Steppin' lightly

Thanks in large part to the well-timed text from Joel Moss, I have a new appreciation for Des Moines. It is not nearly as bad or desolate as we had thought the other night – in our sleep-deprived and hunger-depraved state, desperately looking for food.

-- The downtown is small but vibrant. The same cannot be said for Indy, where Keenan and I went four years ago. I had initially equated Des Moines with Indy. Not a fair comparison. Indy is bigger but not necessarily better.

-- After the 10km last night, we went down to the Court Avenue District, which had a hopping night scene. We grabbed a late dinner and walked around. It finally felt like we were in a city.

-- This morning, I went jogging over in east downtown, past the really cool capitol building. I crossed over the Des Moines River (the words “majestic” and “mighty” do not come to mind, FYI) a few times. It is a small river, but this city seems to have an obsession about crossing it – as there are about a half-dozen bridges within eyesight from where I was jogging.

-- There is a really neat looking farmer’s market going on. We are going to go check it out for a late breakfast/early lunch.

-- Finally, Drake Stadium is a fine track venue. NCAA Outdoors will be here in 2011. It sure would be nice to be here for that! Considering we have NEVER had an NCAA qualifier, the safe money is that we won't be back. But you never know: Quimes said he’ll qualify in the steeple and the 10km, just like he did for this meet. Sure, sure, Q. Dream big! I like it.

For now, clutch that hard-earned medal of yours.

These Junior National trips are more about the experience and getting the Marist name out than performances. But this year, Quimes had a meet for the ages. He was our only athlete in school history to double at this meet. And what does he do? He places higher than anyone else in school history. Pretty sweet.

That’s probably it for my Des Moines posts. Hopefully, our return trip east will be far less eventful than the trip out here. Thanks for reading.