Race Recap: Des Moines Women's 10K

 Des Moines Women's 10K, 5/8/22, Des Moines, IA

Weather: 50s, windy, bit of rain

Terrain: Roads and paved trails

Distance: 10K (Garmin: 6.16 miles)

Elevation Gain: approx. 94 feet

Course map

I arrived in Des Moines on Saturday afternoon and went straight to packet pickup. The reason I enjoy this event is the swag, and this year did not disappoint. The fifth anniversary of the race meant that everyone registered for the half marathon got a backpack/duffel bag, in addition to the usual wine glass and shirt. Parking was a bit of a zoo but I found a spot along the road and was in and out quickly.

"Wait a sec, Clare," you may be thinking. "You just said HALF MARATHON but this race recap is for a 10K. What the bloody hell?" Hold on. I'll get to it.

The evening was spent carb-loading and pathologically checking the weather, which was supposed to be thunderstorming on Sunday morning. Sure enough, woke up on Sunday to crazy storms in the area. Before I even left my hotel, there was word that the start would be delayed from 8 AM to 8:30 AM. I delayed my hotel departure and arrived at the parking lot as the rain was letting up. Rode a shuttle five minutes to the winery where we would start the race, where we all discovered that due to not having any big breaks in the radar, we would be starting at 9 AM and all the half marathon runners would be moved to the 10K. Womp womp. But better safe than sorry, and I was glad that I hadn't legitimately driven all this way for nothing, so here we go.

The port-a-john situation was far better than in 2019, which was good. I stayed under shelter as long as possible and joined the corral a couple minutes before the start. People seeded themselves well and we headed down the winery road and turned onto Fleur, where I first noticed that there was a roaming photographer on a golf cart (my worst nightmare) but luckily he was roving somewhat near me! For once! Maybe all I needed for all these years was to jog a little faster?

Behold, the 10:30 pace that justifies photography!

We made the turn towards downtown and bam, wind. This wind was pretty severe, probably about 25-30 mph gusting up to 40. Most of the time it was a crosswind, but occasionally we had the joy of running straight into it. I looked forward to having it at my back. Spoiler alert: it was never at my back. We did an out and back on MLK and then started our journey to Gray's Lake. We passed condo developments and wound through a recreation trail, and the roving photographer's golf cart was right in front of me. Hooray! 

Except not! At around mile 3.5, we ascended one of the few "hills," and the wind was blowing directly at my face. I made a terrible noise that was somewhere between a groan and a gasp, and I saw the roving photographer's eyes widen and he raised his camera. Glad I could be a muse in this moment. It's what every race photographer dreams of, I'm sure.

Oh, the humanity!

Eventually I came off the bridge and turned, and for the first time all race the wind was almost at my back! It was at about 8 o'clock and only lasted about a quarter mile, but damn, it felt great. Then we turned again to go past part of Gray's Lake. But instead of going straight over the long bridge as usual, we turned and went through a tunnel away from the lake. The 30-second reprieve from all weather elements felt like a different planet. Emerging from the tunnel would have felt horrible, except...what's this? DRAG QUEENS. Performing for us, on a makeshift stage, at mile 4.5 of a women's 10K, in full drag, on a Sunday morning, in the rain and wind. HELL YEAH.

Heaven is missing three angels.

The moment passed far too quickly as the route weaved back through the park. The wind let up a bit and the rain was extremely minimal, and the flowering trees were truly gorgeous. It was easier to forget our misery for this stretch as we went out in a loop and came back behind the queens to go back to the winery for the finish. One last hill, then I sprinted to the end, honestly quite happy that I didn't have to run a half marathon in that wind. I still got a medal, plus my sangria, before taking a bunch of post-race food (BabyBel cheese! Cookies! Chocolates!) in a bag and taking the shuttle back to the parking lot to start my long drive home.

Don't worry, the sangria was weak (but delicious).

Pros:

-Logistics. This one was pretty complicated, with remote parking and a weather delay, but they managed to iron out issues from 2019 (like the port-a-johns, and the festival layout).

-Course. This is a really nice course that can be broken into easy-to-digest sections. Only complaint is that it didn't happen to go in a direction that would maximize wind assistance.

-Swag. This race has THE best swag of any race I've ever done. And that's a bold statement because I've done nearly 100 races in my lifetime.

Cons:

-Weather. Something the race has ZERO control over. But I loved how they handled the weather situation. They really made lemonade out of lemons.

-Shuttles didn't feel terribly COVID-safe, but I wore a mask and didn't die, so hooray!

-Could've used a garbage can near the shuttles on the way out. It was awkward to have eaten/drank stuff while waiting for the shuttle, then having to hold the refuse and hope the bus has a garbage can on it.

Race Grade:  A. Such a good event. Every Iowa lady-racer should have it on their calendar.