Sundate Part I - Brunch

Last Sunday we had an epic Sundate that involved brunch, a hilarious musical, and then a "night" cap (at least it was dark out) at Cooney's tavern in Beaverdale. Re-reading that, hopefully that didn't sound braggy about how awesome we are and the cool stuff that we do. If that's how you read it, then yes, we are that cool. We will split this day of events into a couple of blog posts, so first I will whisk you away to a simpler time of delicious meals and booze.

We decided to go to Americana for brunch this time. Neither one of us had been, but our only advice was that it is "full of hipsters". As an Actuary, I thought this would be right up my alley. Located right across from the sculpture garden, we used all our willpower to resist the urge to go to Subway instead.

The restaurant has a pretty cool set up with two levels for dining (I recommend the upper level for better people watching) and multiple stations to get your food. One station was devoted entirely to grilled cheeses. Neither one of us got one, but they were not your Kraft Cheese/Wonderbread dynamic duos of childhood. They looked pretty tasty. Another station was devoted entirely to making your own bloody mary or mimosa (ka-ching!), another had fruit, pastries, parfaits, etc and finally, the last station had cooked token breakfast dishes.

Everything we tried was awesome! If you opt for the bottomless bloody mary/mimosas ($22 vs. $15 without), try the raspberry syrup in them. You'll never look at mimosas the same ever again.

All in all, Americana was a great place. I look forward to going back for a meal off the menu. Regarding our tip about the hipsters, yes, they were there, but unless you're eating at IHOP or Denny's and not a local place, you will probably have that. The crowd was mixed and no one will feel out of place dining there.

Since it is a buffet, I won't recommend anything specific since you can pick and choose, but based off of what we had, you cannot go wrong.

Dining Des Moines,
~ J

Living History Farms - The Race

As a virgin (woah!) runner I will share my short take on the 7.something (as advertised) mile Living History Farms off road race. I did my first organized run in September, the 5k Beaverdash. Part of Beaverdale Fall Fest Prior to that most of my running was contained to cemeteries and treadmills. Wait, actually, I did the inaugural Grand Blue Mile in 2010 with my dad. THAT was the longest straight distance I had run in 20 years, at the time. 7:57. :)

So to go from running 1 mile to 7 miles...was a change. I didn't really train for LHF. We were lucky to have a very nice fall, weather wise. I would just run when I felt like it. I did a few runs mapped out using my odometer prior to the run when I was frustrated with driving everywhere. John prefers mapmyrun.com, and is always eager to map my runs and figure out my pace when I come home. So far I am averaging a 10 min mile WITH walking. So, maybe 8 min mile while running.

Anyway, LHF. Our friend Dave, of Honeybadgershirts.com organized a team for the race. 4 men and 2 women. He provided awesome beanie hats and tshirts.

John and I were behind Dave and crew for most of the race, but got many comments on our shirts, and tried to do some breathless advertising. I ran/walked the whole race with J by my side cheering me on. He got frustrated several times with me walking and then running too fast, but that is just my style. I think we had a breathless brief argument about it during the run, and I swore I was NOT slowing us down via this method. I came home that evening to look up his past times for this race, and he PR'd (personal record) with me by over 15 minutes. So, yeah. Run fast, walk when you need to. I'm going to stick with that.

Unfortunately, I injured my left leg a bit during the race. It was very sore in the hip joint for a few days after, and now I am having classic IT band knee pain in that leg. I take back everything I ever said about people being wimps about IT band pain! I am trying to use my Merrel barefoot shoes and will try a knee compression strap the next time I run. LA half marathon coming up January 14th! I am behind in training due to small children making me very ill, and the knee pain. Right now my goal is to still run/walk the half.

4D Explained...Sort of, but not really

Good morning fellow Des Moines in 4D blog followers (read:  mom)!  I realize that we just jumped right in and started blogging without really explaining the concept of what the "theme" of the blog is.  How rude of me, right?

So what is "Des Moines in 4D"?  The first part is pretty obvious - Des Moines.  The capital of Iowa.  We live here.  It's great and, as Stephen Bloom says, "91 percent white".  But the great mystery of the blog is what is this whole "4D" thing?  Is it 4 dimensions?  The next trend for movie viewing?  Techniques for avoiding Des Moines per a condensed version of tips for dodgeball (dip, duck, dodge, dive)?  Actually, it is quite the opposite!  While I am not going to come right out and tell you, keep reading and hopefully everything will begin to make sense.  Tip:  don't over think it, we're really not that clever...especially me. 

With that cliffhanger, I will let you kill your entire weekend trying to figure out the great mystery of 4Ds.  I recommend canceling all plans, brewing a pot of coffee, and doing some serious thinking!  Be looking for a blog soon about Utopia - The Iowa Musical Revue soon, as we are going tomorrow afternoon! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!
~ J

Living History Farms Packet Pick Up

LHF.  One of the signature trail races Des Moines has to offer.  Apparently, they have learned a thing or two about structure of the packet pick up process in the 32 prior years they have hosted this race because it was smoother than...well, something that is really, really smooth.  Maybe it just went by as a blur because I had an engagement ring in my coat pocket and wasn't really paying attention.  Truth be told, I'm shocked I even ended up with the correct bib number/timing chip!

Anyway, despite battling "rush hour traffic" coming from Beaverdale to Urbandale at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday via Hickman, we were in and out in record time (this is my 4th year running the race).  We walked right up to our bib number booth, got our tee shirts (a deep red this year, still long sleeve), got our chips, our token SWAG (Shit We All Get - this year peanut butter packets and shaving gel, obviously...wait, what?) and were done in no time, making it official that we were ready to race and I was that much closer to getting home where a surprise was waiting for my soon-to-be-fiance waiting on the dining room table. 

For newbs thinking about doing this race, here are a few recommendations -
1)  Do it.  It's a blast!  Sign up early though, this race fills up ridiculously fast.
2)  Don't plan on setting a PR.  This race is intended to have a good time and is packed with people.  Unless you are starting at the front and have legs that go up to your chest, it's not going to happen.  Accept it.
3)  Have fun.  Plan to be cold and get dirty, summon your inner 10-year old, you know it's in there.

Dashing Des Moines,
~ J