Perfect Weather

Another rainy morning run on tap for today. With the marathon festivities to begin just a little more than a week from now, it's hard not to look ahead to see what the weather will be. It would be nice to have a perfect day of 75 degrees for the spectators and volunteers and 55 degrees for the runners. I know that can't happen but we can always hope.

I was thinking how nice that would be as I was sitting at a meeting for marathon volunteers earlier this week as race director, Mark Knutson, along with Dave Boe from the Fargo Police department, were going through all of the safety issues regarding traffic control during the marathon. It really hit me then that what makes this marathon so special is these people. It's not the people running the course, it's the people lining the course - the spectators and volunteers that are cheering and keeping the runners safe. We need each other. No runners, no traffic control needed. No traffic control, no runners. So as much as I would like 50-55 degrees for myself, I'll take a warmer day for the sake of the volunteers and spectators. They deserve it.


Like I said, just a little over a week to go before it all gets started. Are you involved? If not, I would encourage you to volunteer for something. A couple hours of standing at an intersection doing traffic control gives you a front row seat to all of the action. You can see all of the runners from the elite to the turtles. Otherwise, there are volunteer needs before the events begin for things like medal preparation and packet stuffing. Check out the marathon website for more info. Be careful though, most people will only volunteer for a year or two and then they will be running in one of the events!


Speaking of running the events, there are 17,500 runners signed up so far. If you are not volunteering, you should participate in one of the running events. Not a runner? That's OK. The 5k on Friday night is perfectly suited for walkers. Some experienced walkers will even tackle the half marathon. The event organizers are hoping to get 20,000 participants in this year's marathon events. Let's do what we can to make this happen. If you are a runner already signed up, get one other person to sign up and we'll be there.

It takes a village to make some things work... or in this case, a community of runners, volunteers and spectators! I hope to see you there.