Drake Road Races 10k 2023

The sun was out and winds were light, and even though it was a little cold, it turned out to be a beautiful morning for a race. The Drake Road Races is one of my favorites each year because of the timing, atmosphere, and variety of races they offer (5k, 10k, and half marathon). With a 5k under my belt back in March, I opted to sign up for the 10k to see what I could do. 

My alarm went off at 5:30, giving me plenty of time to get ready and head down to the Drake campus. My friend, Adam, decided to come to the race with me to cheer me on so I picked him up at 6:30 and we were on our way. I found a parking spot on my favorite neighborhood street that allows for an easy exit after the race and we made it to the starting line with plenty of time to spare. I didn't really feel like doing a warm up run, so we walked around a bit to stay warm in the cold.

All 3 races were sold out this year so the start line was a sight to see. Before I knew it, I heard the starting pistol fire and we were off. I felt really good from the start and successfully weathered the storm of everyone else going out fast. My legs were good and stretched out by the time I reached the 1 mile marker and I managed to keep a fairly consistent pace for the next 4 miles. My legs were tired, but I felt like I had something left so I put the hammer down with about a mile to go and ended up running a sub-12 minute mile for mile 6. I've been trying to reach a sub-12 minute mile for a couple of months now so it felt good to actually get it done. Heading down the hill and into the stadium was very cool, as always, and I gave it one final kick as I headed to the finish line. 

My goal for the race was to finish in under 1:25, but I knew that if I raced really well I might be able to go sub-1:20 and that is exactly what I did. My official time was 1:18:35 and I don't think I could have done much better than that. This was only my 3rd 10k since I started racing back in 2014, but it was my slowest (by far). This race, and training these last 2 months though, has really given me the confidence that I will, in time, get back to where I once was. 

My biggest highlights of this race come from the results themselves. As already stated, I ran some very consistent splits the whole race and I was able to hit that sub-12 minute mile time during the race. Additionally, I was very happy to see that the final 5k of the race was faster than the first. In fact, not only was it faster than the first 5k of this race, it was faster than the 39:07 that I turned in at the St. Paddy's 5k back in early March by 36 seconds! It may not seem like much, but every step I take, no matter how small, gets me 1 step closer to reaching my goals. 

Consistent splits, but how about that mile 6?

Faster coming back than going out

With Drake in the rearview it is time to turn my focus to triathlon. I am planning to race 3 sprint triathlons in 4 weekends beginning June 17th at the Quad Cities Triathlon. With that race nearly 2 months away, I have plenty of time to prepare and may look to add an additional road race to my schedule in May.