Fargo, ND

West Fargo High School

Run Time: 63:12 + 2-minute kick

Got to the hotel early enough, and felt good enough, and got weather nice enough to do a full run. What a godsend! Not that gods had anything to do with it. It’s all random, but random works out sometimes. I had a feeling that I have run at this school before, but this time I got there on foot. The hotel was 2 miles away, so this was similar to my home routine: 1/3 to the track, 1/3 on the track, 1/3 back to home. The track was surprisingly empty, given that it was right after school, and it is spring school sports season. The gate on 7th Avenue was unlocked.

The day before I had tried to find a place to run between my last sales stop in Oakes, ND, and my hotel in Jamestown, ND. You would think there would be a runnable trail somewhere in that 80-mile span. I checked All Trails, and it gave me one trail in the Fort Ransom State Park, but it was just a mown snowmobile trail in a field by the river, and it was raining hard and winding harder, so I bagged the idea. Nice area, though. The Dakotas are beautiful, IMHO. Even in a foggy rain.

This was the middle leg of my 3-trip run up the center of the centralest mid-center North America. Last trip was Nebraska/South Dakota, this one North Dakota/Minnesota, and next one will be ND/Manitoba/Saskatchewan. North Dakota has signs on I-94 indicating the “Continental Divide” at elevations in the 1300s. That seems like a stretch. The Continental Divide is the high point, the point on the Continent at which water on either side can’t ever meet. Water on the west side of the NDCD could easily make it into the Missouri River, which runs into the Mississippi River, where it would meet water from the east side of the NDCD. Let’s call that high point in ND the State Divide, okay? You could see nearby hills higher than the signs when you passed them. In multiple directions.

I have started saving Rest Area locations as favorites in the Apple map on my work phone. I am building a database. They kind of are my favorites — I stop at most of them, even when I am not saving favorites in Apple Maps, either to take a leak or check emails or fill up my water bottle or take a quick catnap or to stretch. Yes, Fragilistas, I drink rest area water. Some even have the fancy water bottle faucets now. If I can’t stomach the water that comes out of a rest area drinking fountain, I’m not going to survive long in places like Fort Ransom State Park or Death Rattle, Wyoming.

The route from the hotel to the school was not the most picturesque neighborhood. A lot of angry dogs behind fences. How far does one have to go to find a pile of curbside trash in Fargo? Not far.

But the school track and grandstands were nice. Solid aluminum stands that did not shake or rattle as I ran the steps. No trash on the school grounds. Polite school kids who smiled at me as I passed them on the sidewalk. It can’t be easy to grow up in Fargo.

I will be back in Fargo in 2 weeks. It’s my launch point for the Manitoba/Saskatchewan swing. I will be staying at the same hotel at the end of the week — maybe I can get back on this track. God willing.