Detours don't deter pastry therapy
By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sisters Sarah, left, and Rebecca Piatt, celebrate finishing the homecoming 5K at Northwestern College with custard bismarcks at the Dutch Bakery in downtown Orange City, Iowa. (Photo by Tim Gallagher)
ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- A drive that takes 45 minutes took me 55 Saturday morning.
And a 25-minute run lasted 44.
Complaining? Not at all. You can't when you're taking in homecoming at Northwestern College, located in the cleanest county seat in Iowa.
First, the drive. Road K-64 connects my town, Moville, with Orange City on 40 miles of hard surface and two miles of gravel. (Speaking of that gravel ... Can't we pave that stretch on this farm-to-market route?)
I digress. A detour halted my drive 10 miles south of Orange City at 8:15 a.m. Northwestern's annual homecoming 5K run was to begin in 15 minutes.
Like any lost man would, I attempted to outsmart the detour by taking gravel. Not a good idea. By the time I zigged and zagged my way to campus, it was 8:39 a.m. and 118 runners were one-third to halfway done.
That's when I met Kelli Willett, 24, a 2006 Briar Cliff University grad who works as a jailer for Sioux County. Willett, like me, arrived late. We took off together. She had a course map.
Seven minutes in, we met NWC's former wrestling coach Paul Bartlett, a professor of kinesiology. Bartlett stood roadside and smiled, saying, "You've got one mile completed!"
We waved and thanked our host.
Then Willett said quietly to me, "How long is this race?"
Ahh, my kind of runner! She drove from Alton to run a race having never run in one before. One-third of the way through she asks, "How long is this race?"
Willett and I quickly caught a couple of her friends who jogged and walked the route. I thanked her for running the first 1.5 miles with me and I went ahead. I followed white arrows marking the route through Orange City's beautiful tree-lined west side. I waved at residents who painted, raked and moved furniture. One man asked me why a fellow from Moville would spend the morning running in Orange City.
Good question.
And soon I caught up with Kelli Willett and her friends. Huh? Seems I followed a few old arrows and worked an additional six city blocks into my 3.1-mile run.
I laughed and kept running, passing a few others until a kinesiology student told me I had one mile remaining.
Again, I followed the white arrows past the farmers market in Windmill Park and a sign announcing a sale on tulip bulbs.
I then headed west instead of south. The run became lonely, quiet. A few painted arrows looked familiar. So did these clean city streets.
But I pressed on.
Three minutes into my uncertainty, I stopped, like Forest Gump. I was repeating part of the route. I walked four blocks back east and eventually spotted a crowd of 119 runners at the finish, including Kelli Willett. "Did you get lost?" she asked.
She ran 3.1 miles. I felt like I'd done 4.1.
Her time: 30 minutes. Mine: 44.
"It was fun," said Willett. "The run was a good experience. I'm glad my co-worker, Brenda Sneider, talked me into it."
I stood next to a trim and fit professor as the results were announced. The fellow next to me, Mark Vellinga, 54, won his age division in 20 minutes.
"I enjoy running," said Vellinga, who teaches in the computer science program at NWC. "In a way it's therapeutic."
When he said therapeutic, my mind zigged and zagged to one place: the Dutch Bakery. And in three minutes I sat in therapy devouring an almond pretzel. I was joined by runners Rebecca Piatt and Sarah Piatt, students from West Des Moines who toasted their 5K finish with custard bismarcks.
"We celebrate with doughnuts," said Sarah, a senior.
Like I said, no complaints. What could be better than an autumn Saturday morning in beautiful Orange City?
One thing: A morning that ends at the Dutch Bakery.
And a 25-minute run lasted 44.
Complaining? Not at all. You can't when you're taking in homecoming at Northwestern College, located in the cleanest county seat in Iowa.
First, the drive. Road K-64 connects my town, Moville, with Orange City on 40 miles of hard surface and two miles of gravel. (Speaking of that gravel ... Can't we pave that stretch on this farm-to-market route?)
I digress. A detour halted my drive 10 miles south of Orange City at 8:15 a.m. Northwestern's annual homecoming 5K run was to begin in 15 minutes.
Like any lost man would, I attempted to outsmart the detour by taking gravel. Not a good idea. By the time I zigged and zagged my way to campus, it was 8:39 a.m. and 118 runners were one-third to halfway done.
That's when I met Kelli Willett, 24, a 2006 Briar Cliff University grad who works as a jailer for Sioux County. Willett, like me, arrived late. We took off together. She had a course map.
Seven minutes in, we met NWC's former wrestling coach Paul Bartlett, a professor of kinesiology. Bartlett stood roadside and smiled, saying, "You've got one mile completed!"
We waved and thanked our host.
Then Willett said quietly to me, "How long is this race?"
Ahh, my kind of runner! She drove from Alton to run a race having never run in one before. One-third of the way through she asks, "How long is this race?"
Willett and I quickly caught a couple of her friends who jogged and walked the route. I thanked her for running the first 1.5 miles with me and I went ahead. I followed white arrows marking the route through Orange City's beautiful tree-lined west side. I waved at residents who painted, raked and moved furniture. One man asked me why a fellow from Moville would spend the morning running in Orange City.
Good question.
And soon I caught up with Kelli Willett and her friends. Huh? Seems I followed a few old arrows and worked an additional six city blocks into my 3.1-mile run.
I laughed and kept running, passing a few others until a kinesiology student told me I had one mile remaining.
Again, I followed the white arrows past the farmers market in Windmill Park and a sign announcing a sale on tulip bulbs.
I then headed west instead of south. The run became lonely, quiet. A few painted arrows looked familiar. So did these clean city streets.
But I pressed on.
Three minutes into my uncertainty, I stopped, like Forest Gump. I was repeating part of the route. I walked four blocks back east and eventually spotted a crowd of 119 runners at the finish, including Kelli Willett. "Did you get lost?" she asked.
She ran 3.1 miles. I felt like I'd done 4.1.
Her time: 30 minutes. Mine: 44.
"It was fun," said Willett. "The run was a good experience. I'm glad my co-worker, Brenda Sneider, talked me into it."
I stood next to a trim and fit professor as the results were announced. The fellow next to me, Mark Vellinga, 54, won his age division in 20 minutes.
"I enjoy running," said Vellinga, who teaches in the computer science program at NWC. "In a way it's therapeutic."
When he said therapeutic, my mind zigged and zagged to one place: the Dutch Bakery. And in three minutes I sat in therapy devouring an almond pretzel. I was joined by runners Rebecca Piatt and Sarah Piatt, students from West Des Moines who toasted their 5K finish with custard bismarcks.
"We celebrate with doughnuts," said Sarah, a senior.
Like I said, no complaints. What could be better than an autumn Saturday morning in beautiful Orange City?
One thing: A morning that ends at the Dutch Bakery.
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