What I Talk About When I Talk About Trying to Run: Part Three

There's a trend right now with my Facebook friends. They either post pictures of their kids or their running times. Of course there's that crazy sub-set of people who are doing both. I've been trying to run outside more and will sometimes see parents running with strollers. That's amazing! It's hard enough for me to get out there and push my own weight forward I can't imagine doing that with another human being. There's this crazy guy who runs with a double stroller AND a dog. Thanks for making us all look bad, man. I'm going to start running pulling my Harry Potter books in a Radio Flyer next time I see him and shout, "That's right, those are all seven HARDCOVER Harry Potter books. I'm literally running with the entire wizarding world behind me." He won't hear me because he's listening to Rosetta Stone mastering Parseltongue. 

I'm pretty sure that guy's a superhero.

May 2014 - Easter Seals Run for the Kids Superhero Hustle

My first 5k in May was on my birthday. I briefly mentioned it in an earlier post, but forgot to mention one crazy thing that happened. If you recall, I was dressed as Spider-Man during the race. My friend Katie was Superman and Bryan was Batman. 

Fun fact: I've never run in men's boxers and blue tights before.

My "costume" wasn't that comfortable and after the first stretch of the 5k in the bright, hot sun I was really regretting the tights. I felt bad for the ones with capes as they kept getting in the way. As we were running through the neighborhood I looked around and noticed that almost all of the other runners were dressed up as some superhero. There were police barricades every other intersection or so, but they didn't have enough officers to cover every one. As I turned the corner down one road, I saw a car back out of a driveway and start to drive down the road. The guy was driving a little fast and was trying to swerve around the runners. I could tell he was irritated they were running in the middle of the street. On any other day I totally would agree with Mr. Road Rage. Runners are supposed to run against traffic and usually on the side of the road, but we were obviously running a 5k. Finally Lex Luthor (aka Mr. Road Rage) passes the group and I realize that he really didn't understand that we were running in a 5k. What running group goes out dressed up in full superhero costume? And how do I join them?

May 2014 - The Original 5k

I didn't get to run a 5k in June thanks to a disgusting blister on the bottom of my right foot, but I did run two 5k's in May, so I'm still on track for my goal. The Original 5k was on May 31st so I got as close to June as I could. I'm still not 100 percent sure why this race is called the Original 5k - something about the first 5k happening or when running the 5k got super popular? All I know is that I decided to sign up for this race because the entry fee was $19.72. I ran this race with Bryan, Katie, and Ellie. 

Instead of a t-shirt we got tube socks (as seen in the background)

Walk/Run Method

I took a running class last year. Our instructor was a big proponent of the Walk/Run Method. I wasn't sure if it made a lot of sense. How could I run faster if I was walking? If you're new to running or looking for a way to mix up your running I would definitely suggest this method. I typically will run three minutes and then walk one minute. The minute of walking gives my legs a quick break and I'm fresher and able to run harder for the next three minutes. Last September I ran a 5k straight - no walking, only running. For the Superhero run I did the Walk/Run Method and had the exact same time as last September and felt a lot better after.

The Great Midwest Road Trip of 2014: South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa (Part Three)

Stop six and a half: Wall, SD and Mitchell, SD
There is nothing exciting in between Rapid City and Sioux Falls. This is why places like the Wall Drug Store and the Mitchell Corn Palace exist. I was not a fan of either of these tourist traps, but if you're traveling through South Dakota, they do help to break up the five hour drive. They're both free to visit.

Everything was slightly creepy at the Wall Drug Store

All of the stores (which basically sold the same crap) were connected together

Outdoor play area for kids that was kind of like a very poor man's Disneyland (very poor)

Six foot rabbit? Sure, why not?

We tried to make the best of it

Three hours later we arrived in Mitchell at the Corn Palace. It is still being decorated so it didn't have quite the impact as I'm guessing it normally would have. Inside the Corn Palace is basically the equivalent to a high school gym. The majority of the "gym" was taken up by their gift shop, but they did have a cubicle-like wall separating an area for people to watch a short movie about the Corn Palace. It was so noisy with all the kids talking and playing in the gift shop that it was hard to hear why and how the Corn Palace was built, but it seems like a huge waste of food. I can't remember how many fields of corn it takes to design the building, but I do remember turning to look at Bryan and mouthing, "REALLY?!" Also, on a side note, I did buy a corn on the cob from their concession stand and it wasn't good. Pretty disappointing that the Corn Palace makes crappy corn.

Their theme for 2014 is Remember When (maybe referring back to a simpler time when Americans didn't waste a bunch of food, time, and money decorating a building)

Don't get me wrong - it's a cool concept and their murals are done really well, but come on guys? How wasteful can we be!

Stop seven: Sioux Falls, SD
About an hour later we finally arrived in Sioux Falls. When we finally got out of the car Bryan looked at me, his nose scrunched up and said, "Does it smell like poop here to you?" And it did. I'm not sure why, but we were staying at a hotel by the river so maybe that was it.

The next morning we had breakfast at Phillips Avenue Diner, walked around downtown Sioux Falls (the poop smell magically disappeared), and then went to Falls Park. Downtown Sioux Falls also had a sculpture walk going with sculptures along the main road. We didn't see all of them, but did manage to see most of them. And yes, it's the second time in South Dakota that we ate breakfast and then went on a sculpture walk. It might be a new trend.

This was right outside the Phillips Avenue Diner

Bryan's favorite

My favorite

We both liked this one

After walking around downtown we decided to check out Falls Park before we left South Dakota. We almost didn't go, but I'm really glad we did because it was really cool.

It was the perfect day to see this

Stop eight: Omaha, NE
After Falls Park, we made what was supposed to be a 2 hour and 45 minute trip to Omaha. As we were driving down 29, though, we had to take a detour since some of the road was closed. This was a 45-minute-long detour. We had no idea where we were going and they only used about five signs the entire time so you didn't really know if you were still on the detour or not.

We finally got to Omaha, dropped off our stuff at the hotel, and went out to explore. Our first stop was the Gene Leahy Mall, which is a beautiful park. Since everyone else in Omaha was at the College World Series we had the park almost to ourselves. Well, we also had to share it with the ducks.

Empty park on a beautiful day - baseball is clearly destroying everything good about America

Giant slides that I couldn't slide down because I was wearing a dress (I couldn't talk Bryan into going down either)

A little to the right was a family of ducks and a little to the right of them was all of their poop - classy ducks, real classy

After the park, we walked half way across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge so we could stand with one foot in Iowa and one foot in Nebraska.

It may not look like it, but it was 200 degrees that day

I almost had a heat stroke in two states at the same time!

For dinner we ate at Dundee Dell (a recommendation from my friend Ellie). Bryan was in bourbon heaven and tried four different samples with dinner of stuff that he either can't get anymore or would have to pay an arm and a leg for in Chicago.

I think Bryan started silently crying because he was so happy with the selection here

Great wall of Scotch

The next day we made a stop to visit with my member company in Omaha, then we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo.

Everything they did was adorable

How cute is this guy? He kept hamming it up for us.

The famous walk-through aquarium

Taking a ride on the Skyfari

Bryan did not enjoy it as much as I did (the Skyfari is to Bryan what roller coasters are to me)

It really is an amazing zoo

After the zoo we went to my member company's pre-4th of July picnic for dinner and fireworks. However, Mother Nature had her own firework show and we got rained out. We made the drive back to our hotel through a pretty bad storm, but we made it okay.

Stop nine: Emerson, IA
The next morning we made the 45 minute drive to Emerson for the start of Bryan's family reunion. We met up with Bryan's grandfather and aunt at the Indian Creek Historical Museum. Bryan's grandfather showed us the property including an old barn, schoolhouse, and log cabin before heading into the museum which houses many of their family's antique farm equipment. I had a great time meeting Bryan's extended family and learning more about his family's history.

The Barn and the bridge which leads to the school and log cabin

One-room school complete with 48 star flag

I really loved all the art work on these feed bags

Just some of the farm equipment

Bryan and his grandfather

Family church - we went to service before heading back to Oak Park

Final thoughts:
This has been one of my favorite vacation experiences to date. There are so many beautiful and interesting places right here in the Midwest! Here are a few tips that I would share with anyone going on an extensive road trip:

1. Invest in a USB car charger for your phone
2. Pack a cooler with snacks and water bottles (buy the smaller bottles so you can fit more)
3. Get ice each morning from the hotel's ice machine
4. Use the "laundry" bags that are in your hotel closet to separate your dirty laundry from your clean (they're just plastic bags with the hotel name on it) or bring your own garbage bag to do that
5. Take videos and pictures - I started doing this later in the trip, but wish I would have captured a few 15-30 second videos of different things that we were seeing
6. Be flexible with your time
7. Watch the weather
8. Print out directions as you may lose cell or gps service in the more rural areas
9. Always make a great playlist (which should always include The Beatles)...

Our beautiful views from the road

The Great Midwest Road Trip of 2014: North Dakota and South Dakota (Part Two)

Stop three: Fargo, ND
After my brush with death in Minneapolis, Bryan and I made the three and a half hour drive to Fargo. It was Father's Day so on the way there we called our Dad's. That night we both noticed that our day had kind of a Father's Day theme to it...

We stopped was in Moorhead, MN to visit the Hjemkomst Center. The center is home to two unique structures. The first is a replica of the Hopperstad Stave Church.

The original Hopperstad Stave Church is in Norway

The second unique structure is the Hjemkomst Viking Ship, which was built by hand and sailed to Norway in 1982. The ship was started as a project by Robert Asp in 1974. He was diagnosed with leukemia the same year, but still kept on building and was able to take the ship on a maiden voyage throughout Lake Superior in 1980. Sadly he died before he could sail to Norway. Asp's children along with a few other crew members, were able to honor their father by making the journey two years later. See? Isn't that a great Father's Day story?

Even after watching a 20 minute long film, I still cannot say the word Hjemkomst properly.

Hjemkomst means "Homecoming" in Norwegian or "Word-Allison-can't-pronounce" in English

You can really get a sense for how big the ship is by how they cover it from the outside

Sunday is a tough day for downtown Fargo since many of the shops and restaurants are closed. If we ever go back here I definitely want to go on a non-Sunday so we can visit all the great stores I saw as we were walking.

The Fargo Theatre movie sign

After walking around, we had an early dinner at the HoDo Lounge, which is part of the Hotel Donaldson before seeing Chef at the Fargo Theatre. The movie, a story about a chef and his relationship with his son as he tries to figure out his career, also had a Father's Day feeling to it.

The HoDo Lounge

This was a great Art Deco Theatre that reminded me of Oak Park's Lake Theatre. Sadly, there were only six people there watching the movie.

The next morning we made another stop at one of my member companies and then saw a piece of history. I'm talking of course about the Famous Wood Chipper from the movie Fargo.

Stop four: Jamestown, ND
It's not an American Road Trip unless you see the World's Largest Something. Fortunately for us, we got to see the World's Largest Buffalo in Jamestown! There were actual buffaloes there and a buffalo museum, but we were only interested in this guy...

World's Largest Buffalo with the World's Cheesiest Tourists

Stop five: Bismarck, ND
We ended our day in downtown Bismarck eating and drinking our way through two World Cup games. We ate lunch at the Blarney Stone Irish Pub, watched the US vs. Ghana game at Laughing Sun Brewery, and then had dinner at Peacock Alley.

Our favorite place in Bismarck was definitely Laughing Sun Brewery - they even make their own soda (their cream soda is on the left)

Stop five and a half: The Enchanted Highway (Regent, ND)
The next day we made our way to Mount Rushmore via The Enchanted Highway, a 32-mile stretch of road off of 94 leading to Regent, ND with seven impressive scrap metal sculptures.

"Geese in Flight"

"Deer Crossing"

"Grasshoppers in the Field"

"Pheasants on the Prairie"

"Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again"

"The Tin Family"

Stop six: Rapid City, SD
Almost six hours later we made it to Mount Rushmore. We also saw the Crazy Horse Memorial, and then got dinner at the Independent Ale House.

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse Memorial

We had great pizza at the Independent Ale House

The next morning we got breakfast in downtown Rapid City at Tally's Silver Spoon and did the City of Presidents Sculpture Walk and saw Art Alley. We walked to all 42 statues, but here are some of my favorites.

FDR

Lincoln

Is that Jimmy Carter? I literally thought every other statue was Jimmy Carter. This is ACTUALLY the Jimmy Carter statue.

This alley was amazing!