Windy and Colder... In Iowa.

The temps and weather now feels more like the "Gales of November" here in Iowa.   The color has finally changed a little and the wind is bound and determined to blow as many leaves down before anyone can enjoy the scenery.   20+ MPH winds today.  And Cheryl simply had to go out for a run.

It was not too bad.  For the most part, the temps held in the mid 40's  I was able to get away with three light layers of clothing.  Mostly I have to worry about my ears and hands while riding the bike.   Cheryl keeps warm by running,  so she is always baffled why I freeze while she sweats.

It was a good run, though.   Refreshing!  Actually.  And the wind continues to howl as I write this.  At least there is no rain in the immediate forecast.

As for Stockings.   We did 22 yesterday and had another 7 today.   There were more, but we had to check in on some details...  typical of this time of year.  I'm sure the Stockings will pick up soon enough.

So I'll try to keep things light today.  It is actually an easy day for me, so I have time to blog.   Gotta do what I can while I can because Stockings will be taking over soon enough.   Thanks for stopping in.

The Great Ethan Allen Meets the Governor Of Iowa! The I 35 Challenge Complete.

Today was an AWESOME day... For Me!  I met and spoke to Governor Kim Reynolds. (For those of you outside the state or from Iowa City...She is The Governor of Iowa, )   She even posed for a selfie with me.   Granted,  I am not the master of Selfies,  so it was a did not turn out the best it possibly could have.   However,  it is not everyday that I get to meet a person more important than myself. ( And I'm pretty important!)   I'm happy to have commemorated  this moment with a"Millennial Tradition" of Self promotion.

A Great Day for me!  

Granted,  she is better looking than me in this picture.   Possibly because I was busy talking instead of smiling like I should have.   She was very gracious and was happy for the opportunity.

A Governor of the People.  

Seriously,  it was pretty cool meeting her.   I see her on my facebook feed all the time and if she is not riding tractors with the farmers,  milking the cows at the fair, or getting her hands dirty in the fields,  then she is dressed in a suit working at the capitol.  It was nice to see the actual person behind the news feeds.

Perhaps she will make it a
tradition. 

So how did this encounter happen?  Well,  she was at today's Des Moines (Where the "S's" are silent.) Marathon as one of the Guest speakers.    She says this was the first time she has ever done this and was really excited about it.   I told her about how the Michigan Governor used to  kick off Tulip Time in Holland and walk across the Mackinac Bridge in the Spring. I'm not sure if that tradition continues in Michigan though.  Perhaps She will make attending the Marathon an Iowa Tradition in the future.  We shall see. It was fun seeing her there.

Oh yeah,  Cheryl did something too. 

Chilly morning. 

So what was I doing at the Marathon?   Well,  Mostly waiting for Cheryl to complete the Half.   Which she did.   And... Drum roll....  She did pretty good!

Decides she is "under" dressed. 

Cheryl surveys the Situation. 

At least the morning was dry.   Cold!  But dry.   Much colder than first thought.   Even though it climbed to the mid 60-s yesterday,   today there was a start temp around 40.   Cheryl decided half way to the star line that she was under-dressed and we had to go back to change.

At least the Logo will fit the
race.

Last minute decision to go
with untested gear. 

She only had one shirt...  the un-tested Tech-shirt she purchased yesterday at the expo.   The other options were known to make her overheat.   We took a chance, rolled the dice,  and did a quick change behind the Subaru.  What else could you do?

Will it work?  We shall see....

Cheryl enters through the "back way"
into the gates. 

In the process,  she dropped her Garmin in the Only Mud Puddle for MILES!  I know there was a possibility she would have a good race today.  (Bad omens equal good outcomes!  At least in My family.)
 (Small note:  All the "Gazelles" in the front of the startline were wearing long sleeves,  Cheryl thought she had made the right choice.  Moments before the gun,  they whipped  off their shirts to reveal sports bras and tank tops! Surprise!)

I cast a LONG shadow....

Marathon and Half Marathon over the bridge.

The Start was over a bridge with the Sun to my back.   I waited for the speeches to end, anthem to finish, and the race to start.  Cheryl was now wearing a shirt that made her blend into a crowd of runners even more than she usually does.

See the small girl in the crowd? 

 I randomly snapped pics of the crowd as they ran by, capturing a blurry picture of Bigfoot, Bessie, And Cheryl.   It was a very lucky shot.

See the small Girl surrounded
by tall men? 

See the small girl in front of the sun?

At mile 1.5, the Sun was now in my face!   Again, I snapped random pics of the crowd and found Cheryl in the shadows of three ( maybe 5) Very tall, very large men.   She always wants to compete with the guys!   Good for her esteem and image, but bad for my photo opportunities!

Still, you latch on to what you can.   See the pink glove as she waved?   It's like watching a swimmer being consumed in an undertow.

She is looking good!

Cheryl comes into the finish. 

  At the finish,  I finally had the sun behind me again, and a long stretch where I could ID her as she neared.   The App we use to track her told me she was gunning for a good time.   Sure enough,  she pulled off a 1:39:05 as her official time.  She was pretty happy.

Catching her at the Finish line. 

She looks happy. ( or angry.)

Unlike previous years, I managed to catch her before she disappeared into the food area.   She showed me her medal(s) and we went to get the official print out of her results.   Turns out she has, for the first time ever running this race,  placed high enough to get an age group award!   Again,  she was pretty happy with that.

2nd place in her age
group.  First time in
Des Moines.

Showing off the Bling. 

With no award ceremony to wait for,  we made a hasty escape out of the city center.   The beer was not really beer.. and $5!  So we simply ate the free food and left.   Which was fine, because we were already junk food-ed out.  And we have Honey Brown and Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale  already from Kansas City.  No need to get too greedy...  ( Even though "free" anything is always a temptation.)

Off to the Food tent. 

So Cheryl completed the I 35 challenge.   She has three medals,  a negative split between the two races, and she did it while remaining undamaged.

And now... Home!

The Spoils of WAR!

 She even enjoyed the run today and won an age group award in BOTH races.   Add in that the Des Moines Award has a hinge... well, that is just the cherry on top!

One weekend.  Two races.  Three medals. 

So, yeah... A pretty good day in Des Moines ( Where the "S's" are silent) today.  Cheryl accepted a challenge, ran a race, and won an award.   Best of all:  I Met The Governor Of Iowa!  So we should both be happy for at least he remainder of the day.  Tomorrow will snap us back to reality as the Stockings drop the BOOM on us.   (22 stockings paid for so far...)  Better to have too many sales rather than not enough.  Besides, there are more races to be run this month.  At least we will have a little more cash to set aside for them.

And I got to meet the Governor of
Iowa!

This one has a hinge!  Cool eh? 

I hope everyone is having a fine day today.  Fall weather has finally arrived here... along with a little more fall color.   Seems like all of the trees in town have turned colors over the weekend.  A nice touch to the season.   Thanks for stopping in and Cheering Cheryl on.   It apparently helped... A LOT!

Kansas City Half Marathon Complete! One More Race To Go!

Rain?   Quad Cities repeat?

Greetings from Des Moines!   (Where the "S's" are silent!)  Cheryl has successfully completed the Kansas City Half Marathon.   She can still walk.  She can still stand.   And she is not broken.   Tomorrow we will see if she can still race.

Why was the weather wrong?

Finding the start line. 

Huge surprise this morning!   It was raining.    It rained for the entire race and continued all the way into the after-party.  This was not predicted!   (And if it was, no one told me... Cheryl!)   So you can imagine our shock and fear as Quad Cities Half-Marathon images were still fresh in our memories.   Luckily,  it was not hot!  In fact, it was turning out to be "Runner's Perfect Marathon Temperature."  This could prove good for Cheryl

And a dry place to wait.

The phone I usually take pics with ran out of juice and it failed to recharge last night.  I was forced to use my "other phone" for the picture taking.   Not the best results.   First:  The buttons are opposite of my favorite one.   So I had to get used to those.   Second, it takes a better quality picture, but takes LONGER to focus and snap it!  SO in many cases, the image is lost.   Still, I managed to capture a few of the racing moments at Mile 2 and the finish.  ( I totally missed the start, but it was too dark anyway.)

Cheryl eats her chewys inside the
gate.

No line at the Port-a-jons

As we tried to stay dry,  we hit the port-a-jons and waited by the start line.  There were places to stay out of the rain, and Cheryl had an emergency poncho that helped.  My jacket was some-what water resistant, but not entirely water proof.   After Cheryl entered the gate, I stole the poncho away from her.  ( What?  It was not like she was going to need it after the start anyway...)

Dark, blurry, bad start photo.

Mile 2.  There She is!

As mentioned, I missed the start.   (Typical under normal circumstances...) But ran to mile 2 to catch her as she ran by.   She was on pace for a pretty solid run. 

Running with the Guys.

Avoiding the slippery spots.

The race course had quite a few hills to navigate, so I was hoping she would make up time on the down side, after slowing down on the climb.  Cheryl said she did not notice the up hill as much as the down hill.







 She actually slowed down on the downhill side!   Rain, puddles, and wet road lines made the surfaces of the roads slippery.

Coming into the finish. 

She looks pretty happy

At the finish,  Cheryl came in smiling.   She had actually gained time at the split.   ( In runner lingo... a "negative" split is when you run faster on the second half of the race.)   So she was happy about that.

Creepy smirk.   Kinda scary...

While waiting for Cheryl, I talked to a number of National Guardsmen.   They had the M2 Bradly on display, which is always cool.   Also, Chick-Fil-A came up to us and gave us free sandwiches!   Fresh and tasty!   There was lots of food there.   Pulled pork and beer were the main events though.

With her Bling.

No Go's Big Tank!   M2 Bradly...

The overall race was well done.   No lines for the Bathrooms.   Good food.  Good Music.  Route clearly marked and an adequate Police presents.

Eager for Beer.

4th. But Recently bumped up to
third place in her age group.

 Lots of Volunteers from National Guard and others.  Good beer!  And lots of room to mingle with other runners, catch the various tents, and say dry.   Also, before I forget.... Free Parking!   Cheryl said the only bad thing was the city was kind of boring.   Or rather:   It looked like every other city she has races in.  ( Except Chicago!)

Welcome to Des Moines.

Bright and Sunny in Iowa.

Cheryl got 4th in her age group, but the story does not end there.   After the beer and pulled pork,  we were off to Des Moines ( Where the "S's" are silent.) for the Expo and the Des Moines (which is French for "Des Moines.")  Half Marathon.   Upon completing this,  she will have successfully completed the double half Challenge.

Big Expo. 

Packet Pickup

The packet pick-up was similar to the Kansas City one.  Lots of people trying to sell you stuff so you can become a better runner.   Also there were banners and vehicles with Cheryl's name on them.

Cheryl's name on the banner. 

Really!   Check it out!   Last year, the Car Wrap people cut off several hundred names with their attempt to wrap the fenders.

Cheryls' name on the Pace car.

 This time they printed and stuck the labels on the doors so everyone would be included on the pace car.

Cheryl with the race jacket. 

Cheryl looking for More Clothes.

Cheryl loves the Des Moines Marathon's line of Athletic wear.   She got the jacket and another running shirt.  She was very excited.

She finds one.... maybe. 

Other than that, we are now resting in our Hotel room  trying to recover from the over eating, over drinking and caffeinated high that will eventually crash us.   With a little luck, we will be able to get a few hours of sleep tonight. ( unlike last night.)  Race days are always stressful and exciting, so lack of sleep is a given.  But two days in a row might be tough!

Half is already achieved. 

The real goal of this
weekend.

Add in that She will now want to better her performance and not break...  For a "negative split" on the two races.  Many of the signs are looking good for tomorrow:  No rain, Cold temps, familiar territory.   And Cheryl had her achieved her previous PR here back in 2015!   That PR for the Half Marathon lasted until this year.   So 1:42.00 is the time to beat for a moment of happiness. Anything Less than 1:39.00 will bring a few hours of  happiness and joy.   And anything  under 1:38:00 will bring Supreme Elation!

Cheryl is ready for the second part! 

But before we get too crazy,  lets remember two half marathons back to back have never been done before!  ( by Cheryl!...   Lots of other people do it all the time.  We call them : Olympians  gods! (Where the "G" is lower-case.)

So there is still lots of room for improvement and failure.... So wish her luck!  She may need it.