I'm not sure where the Reclaimed Rails Brewery is located, but I live in SW Iowa. As for running, I did a ton of shorter local fun runs and races - 5K's, 10K's, a 6.5 mile, a 12K trail, and a couple of HM's - all over IA, MO, KS, NE and even one of the HM's in MT (vacation).

I decided this year to stop doing all those shorter races and focus more on the longer events. There are a couple of shorter events that I still participated in this year. But I did something like 17 of these last year vs. 2 of them this year. The 2 I chose were a nearby 10K and a nearby 5K trail run.

For future events this year, the next is here in Iowa and I plan to travel for the others:

9/8/18 - Wabash Trace Nature Trail Marathon (Malvern, IA to Shenandoah, IA)
10/19-10/20 - Ragnar Trail Hill Country - TX (Relay - not signed up yet as I'm working out some logistics, but I have type 1 diabetes and plan to join a team of fellow diabetics)
11/19 - Route 66 Marathon - Tulsa, OK (I plan to do the Center of the Universe detour to make it technically an ultra-marathon... the world's shortest ultra-marathon)

I have been to Harper's Ferry for hiking - Effigy Mounds and Yellow River are both neat spots in NE Iowa.

So I take it that the HM there is going to hit some of those hills? That would be pretty neat! Can you believe some people think Iowa is flat?!

I have a friend, met online, who is also a type 1 diabetic and an ultrarunner. He is from Texas and ran the Capital to Coast relay by himself (Austin, TX to Corpus Christi, TX). In June, he ran the Iowa Relay solo (across the state from west to east). I got a chance to go up and run a few miles with him as he was in the western part of the state. Since I have similar medical challenges and this guy runs a whole lot more miles, it was a great opportunity to share best practices. Anyway, he also noticed Iowa has hills as he ran across.