Exercising my Character in Des Moines

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Des Moines for Hy Vee's Exercising Your Character event. Hy Vee, the corporate sponsor for the ITU World Cup in Des Moines, makes a tremendous effort to promote the triathlon and to encourage a healthy lifestyle. The Exercising Your Character event is just one part of their ongoing community involvement.

As part of the event, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with 4000 4th and 5th graders who were bussed in from the greater Des Moines area (some even coming from 2 hrs away!) to the Hy Vee hall. The set-up was pretty incredible, as a elevated stage was placed in the middle of the hall and enhanced by state-of-the-art audio and visual effects. There were even pyrotechnics following the National Anthem! The event itself consisted of a couple hours of non-stop action and activity with plenty of dancing, led by the Iowa Dance & Drill Team. I did plenty of dancing, don't worry! Our Emcee, Jim Hallihan, did a great job of keeping us on schedule. Interspersed with the music and dancing, ISU Coach Fennelly (Girls Basketball), triathlete Hunter Kemper, former Blake basketball standout Leonard Houston and I had about 10 minutes apiece to talk to the kids and answer a couple of questions. I took the opportunity to get the kids excited about triathlon and told them about my mixed experiences racing in Des Moines, emphasizing how those challenges were character building. I hope that at least a few got something positive out of my talk! We finished up the event with having lunch with the lucky winning school, Windsor Heights Elementary. They are a really great, high-energy group of kids and I enjoyed chatting with them about school.

While pretty exhausting (maybe it was all of that dancing!), I feel really fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be part of the Exercising Your Character event in Des Moines. I continue to be very impressed by the organization and community involvement of Hy Vee's events. It was also a relief to go to Des Moines and have a completely positive, non-racing experience in that city. Hopefully it bodes well for my next trip to Des Moines in June for the World Cup! At the very least, I hope that Hunter and I convinced a few of those kids to either participate in the tri and/ or to cheer for us!