Greetings from Iowa, Louisiana!

Run Stats:
Day: 133
Miles Completed: 490.8
Miles to San Diego: 1609.8
Avg Miles/Day: 3.7
Marathons Completed: 18.7
Shoes: Skora Fit/Tempo
Playlist Favs: Genesis, Catalyst podcast

Bible Verse of the Day: You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow. Matt 5:38-42 (NIV)

Run Reflections: Good morning, it's another beautiful Saturday along the gulf coast. As of last Thursday I reached and passed through the town of Iowa, LA, the main input for this post. I'm continuing west along I-10. My pace has dropped a little recently due to a variety other comittments but I think things will slow down once school gets over. The weather here in Panama City has been great for running. Last weekend, I went for a longer run (for me anyway) and ended up running in the opposite direction of the folks participating the the Gulf Coast Triathlon. I got to see both bikers and runners and it was inspiring see them out doing their thing. I'm continuing to enjoy learning about some of the small towns and activities in Louisiana but I am looking forward to reaching the Texas border soon and heading into that state.

Iowa: Here's some information on the town of Iowa from my main research source, wikipedia. First of all, the town of Iowa is actually pronounced with a long A sound at the end, as opposed to the pronunciation of the state of Iowa. Like the city of Jennings I talked about in my last post, the history of this region is filled with stories of the early Midwestern settlers from Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa, of the Acadians (Cajuns), and of Jean Lafitte's pirates.

"The community of Iowa was developed in the mid-19th century. The railroad that cut through this country brought settlers who were lured to the prairie land for rice farming, cattle raising and later oil fields. Much of southwest Louisiana was developed by the North American Land and Timber Co. Iowa experienced a growth boom when oil was struck in 1930 and oil companies came to try their luck in the Iowa oil and gas fields. Even though this was the Great Depression era, Iowa thrived as more men came to work in the oil fields. Today, oil continues to be a vital part of the town's economy, as are farming and cattle."

In looking at the city of Iowa, one of the coolest things I found was some information on their annual Rabbit Festival. According to the Iowa town web site: iowala.org, "the Iowa Rabbit Festival was started in 1986 as a way to promote the only rabbit processing plant in the area. The first festival was held in 1987 with a small rabbit show, a parade, and booth to sell crafts. The few bands they hired played from the back of a flatbed trailer. There was a pageant to crown Miss Bunny who then traveled the state to other festivals promoting ours. The festival has since grown from year to year. The processing plant is long gone, but the festival lives on. An average of 20,000 people attends the festival each year. The festival now includes a carnival, an actual bandstand, and a Petite Lapin pageant for ages 0 – 17 years."

The festival is held the 3rd weekend in March. During the festival, attendees can sample a variety of local foods. The Cook-off on the Saturday morning gives people a chance to taste rabbit cooked many ways. There are also many arts and crafts vendors displaying and selling their wares. The main attraction is the bandstand where they have a variety of different bands playing local music, including Cajun, Zydeco, and other genres. The festival is currently a Top 20 Event for the Southeastern United States! You can find out more about this festival at their web site: http://www.iowarabbitfestival.org. I've included a graphic that shows one of their t-shirt designs for the 2016 festival.

Personally, I don't think I've ever eaten rabbit but I remember doing some survival training while I was in the Navy when a bunch of us pilot-types were out in the woods and tried to catch a rabbit for dinner. Your visual image here needs to be more keystone cops vice Top Gun volleyball match :-( We weren't successful, which is probably good because I'm not sure we would have known what to do if we were. That said, this festival looks like it would be a lot of fun and continuing to see how these small communities in our diverse country celebrate their history and heritage continues to be a highlight of this journey for me.

When I complete my run this afternoon, I will have crossed the 500 mile mark. Given that, I thought it was fitting to share the link to a you tube video of the Scottish band from the 80's - The Proclaimers - singing their famous song: (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles!

https://youtu.be/ZeuNxMY_5Uo

I hope this is correct, I couldn't figure out how to embed the active link. To watch this video, just copy and paste this link into your browser or search you tube for: "The Proclaimers - (I'm gonna be) 500 miles! Live Acoustic."

Another tie in of this song for me are the words of Jesus about going the second mile from today's Bible verse. I hope we all can look for an opportunity to go the 2nd mile for someone this week.

Thanks for tuning in, hope you have a great week!

Cheers,

Pat