up the expo and pick up my race packet. Here are some shots of what I saw along the way, which included parts of North Dakota State University. Go Bisons!

I know what a pub is, but what is a package place?

North Dakota State University

Go Bisons!

A true indication  you're in a college town - couch on the front lawn.

The Sons of Norway

Finally... my destination. And the start and finish spot of the marathon.

The Expo

After all that walking, I was starving so I had a delicious dinner at HoDo and went up for an early night and a good nights sleep.

Saturday's forecast called for scattered thunderstorms so I was mentally preparing for a soggy race.  Well, the 10K and half marathon runners who started earlier definitely had that, but luckily the rain stopped just before the marathon started. There were only about 2000 marathon runners, or so I heard, which was kind of nice to not be all smushed and weaving your way through people. I felt pretty good the first half as the temperature was nice and there was some good cloud coverage.  But then the sun came out and the temps began to make there way up into the 80s. Uffda indeed!  Water stations were a little sporadic, as in some areas, there was one every mile or so, and in others, there were 2 1/2 miles or so between stations.  Or maybe it just seemed like there was a lot of space between them because I was so hot! 

Wouldn't the chiropractor's office be better placed at mile 22ish?

The course was pretty nice and one of my favorite parts was running down (and later back up) 9th Street. The street was lined with some incredibly tall trees that were leaning in towards each other making a kind of green, shady tunnel for us runners. It's as though the trees themselves were out there cheering you on, sort of like when the cheerleaders at a high school football game create that tunnel of pompons for the players to run through onto the field.  It just made the running feel easier somehow during that stretch.  I'm not gonna lie though, when the course took me directly past my hotel at mile 20, I was VERY tempted to stop there.  Of course, as always, the finish was my favorite part, but this one was better than others. You actually finish inside of the Fargodome with everyone watching on jumbotrons.  You feel like a pro athlete coming into the arena with everyone cheering you on. Always my favorite feeling!

Boston of course was on everyone's mind and they were selling bands to raise funds for the victims of April's bombing. I wore mine during the race and tried to remind myself, when the heat was getting to me and my legs felt like lead, that I'm lucky to be able to do this and that running a marathon is a privilege so few experience.  So thank you to all the spectators who come out to make the experience even better, and thanks to all of you who take the time to read about my experiences out there running.  I can only hope writing of my travels allows all of you to experience it, if even a tiny bit! 

Lessons I've learned from a four-legged friend and my sister

This week marks week 2 of my marathon training for my next race in Fargo, North Dakota.  Week 1 started last week.  So far I've logged zero miles due to battling a nasty cold and a busy work schedule.  But I'm motivated to make up for lost time this week, because I am dedicating this next race to my sister Kelly and her dog Lexus. 

This is because unfortunately my sister had to put Lexus down on January 25th.  Lexus' story is one that inspires me to keep running so that I can have an excuse to email all of you about an amazing charity, Don't Bully My Breed.  DBMB focuses its efforts on rescuing dogs of certain breeds, like pit bulls, that get a bad rap because of how they have been mistreated.  Lexus was used as a fighting dog in her early years and was saved by DMBD's founder Catherine Hedges.  My sister decided to adopt a dog back in 2004 and I went along with her to check out this adorable chocolate brown pit bull named Lexus.  She had been in the shelter for several months since other adopters were hesitant to take her because she had some scarring on her face from her abuse.  Neither my sister or I even noticed this.  I remember how well behaved she was walking on the leash, but how playful she also seemed.  My sister was in love and soon thereafter, Lexus was in her forever home.  She had such a sweet nature, that she immediately became a part of our entire family.  We affectionately gave her the nickname "Littles" although, I'm not really sure why.  She would have such a wiggle butt when I would arrive at my sister's house, being so excited to see me (or anyone for that matter), and immediately roll over for the required belly rub.  

Lexus was the epitome of unconditional love and forgiveness, because even though she was abused, she loved everyone. When my sister first brought her home, she was so nervous and scared around other dogs.  Kelly was told that Lexus would have to be the only dog in the house.   I later got my own dog, the fabulous Dean Martin,  and while it took some time, eventually Lexus began to trust enough that she was safe in her new home that the two of them were able to hang out in the same room together.  Soon thereafter, my sister became open to the idea of adopting another dog, feeling more confident that Lexus would be able to get along with another dog and not be so nervous.  So, to make a long story short, Bruce was soon a part of the family and became fast friends with Lexus. 

Lexus and my niece doing her Lexus imitation

When my niece was born, both Lexus and Bruce took to her right away.  Both were so patient with the annoying things a toddler can do.  My niece loved Lexus and when we talked on Facetime, she always wanted to take the iPad over to show me her dog, "Lexi."  I saw a lot of nostrils shots of that dog through the iPad. 

Lexus was an amazing representative for her breed and I believe she likely changed a lot of people's minds about how "scary" pit bulls can be.  I know she changed mine.  If you ever met her, you would know that the only thing scary about Lexus was the amount of licking she tried to do to your face. 

Lexus taught me that it's possible for souls to change, forgive, and love.  She taught me not to judge a book by its cover or believe stereotypes.  My sister has taught me that sometimes you have to be brave and take a chance to help those who can't help themselves.  Maybe Lexus and Kelly were drawn to each other because they both have enormous hearts!  I know she will continue to help dogs just like Lexus and Bruce, and she will continue to inspire me to do what I can to help organizations like Don't Bully My Breed achieve its mission. 

I don't know what I would do without either of my wonderful sisters.  I know we are all missing our "Littles" right now.  I hope that my blogs have at least changed some of your opinions about bully breed dogs.  Please visit the Don't Bully My Breed facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/dontbullymybreed to learn more about the misconceptions of this loving, loyal breed and to find out how you can help by adopting a dog or making a donation. 

Dela-where? In Decem-brrrrr?

 The two most asked questions when I told people I'd be running a marathon in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware the first weekend of December. "Where?" And.... "Won't it be cold?"  Well, I can now tell you that Rehoboth Beach is on the coast of Delaware and you go through pretty much nowhere to get there when you drive from Baltimore.  I can also tell you that the temperature couldn't have been more perfect for running a marathon. 

I rejoined Miri in Delaware only a few months after attempting the Marathon du Medoc.  She may also write about her own experience with the race, so sorry if this is redundant.  We were joined by Miri's friend Laird, who is also tackling the challenge of a marathon in every state.  He's part of a more official group called Marathon Maniacs and this was his 15th state.  He's done about 20 marathons just this year, which I think is completely remarkable.. and a little bit crazy.  Great job though, Laird, keep it up!  And thanks for sharing some of your course photos with me!

The Sands; as it was 30 years ago

It was a small race, only about 2000 runners, including the half-marathon.  The course started a super short distance from our very retro hotel The Atlantic Sands, right on the boardwalk.  Much of the course was a lot of loop-dee-loop and I was passing either the people in front of me or the people behind me for much of the course (it's way more fun when you pass those behind you. : ) )  There were some really scenic parts running through Cape Henlopen State Park, like this picture below, where I almost slipped down into a hole while looking out over this great view.  Fortunately, we got to run past this twice.  Another cool part was the part of the park where we were running on paths winding through a bunch of sand dunes.  Plus, there was a special treat in the park...We got to run up to an overlook point where we could finally see the ocean! An even better treat was running back down!  Whee!

Worth a slip down an embankment, isn't it?

The race finished a little bit farther away from the start, but still a very walkable distance from the hotel, even after running a marathon.   I didn't finish as fast as I would have liked, but it was still the fastest race I've run this year.  So at least I finished 2012 strong!  Plus, it was the only race in 2012 that I ran where the temperature was below 85 degrees.  Hooray for that!

Reheboth Beach was a bit sparse since it was the off season, and many restaurants, hotels and stores were "Closed for the Season."  However, I have to give a shout out to the Cake Break, who opened up at 5:00 a.m. race morning to provide us runners with bagels, bananas, coffee and oatmeal.  We, of course, had to repay them for this great kindness and go back later for a post-race cupcake.  It would have just been rude not too! I highly recommend the Black and Tan, which is a Guiness Stout cake with Bailey's frosting.  Delish! 

Oysters - 0; Miri & Kristine - 16

We tried to have a post race lunch at Dogfish Head Brewery, which is local to the area, but apparently everyone else had the same idea and the wait was over an hour. Sorry folks, but when you've just run a 26.2 miles, you cannot wait an hour for food.  We ended up a an English/Irish pub next door.  Lunch was followed by an afternoon nap back at the hotel.  Before we resigned ourselves to bed for the night, we regrouped to head out to dinner.  It seems that I have developed a recent race tradition of rewarding myself with a plate of oysters.  Maybe you remember the delicious array following our race in Bordeaux.  Miri and I shared an equally delicious sampler of very fresh oysters at Henlopen City Oyster House.  Laird was adventurous and tried a rack of elk, which looked delicious.  If you're ever in Rehoboth, I highly recommend this place.  Sadly they don't take reservations, but we didn't have to wait long. 

Since much of the action was gone for the winter season, there wasn't much left to do after running around the area for 4 plus hours.  So the day after the race, Miri and I headed back to Baltimore and took in some of the sights of downtown.  We got to go up to Baltimore's panoramic viewing point (every city has one) for only $1, since it was $1 weekend for all sites in the city.  Unfortunately, this also made our potential visit to the Aquarium impossible due to insanely long lines.  So instead we wandered a bit along the Heritage Walk into Little Italy (oddly did not see any Italian spots) and historic Jonestown. 

All in all, a nice race and a nice weekend with old and new friends.  I finished off the year checking a 14th state off of my list.  So far, 2013 looks like it will bring me to Fargo, North Dakota in May.  As 2012 comes to a close, I'm not sure what else is in store for 2013, but I know that I can't wait to find out.  There are a lot of states left and race-cations to be had!  Thank you for reading our blog and for your support and encouragement over another year of running.  I encourage you to donate to worthy causes like Don't Bully My Breed and Girls on the Run during this season of giving!  Happy holidays everyone! 

Le Marathon du Medoc.... Je ne sais quoi.

Less than elaborate costumes.

Translated from French, this means "I don't know what."  It's used colloquially to mean "a certain something."  Le Marathon du Medoc... Je ne sais quoi.  I don't know what to say about it, it definitely had a certain something, though I'm not sure what.  I know that it's over and that I've never been so happy to see a finish line.

[Disclaimer: Sorry Francophiles, my computer doesn't have the fancy accents to go on many of the words, so pardon my  misspellings.]

Where to begin?  I'll start with the race I suppose.  So, if you're not familiar with this race, it is a race through the Medoc region of France, which is near the city of Bordeaux. The race starts and ends in the village of Pauillac.

As usual, the day before we had to pick up our race packets.  The expo had beer for only 2 euros and wine for only 1 euro!  Sweet deal!  We drank some, of course, while we tried to make sense of our race guides, all in French.  We didn't get very far with that, but did enjoy looking at pictures of the race theme from last year, Animals.  Our theme was History.  The costume possibilities are endless.

Also better than ours

Better than ours

Speaking of costumes, everyone is encouraged to wear a costume.  Of course Miri and I planned ours last minute so were dressed as opposing Greek Goddesses, Harmonia (goddess of harmony) and Eris (goddess of chaos).  I admit, our costumes are a bit sad.  There were definitely some pretty cool and wacky costumes, which was fun to see.  Case in point, the blue haired British guy to the left and Japanese samurais to the right.

Miri's view while "working"

After packet pick up, we radomly came across Fort Medoc, so decided to pay for the tour.  FYI, it was self-guided.  Miri also had to make a conference call for work, so she set up shop at a shady spot along the River Garonne while I explored the fort.

View from inside the gun powder building.

The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and some of the original structures still remained, like the gun powder building.  Guess they needed to make that thing sturdy. 




And now...  Race day.

Sunrise at the start

The race had a late start, or what they call a "civilized" start time of 9:30 a.m.  Normally, I'd be pretty excited about this, but considering the high on race day was 35 degrees Celcius (95 Farenheit), I was not excited about giving the temperatures more time to creep upward.
 

The acrobats. And they had a soundtrack.

The start was pretty amazing, I'm not gonna lie.  We did get there early to make sure we could find parking for our incredibly fuel efficient rented Renault (Some advice: book a rental car in advance, oh and make sure someone can drive a manual).  I recall cannons of confetti and acrobats hanging from a dome.

Had some of this...it was good

Our only source of shade

The really cool part about this race is, about every 2 kilometers or so, you arrive at a beautiful chateau, which so kindly has tastings of their wines out for the runners to sample.  However, I think because of the high temperatures, runners who arrived at these chateaus earlier than Miri and I did seemed to have nabbed all the water.  So while I tried a few glasses along the way, (and they were delicious) most of the time we were focused on finding water, sometimes to the point of looking for half-full or full bottles of water discarded along the course.  Not a proud moment, but seemingly necessary at the time.  But, at least we had some good scenery to look at as we were baking in the sun.

Unidentified chateau

Another unidentified chateau

The last 7-10 kilometers of the course also had food along with the wine to sample.  Oysters, cheese, ham, steak, and ice cream.  Sadly, by the time I got there, the thought of eating was not really appealing because I was so stinking hot.  I would have gladly taken some ice cream, but it was all gone. (Insert wha-whaa trombone here).

My personal experience with this race, because of the heat, was not as good as it could have been, I think.  Many people seemed to be having an awesome time, and maybe that was because they were more drunk than I was.  Note to self, next wine race, drink more wine!  I'm not going to mention my finish time, because it's embarrassing, but we'll just say that I did not make it in time to get a goodie bag, which had a bottle of wine it it!  Gasp, the horror of missing this!!  However, I did receive a medal for my efforts.  (Wine would have been better).   I made up for this sadness though during dinner back in Bordeaux where I had a huge tasting platter of 3 different kinds of oysters, 14 in all.  When in Bordeaux, eat oysters and drink wine. 

After

Before - minus a couple I ate pre-photo

Cotes de Bourg

The day after the race, Miri and I went to nearby Bourg en Gironde/Cotes de Bourg and sampled some wine.  I brought back a really cool bottle for my roomie since she took great care of my buddy Dean while I was gone.  It was from Le Chateau Lamblin, and the wine guy also hand made this super cool box which had landmarks of Bordeaux painted on the box using the wine as paint. Cool, huh?  We also hit up Le Chateau Croute Charlus.  We had a hard time finding the entrance to go in and taste the wine, but some little grandma came out of the house and showed us where to go.  I think she was concerned by us creepily peering in the windows.  The wine maker was so friendly, although didn't speak English well, which is fine, because I also don't speak French well.  But between my limited French and his limited English, we did ok. His wine was also pretty amazing and totally inexpensive!  Plus, I liked that he tasted each wine along with us. (I wonder if he's tanked by the end of a busy tasting day).  Sadly, he does not import to the U.S. and I only had room for 1 bottle of wine in my suitcase which was filled by the prior bottle.  Miri did bring a bottle back and it's unfortunate that I don't live closer to her so I can sip some out of that bottle.  But he does import to Prague, so if you're ever there, hit up Chez Marcel and have some. 

So that was the race experience.  Here's what else I did on this trip that I'd recommend.

1. Paris - duh. 

A wistful walk along the River Seine

 2.  Perpignan and Le Petit Train Jaune -  The train goes into the Pyrenees and all the way into Spain.  Plus, there are some cool sites to see along the route.  It's like 100 something  years old, with an open air car (awesome, but bring sunblock and line up early).  The train line begins at the UNESCO World Heritage site Villefranche-de-Conflent, which is an old fortified city.  If you miss the early train like we did, you can kill some time shopping and eating in the fortified city or in the caves nearby, both in walking distance from the train station.

Le Petit Train Jaune

Villefranche-de-Conflent

In Perpignan, eat at Le Divil.  You can select your own steak (also called entrecote en francais) if you want and they had great mussels (moules et frites).  I'd also recommend La Table, which is hidden away on Rue de la Poissonerie. The owners were incredibly accommodating and slight perfectionists.  The presentation was immaculate as  you can see by these photos.

Le Cite at night

Garden of La Maison Vieille

3. Carcasonne - It has an old medevial Cite (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site) that was reconstructed to make it look even more medevial.  It sits up on the hill looking pretty awesome when it's all lit up at night. Tons of places to eat and shop to your heart's content inside the walls of the Cite.  And there is no shortage of fake princess and knight gear if you are so inclined.

If you want a great place to stay, that isn't too expensive, in a great location, and pretty, stay at La Maison Vieille, a incredibly quaint B&B.  Travel note: cash only.  But they have free wifi!

OK, so I know this wasn't a race in the good ol' U.S. of A; but since this was such a unique experience, I thought it was worth sharing.   I hope you enjoyed reading about it my trip almost as much as I enjoyed experiencing it.  Bon voyage!

Out of the city... to the beach!

Gross Point Beach

Similar to my trek several months ago to Oak Park, this weekend, I took to running out of the city, this time to Evanston.  It's a little farther away than Oak Park, so I didn't run round trip, but I did put a long 13 miles in to get there. 

By the way, I'm currently training for Le Marathon du Medoc, which takes place in the Bordeaux region of France this September.  I know, I know... It's not one of the 50 states, but this race just seemed too cool to pass up.  I'll be running it with fellow RUS blogger, Miri Frankel, although I am using the word "run" pretty loosely.  We have no intentions of running it fast as we want to take in all the beautiful scenery and the costumes that many participants wear.  (This year's race is history themed, so if you have any costume suggestions let us know.)  Plus, I hear that there might be a bit of wine and/or oysters here and there at aid stations, especially towards the end, so running fast may not mesh well with that.

This grand idea of running to Evanston was the brain child of my boyfriend's friend, who felt like a beach day.  I realize there are great beaches in the city, but he's a big fan of the Gross Point Lighthouse beach.  It's apparently been named as one of the best beaches in the world by Travel & Leisure magazine, which also called Evanston one of the coolest burbs.  I mapped it out and it was just the distance I needed to run.  So I sent my swimsuit & flip flops with my boyfriend and headed northbound.  Oh, and I made sure to have some cash with me, as it's $8 to use the beach up there.  I'm sure the ticket guy was excited about my sweaty-ass-pocket cash.  Which reminds me of something that I know my roommate will appreciate.  So I paid my $8 to the money guy and was handed two tickets that looked like raffle tickets.  One ticket read "Ticket."  The other read "Keep This Coupon."   I then walked approximately 3-5 steps and then handed a ticket to another person to gain entrance to the beach.  Yep, only a few steps away, to hand a ticket to a person who just saw me purchase the ticket.  Ahh...brings me back to Vietnam! (GB, I know you are loving this part!).   Ironically, the ticket taker took the ticket that read "Keep This Coupon" and I was given the "Ticket."  Weird...

OK, back to the run... Some of the route was my usual route, but as I got farther north, I started to feel like I was no longer in the Chicago-land area, but instead, in some coastal town.  I ran past a couple of  huge universities with gorgeous old buildings (Loyola and Northwestern).  Northwestern had some seriously nice fraternity houses.  I mean, they looked like mini-castles.  Compared to the old apartment building turned Chi-Omega sorority house I lived in at Illinois State, this was pretty impressive.  I wonder what the annual dues are for going greek at Northwestern, sheesh! 

Gross Point Lighthouse

I also ran by the Calvary Cemetery, and while I do love cemeteries, I was too busy looking out over the beautiful rocky lakefront to my right to pay much attention to the huge cross gravestones in the cemetery to my left.  The cemetery was pretty close to Loyola, and I couldn't help wonder how many college pranks take place in that cemetery. 

If running along rocky shorelines didn't make me feel like I was in Maine, the Gross Point Lighthouse surely did!  Although, I think this lighthouse might have actually been bigger than the one I saw in Maine (refer to the disappointment expressed in my Oct. 2010 post Most Scenic = Most Hilly).  Tours of the lighthouse are available, which claim to have city skyline views, but we didn't make it up there. 

The boys and I had arranged a time that we would start looking for each other at the beach.  I was running a little faster than usual since it wasn't nearly as hot as it has been, and felt much easier to pick up the pace, so I beat them there.  It truly was the perfect summer day.  Sunny, not too hot and humid, but warm enough you wanted to get in the water after sitting in the sun for a short bit.  And the lake was even a perfect temperature; cool at first, but after a minute, felt nicely refreshing. 

Evanston Arts Center

Next to the lighthouse is the Evanston Arts Center.  True to the theme of the day, I felt, again, like I was far away from the city just by looking at the building.  It looks like a place that would be fitting in the English countryside, doesn't it?

No complaints about my training run this past weekend.  In my book, any run that takes you away, literally or figuratively, is a good run.  It's better than Calgon, that's for sure!