Team 99 Counties: Small steps to big prize

Editor's note: Daren Schumaker of Cedar Rapids and Dennis Lee of Walford are attempting to run across Iowa's 99 counties to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association. They've completed 87 counties. This is No. 84. Next: Crawford

Iowa is a national leader in the production of corn and soybeans, and each year more hogs are raised in Iowa than in any other state.

To many Iowans, these facts are a part of their daily life and the basis of their livelihood. Each spring the crops are planted and each fall the crops are harvested. Each day piglets only weeks old are weaned from their mothers and several months later those piglets (now grown) are sent to market. Plant and harvest. Wean and slaughter. This is the cycle of life in Iowa and in many other places.

However, neither the planting nor the harvest, neither the weaning nor the slaughter, are the most important part of the process. For success, the crops must be cultivated and the hogs must be fed each and every day.

On Nov. 14, we departed Cedar Rapids at 6:15 a.m. and headed north through Waterloo to Highway 18 where we headed east toward Kossuth County — the 'double' county in north central Iowa. Only seconds after crossing into Kossuth County we stopped at the first farm on the south side of the road to pick up Richard Studer, who had agreed to spend a beautiful fall day running across the county in which he was born and raised. At 10:15 a.m., we left the western border of Kossuth County with a brisk wind out of the south-southwest urging us forward. Our journey started down a gravel drive that passed through a farmyard and lead into Whittemore, where we danced northward to 210th Street and started to run east toward Algona.

Richard advised us he had not really been running too much of late and, in fact, had not run as far as he planned to run with us since June. Despite this reality, Richard took it one step at a time and before long we had crossed the Des Moines River, climbed a few gradual inclines, and entered Algona. Richard kept moving forward, providing us with an oral history of the area — pointing out that the movie theater used to be a Ben Franklin Craft Store, and that the old movie theater is now a bar. We circled the Kossuth County Courthouse, posed for a few photographs and passed by the YMCA before heading east out of town on 210th Street and completing our 13th mile.

We climbed a steady incline out of Algona, and upon completion of our 19th mile, we headed north on 190th Avenue into Sexton where we headed east on Highway 18 for another mile. Step by step, mile by mile, we were making progress. We jumped off Highway 18 onto Old Highway 18, which was gravel for a couple of miles before turning into pavement, pavement that lead us into Wesley, which we could literally see for 10 miles before arriving. As we passed through Wesley and ran down the boulevard, Richard started to wear down, but he kept moving forward. Finally, about a mile east of Wesley and within sight of Richard's residence, we completed our 84th county — taking 3:51:44 to cross 26.2 miles of Kossuth County.

During our run we passed many a harvested corn or soybean field, and numerous hog farms. A successful crop or a healthy hog ready for slaughter is not something that happens overnight. The reward for your work is not immediate. What seems to be insignificant things done on a daily basis — such as cultivating the fields and feeding the hogs — result in no marked change from one day to the next. But when viewed over time, these small consistently repeated steps move things in the right direction. Day after day and week after week, one step at a time.

Our journey with Richard reminded us you can't get from here to there all at once. Change often doesn't happen simply with a decision to change and a snap of your fingers. Change is gradual, so gradual in fact, you don't notice it from one day to the next. However, if you keep taking steps in the right direction and ignore your eyes when they tell you nothing is happening and urge you to give up, you will find success.

Each day the decisions you make move you in one of two directions, the way you want to go or the way you don't want to go. Move in the right direction, just like Richard. The greatest journeys each start with a single step. To find success, remember to cultivate and feed your patience each and every day. With consistency and time, small steps add up to miles.

Inspiration through perspiration. Become active or make a donation to Team 99 Counties or the American Heart Association to help fight heart disease today.

l To make a donation or buy a T-shirt, email Dennis Lee at telcoden@yahoo.com