As mentioned in previous blogs, finding appropriate races had become something of a challenge as we neared the end of our running the states journey. We ended up with a 5-month gap between Arkansas, State #48, and Iowa, State #49. And to top that off, MA, State #50 was scheduled a short 3 weeks later! At this point, we were committed to doing whatever it takes to make things fit. It had been a long, unseasonably cold winter and April found us eager to travel again after the long pause.

Finding the right half marathon in Iowa was also a challenge, hence the reason it fell to State #49. We landed on a race in a small southeast Iowa town called Washington. The race promised strong local support, distance options and the opportunity to run on the scenic Kewash Nature Trail rather than city streets. We were hopeful that an end of April race date would ensure warmer weather, which did not turn out to be entirely true. We forgot to factor in that the Midwest is famous for strong, gusty winds, as we had already experienced in Missouri. As we started our weather monitoring week, we noted with some consternation that predictions included strong winds up to 20mph, plus cooler temps than normal.

Joining us for this race was the whole sister crew. Traveling with the 5 sisters always promised non-stop conversation, shared memories aplenty, and loads of laughter, so it was with anticipation that we crawled out of bed at 3:30 am on Thursday morning and headed to our respective airports. The plan was to meet up in Denver and take a connecting flight from there to Des Moines, Iowa.

At Denver, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and boarded our flight to Des Moines without incident. The most significant thing that happened here was that Colleen somehow left her jacket in the boarding area and by the time she realized it and asked a flight attendant to check, it was already gone. Temperatures were too cool to survive without a coat, so we knew we had shopping on our agenda at some point.

We picked up our rental car and headed out for the 114 mile drive to Washington, IA. The Midwest has a reputation for endless miles of rolling fields with not a whole lot else to see and we certainly found that to be the case. A quick search showed that Iowa produces one-fourteenth of the nation’s food supply and is the largest producer of corn, pork and eggs in the United States and second in soybeans and red meat production. A few farm homes dotted the landscape with the occasional warehouse, but other than that, this particular highway showcased fields, fields, and more fields.

We reached Washington, IA at 5:30 pm which was a nice change from our typical late evening arrival. Our home for the weekend was the Historic Ola Babcock Miller Retreat, former home to IA’s first female Secretary of State. The original family boasted numerous notable accomplishments including a run for governor, a state library named after one of them, and another who was named one of America’s 100 most influential people after founding Gallup Polling. The current owners had spent an entire year renovating the home, committed to retaining the original charm, craftsmanship and character of the 1916 home while sprinkling modern touches throughout. It was a lovely home and we felt fortunate to find lodging that accommodated our preference for both comfort and originality.

In doing research on the area in preparation for this trip, I ran across a local restaurant called Cafe Dodici that had won several TripAdvisor awards for excellence. Cafe Dodici, meaning 12 in Italian, was created by husband and wife team Lorraine Williams and Alessandro Scipioni, along with their niece, Tsalika Rich. They took an old crumbling building in downtown Washington and turned it into the warm and welcoming destination restaurant it is today. The international cuisine is influenced not only by their time living in Pesaro, but also by their travels all over the world. From the decor, menu and atmosphere, you would think it would be a pretentious restaurant, but it’s far from that. It’s international cuisine with a comfort food feel to the place. The quality and presentation of the food was exquisite. The owner was very visible and made an effort to greet and interact with all the diners in a very personal way. All in all, a delightful dining experience.

After dinner, we headed to the local Walmart to pick up groceries for race morning and to give Colleen a chance to find a jacket. Groceries were easy, the jacket not so much. Turns out, they were sold out of everything but an oversize men’s sweatshirt which Colleen decided was better than freezing and the $7 price tag was right. Some “interesting” clothing has been purchased through the years on these running trips as we attempted to match our clothing to the local weather. Some have been keepers, some not so much.

As we prepared for bed that evening, Melodie discovered that her Garmin was not in her backpack. After going through everything multiple times, she came to the unpleasant conclusion that she had either forgotten it at home, or lost it somewhere along the way. Running without a Garmin is akin to running without clothes; perhaps you could do it, but it sure wouldn’t be fun.

The weather was beautiful for Friday, our typical sight-seeing day. However, our research had shown not much in the area besides eating and shopping, so we prepared for a relaxed day with a little work thrown in. After putting in a couple hours work, we headed out for a late morning breakfast at a rather unexceptional little breakfast spot, probably the least inspiring meal we had the whole weekend. Washington was a very walkable town with everything within a couple mile radius, so we walked pretty much everywhere we went all weekend. The downtown area was mostly old buildings, with stories to tell behind all of them.

Melodie had located a sport store about 20 miles away in Coralville where she could purchase a replacement Garmin, so after breakfast we headed out for a drive. Again, the countryside was dotted with rolling fields, but somewhat greener and more interesting than the stretch between Des Moines and Washington. Schell’s was actually a very nice sports store and had we more room in our suitcases, some serious shopping would have occurred. Melodie found a very nice Garmin for a super reasonable price, so that was a win. Some of us entertained ourselves with a bit of modeling in lieu of purchasing.

On the way back to Washington, we stopped to visit a quaint little town called Kalona which we had read about in some of the travel literature. Kalona is a small town of 2,630 but boasts the largest Amish and Mennoite community west of the Mississippi. As we drove into town, we saw a horse and buggy wheeling around the streets and many of the little shops had an obvious Amish influence. I was looking specifically for an ice cream shop which I never found, but we did find a good spot to stop and eat lunch at the Kalona Brewing Company.

Next stop was the YMCA where we picked up our packets and got last minute race instructions. This race definitely had a small town flavor where everyone was super friendly and no one agonized too much over little details like shirt sizes or changing race distances.

Seems like a lot of this trip was consumed by finding places to eat and then actually eating, but that really isn’t anything too different. We wanted to get a third meal in but found everything closed at 8:00 pm which meant no one was super hungry when it was time to eat again. We checked out a local pizzeria which turned out to be absolutely delicious despite the hour wait time to get served. We found all the wait staff in these small local restaurants to be super friendly and the food was delicious, but nothing was done in a rush.

Race start the next morning was at 8:00 am and located a convenient 5-minute walk from our AirBnB. What that meant is we had a relaxed morning; in fact it was so relaxed we almost didn’t head out the door in time! The weather temps were as predicted in the mid-40’s, but so far, the wind had not shown up for which we were profoundly grateful. We hung out at the start line for about 15 minutes and snapped photos and stood in porta potty lines; typical race start stuff. (Note – Colleen’s Walmart special. Not too bad really, but I’m guessing it will hit Good Will when she gets home.)

And once again we were off. We had all the distance options covered: Melodie and yours truly running the half, Colleen the 10K, and Linda and Kathy the 5K. We ran a couple loops in town then headed out to the trail. At this point, temps were perfect with minimal wind. No jackets needed! The countryside was just starting to turn green with the promise of spring. We felt fortunate to be out there running once again and enjoying this beautiful world of ours.

As all runs do, this one had a couple of flies in the ointment. Around mile 5, the course turned uphill and at the same time the winds began to howl. The combination of the two made for some rough going. In addition, about 5 miles of this nature trail was on concrete sidewalk! Concrete is not a runner’s friend, but none of these things are showstoppers, so you just carry on!

Emotions ran high as we headed to the finish line. We are just a whisper away from completing a goal set 20 years ago that initially felt more like a pipe dream. A few tears were shed around mile 11, and then a few more at mile 12.5 when I was attacked with leg cramps! But we all finished and within the goals we had set for ourselves. Melodie has wings these days and completed her race with a top 3 finish and I came in about 10 minutes later, all to the cheers of our 3 sisters who had finished earlier. Kathy caught a few finish line pictures to document the event.

No running event is complete without the customary post-race photos. We have photo files full of these, but it doesn’t mean we don’t need more!

And it was back to our AirBnB for showers and a little down time. We selected a spot in Kalona for a post-race lunch that had caught our eye when we were there Friday, but when we arrived, we discovered there was a wait of 1.5 hours with no guarantee they could serve you before they closed at 2:00 pm. Saturday in Kalona was bustling everywhere we checked, so we opted for an alternative at a Mexican restaurant, which was ok, but certainly not the standard of the Tuscan Moon or Kalona Brewery. Apparently, a quilt show in town had brought in tourists by the busload. I was not successful once again in talking anyone into an ice cream cone, but we did stop by the quilt show and saw some pretty amazing quilts. 50% of these are contributed by the Amish and Mennonite communities in Iowa, and the rest come from quilters all over the world. Not being a quilter myself, I have never seen anything like it. Everything is done by hand and the detail, color, precision and designs are mind-boggling.

We headed back to Washington for a little R&R, another typical part of the post-race agenda. We knew we had one more meal for the day and everyone voted to return to Cafe Dodici. It did not disappoint! Some of the best food we’ve ever had on a running trip was found in a little farming town in southeastern Iowa. Who knew?

Another post-race tradition is a picture of all the participants in their race shirts. We typically do this at our lunch restaurant, but after we ended up wandering around town looking for a restaurant without lines, it slipped our minds. Hence, yours truly insisted everyone line up for the customary shot at our AirBnB that evening. Much hilarity ensued. First, none of us have our nieces’ technical ability with the iPhone timer, so despite numerous tries, we couldn’t get a picture that met even the lowest of standards. I then herded everyone into the sitting room and demanded we keep trying with some seated shots and different lighting. We did eventually get a few pictures that met the minimum bar, but the process was painful, and some sisters were rebelling by the time we finished! We won’t name names. You know who you are. But hey – without a little effort, good things do not happen.

And so another trip wound to a close. We were up early the next morning to complete our check out list and hit the road by 9:00 am for another two-hour drive to the Des Moines Airport. Worthy of note, the wind was blowing so hard that you could feel the car sway as we drove down the highway. We stopped at a gas station to fill up outside of Des Moines, and the biting, cold wind made us all profoundly grateful that the prior day had been so much warmer and calmer.

Melodie’s flight was earlier by several hours than the AZ contingent, so we dropped her off first. We contemplated driving around town a bit, but the howling, cold wind convinced us to stay put in the airport. No trip is complete without a little airport drama which we managed to get. Our flight was delayed by 45 minutes which put our Denver connection at significant risk. The pilot did his best to make up the time and we hit Denver with 20 minutes to deplane, run down the long Denver concourse, and get in the boarding lines for the flight to AZ. Sheesh. A picture of those 4 69+ women, running pell-mell down the concourse, pushing roller bags and breathing heavily would have been entertaining. After all, we did come on this trip to run. However, I was too busy running to think about pictures! And in the end, we made it which is what matters.

I always like to think of the things that define any particular running trip. A number of things come to mind for Iowa: forgotten items, some of the best food we’ve ever had, a delightful AirBnB, and just a genuinely good time being together. Hard to believe there is only one more, and this one will be very different. East coast travel with all that entails, a crew of 11 people to celebrate the finale, and one of the most beautiful trails in the Berkshires to run. But all of it is good, and every moment is one to savor; the good, the tough, the indifferent, and the sublime. We are blessed.

See you again in just 2.5 short weeks for the finale! Pittsfield, MA, State #50!