R and J in the USA

Eldon, Iowa. Population 777. Home of the American Gothic house. Home of the Eldon Depot Museum. And home of the most interesting little race where few, if any, of the runners actually run or race  – The Fun Run.

In most places in the country, a ‘Fun Run’ is a nomenclature where the “fun” is the qualifier of the “run”, which is the focus of the event. We all know, in the most technical of senses, running isn’t exactly “fun”. It hurts. It’s what we have come to learn is called Type 2 fun – the kind where it sorta sucks, but as a mildly masochistic human, you kind of enjoy it, and you definitely enjoy having done it when it’s done. So the label ‘fun run’ is typically meant to remind you that you are choosing to run on purpose and, let’s remember to have fun before and after, and not take it too seriously in the middle.

Well, in Eldon, Iowa, the folks took the “fun” part literally and it is the “run” part that is meant to be the reminder.

We showed up at the American Gothic House in little Eldon, Iowa, having rearranged our schedule and driven extra hours to catch this iconic feature in the southeast corner of the state. We showed up and walked up to the museum and saw a sign on the door, “Museum closed due to illness”. It was a small museum and we immediately got the sense that this probably meant there was one, or maybe two people to work at the museum. If you are a fan of the movie My Cousin Vinny, it felt like a bit of a “the whole store got the flu” situation. We were a bit disappointed at first. But not for long. No, not for long at all.

When we had parked, we had seen some folks dressed in extreme hippie clothing walking toward the American Gothic House. Like, the cartoon version of a 1970’s counterculture participant. We thought, “Hmmm. Eldon, Iowa, who knew?”

Then, as we walked from the 100 feet from the museum building to the actual house from the painting “American Gothic”, we noticed one person dressed like peas. Then another person dressed as Bugs Bunny’s favorite root vegetable. We eventually realized, oh, these two definitely go together.

When we struck up a conversation with a gentleman walking our way with a neighborly smile, we were not long for falling totally in love with Eldon and its spirited people. And we were about to have one of the most fun afternoons of the trip.

“Hey! Are you folks joining the run?” He asked.

”What run?”

“It’s the Fun Run. You guys wanna join the race?”

“We just ran a 5K this morning, actually.”

“Oh, wow!” he responded. “This is a .5K.”

”A POINT five K? As in half a kilometer?”

This is where we got to know our new buddy Shane. He told us all about the little town of Eldon’s “big” event. (There were maybe 40 folks there, give or take). That’s when we learned the event was not a “fun RUN”. Nope. It was a “FUN run”. 

The Fun Run is a 0.5K amble along a paved path between the American Gothic house and a town park next to the Eldon Depot Museum. Along the half kilometer are six stations where teams stop and compete in drinking games. The event is an excuse to drink in public in silly costumes and get a FEW extra steps in along the way.

It’s not all fun and games at The Fun Run. Actually, it is all fun and games. But it’s also a fundraising event. Proceeds from this year’s edition of The Fun Run would Eldon complete the town’s frisbee golf course. 

“How awesome is this?!” We were thinking. We don’t drink, but we do like fun quite a bit. 

Half a kilometer of drinking, stumbling, and merriment was about to ensue. The Fun Run attracted a certain type of people, attitude, and friendliness, and, though we weren’t drinking, we were getting a buzz from that alone. 

It cost $50/person to participate in the event. Having already spent as much for our morning 5K and knowing we don’t drink, we figured we’d just enjoy watching the festivities and taking the frugal route, so we decided not to sign up. However, one of our goals on this trip was to make a donation or two in each state to things that were important to local communities. It didn’t seem it could get any more local than this so we decided to make a donation. Julie went up to the booth and said, “We just stumbled upon this and didn’t come to race, but can we make a small donation to your cause?” We ponied up a modest $20. They were so thrilled that they welcomed us to participate. 

“Oh gosh, no! That kind of negates the idea of it being a donation.” Julie said. “Now we are just skimping on the race entry fee!”

They wouldn’t have any of it and insisted we join them. Julie was in her slide on shoes, essentially flip-flops, but thought, hey, for .5K, I think I can make it. We rationalized that we would’t be drinking their booze, and that’s the expensive part, so we accepted their Iowa hospitality and joined the race. 

The race director enthusiastically shared with Julie the state of the frisbee golf course and of all the other wonderful things she and the group of folks were working on in the community. She captured exactly what Julie was feeling and encapsulated the spirit, hope, and sneaking suspicion of our whole trip when she said, ”See! We don’t have to believe what they tell us on the news. There are people all over the place having a good time, doing good things with each other and for each other in the community, and getting along.”

Amen to that!

The whole group of folks was as fun and welcoming as could be. The race hadn’t even started and we were already having a blast getting to know them.

At the word “go” the “race” began and teams of costumed, good-time having folks “took off” on this asphalt path toward the first Fun Run station.

We ran alongside a group of Forrest Gumps. They had “Run Forrest Run” Forrest, “Alabama Crimson Tide Football Player” Forrest,“Bubba Gump” Forrest, “I Just Felt Like Running” Forrest, and “Peas and Carrots” (which now made sense). 

At the first station, participants had to drink a beer out of a Solo cup, then place the solo cup on the edge of the table open side down, and flick the cup and have it land right side up. This process repeated itself down the line one at a time until every team member completed the task. Then it was back to “running” and the team took off to the next station.

The second station was bobbing for liquor while getting sprayed with a hose. Each team member had to submerge their face in water, pull out a mini-bar sized bottle of booze with their teeth, and drink it. Then it was off to the next station. 

The third stop was drinking cornhole. A toss of the beanbag would tell each participant what had to be drunk and who had to drink it. One outcome was that the whole team had to take a drink. Another commanded Jell-O shots. Team members obliged each and every outcome, then did their best to run forward to the next stop.

At this point, we didn’t know whether we were happy or sad that we weren’t drinkers, but we were pretty happy they were and that we got to be along for the ride.

The next stop was a “walk the line” station, where the race volunteers dressed as police officers made participants drink and then walk in a straight line. We cheered on our buddy Shane, who was doing pretty good. 

We didn’t think it could get better. The race’s fueling station proved us wrong. The fueling station did not have water, nor gatorade, or nothing as boring as a banana. It had donuts and bacon! LOTS of bacon. We were enthusiastically welcomed to partake, and partake we did. 

Mid-race bacon. Now we REALLY understood the phrase Shane told us when we asked him how people in Iowa feel about Iowa. He quoted the line from the movie Field of Dreams (filmed and set in Iowa) that Iowans proudly display on t-shirts and bumper stickers across the state: ”Is this heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.”

Julie understood the confusion as she pounded bacon on a beautiful sunny afternoon with forty of her newest and closest costumed friends. Ryan ate an obligatory donut. How could he not?

There were six or seven people volunteering and just hanging out at the fueling station soaking in the fun. Julie struck up a conversation with a young woman who had been pushing the donuts hard. Julie kept sadly refusing. The woman asked, “Can you not eat gluten?”

Interesting guess, Julie thought. “Yea. Unfortunately, no. I wish, though!”

”Me too!” she said. “I’m sorry I was pushing the donuts so hard. I just wish I could eat them so I get really into getting other people to eat them.”

”I totally get it!” Julie said. It had been Julie who had insisted Ryan eat a donut. “It’s all about the vicarious enjoyment!”

”Yes!” She said.

She was wearing a boot on her foot for an injury she had gotten doing a running streak. She had been feeling kind of bummed about the injury. Hearing about our trip somehow uplifted her and inspired her to go after things in life. She even sent Julie a text later thanking her for helping her get out of a rut. This made Julie feel pretty great, of course. It’s a nice reminder that we often don’t have to do much to spread inspiration between each other. A lot of times just being open to chatting is all it takes. We ourselves have been inspired by so many people who aren’t doing anything to try to inspire us, who are just telling us about their lives and how they live it. Or, just getting to be there watching them do it. Case in point, we were currently being super inspired by our new fun-loving friends in this vibrant community here in Eldon, IA.

We were hard pressed to pull ourselves away from the chat with all these wonderful folks at the fueling station, but there were still two more stations and a good 0.25 kilometers to go. For a race, there was certainly no sense of being in any hurry.

The next stop was one of the most entertaining, funny, and creative pieces of ridiculousness we had ever seen, certainly on this trip.

Only a picture can really convey what we witnessed. Impressive contraptions were placed upon the participants, who had to operate the contraption to guide a drink into their mouths. It was a test of their drunken coordination. We watched old Elvis navigate it like, well, the King. 

Clearly not feeling any race urgency, we stopped at the small Eldon train museum before we got to the final run station, where we had another wonderful encounter, which you can read about in our People Along the Way section. We then moved on to the final test.

Julie had seen this one in her summer camp days – minus the drinking. People downed another beer, put their forehead on a baseball bat, spun three times, then staggered dizzily toward the small arch at the official race finish line. 

The enthusiastic volunteers encouraged us to do the bat spin.

”But we haven’t been doing the stations. We aren’t drunk!” we protested.

”Well, then spin five times.”

Julie took the opening and got her head on the bat. She came up dizzy but unimpaired and ran an impressive straight line through the finish line arch.

The volunteers at the finish line were extremely impressed until they realized she was not inebriated. We had more great conversations with the fun folks at the finish line, who generously gave us a race t-shirt even though we protested that we hadn’t paid the full race fee.

They told us about life in little Eldon, Iowa, and much laughter and merriment continued on.

By the time we had traveled the short 0.5K distance we had come a very long way in falling in deep smit with this little rural town. If you drove through Eldon on any other day, you may or may not take much note of it, and you certainly wouldn’t understand how much joy and life was going on there. 

In addition to having a fantastic day, we had a day that summed up the spirit, hope, and intentions of this whole trip. Getting to enjoy life with our distant neighbors across the country. Getting to know folks living life in different ways and different places. Getting to exchange a hug or a handshake. Getting to raise a glass, or a piece of bacon, to the good life and the good parts of life that are going on in all sorts of ways in all sorts of places. Thanks, Eldon, Iowa, for showing us how it’s done!