The Start

The tranquil view of the Great River contrasts with the race start, though the two are but fifty or so feet apart. Despite overcast skies and mist, runners appeared promptly in high spirits, many in costumes, including the Women High on Running (aka the WHORs), pictured above with the Faster Pastors. The WHORs, of Fargo, ND, bonded with the Faster Pastors, of small towns in Northwest Wisconsin, in a bar the night before the race. As one of the pastors acknowledged, there is always work to be done, and so they did their best to befriend the WHORs. Indeed, at the end of the race one of the WHORs told me that a Pastor intends to present a PowerPoint sermon featuring in the WHORs.

The WHORs were sponsored in part by Dick Beardsley's running store in Fargo. Beardsley is famous for his "duel in the sun" with Alberto Salazar at the most famous Boston Marathon. This was the race that both won, though Salazar crossed the finish line a few seconds before Beardsley. Salazar was never again the same runner, finally resuming form somewhat years later with his victory in the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, attributing his recovery to Prosac and generating considerable controversy in the process. Beardsley had his own struggles, becoming addicted to pain killers while recovering from a severe farm accident. Both are legends, and I was delightedto see Dick's name associated with Ragnar.

The leader of the WHORs assured me Dick knew of them. She added that when training, her team "chases Dick" and today would be "running for Dick.

After that encounter I met Dave Clements, the head of the LaCrosse Convention and Visitors Bureau. He had on a nice shirt and tie, and appeared to be sober, conservative fellow. I mentioned that the race had bought some strange people to his town. At this, he began laughing maniacally and replied, "It's a strange town!" I gathered he approved of us.

This year 100 teams ran, triple the number a year ago. Teams came from throughout the upper Midwest, and there was even a team from Arizona and several runners from Utah. I talked to runners from several different parts of Wisconsin, from Minnesota (mostly the Twin Cities area), North Dakota and Chicago. I hung out through the 11am start, then received a call to deliver generators to exchanges 6 and 12. I made the mistake of trying to follow Streets and Trips out of town, and soon found myself on a trail, looking for a way out, hoping that if I ran into a Wisconsin police officer he would be more understanding than his Minnesota counterpart of the previous evening.