Des Moines Corporate Games - 2023

Cross Country Race - 7.5k

On Saturday morning I picked up my friend, Adam, and we headed for the ISU cross country course in Ames. The weather was absolutely beautiful with temperatures in the upper 50s and sun shining. I raced the same course in 2018 but then I represented Dupont Pioneer and I ran the 4k. This year I was racing for John Deere, our 1st year participating in the corporate games, and I opted for the longer distance race. 

The course included 2.3 laps with the south half of the loop being fairly flat and out in the open while the north half is wooded with some challenging hills. I started off a little faster than I wanted but my legs were feeling pretty good. I handled the hills on the first lap very well with 12:13 and 12:17 splits. The hills took their toll a bit on the second lap as I went 12:29 and 13:03 for miles 3 and 4. I finished the race in 58:16 which was both good enough for last place overall AND 2nd place silver medal in my category. Even with the last place finish, I was very pleased with my 12:27/mi average and grateful to cross the finish line prior to the start of the 4k race. 

Adam ran both races, so I enjoyed chatting with some other Deere employees while cheering him on during the 2nd race. Adam finished in 3rd place for his category in both races. After collecting our medals, we headed for home to recover in preparation for the Triathlon/Duathlon on Sunday. 

Silver medal and 50 points earned for Deere

Sprint Triathlon

I've never raced twice in a single weekend before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. My alarm went off at 5:00am on Sunday morning and I was able to quickly get ready to go and feeling pretty good. It was another beautiful morning to race with cool temperatures and light winds. I arrived at Big Creek just after 6:00 which gave me plenty of time to get transition set up and enjoy meeting and conversing with the few other athletes competing for John Deere. It was very nice that they grouped together athletes from the same company in transition. We had 3 other triathletes racing for John Deere and 4 duathletes, including Adam.

Beautiful morning for a race

The John Deere triathlon crew

Time went by quickly, and before I knew it we were headed down to the beach to line up for the swim start. When I raced here in 2018, they did large wave starts which can be very intimidating. They have since changed to a rolling start format like my other 2 triathlons this year. As I waited on the beach, I ran into someone that I had met at the Ames triathlon and we chatted about triathlon until it was our turn to start the swim. 

The 400 yard swim felt very short, and due to the course setup with the angle of the sun, sighting was extremely easy. With the exception of swimming through a couple floating seaweed mats the swim was uneventful. I didn't even bother to check my watch as I ran up the beach, but I knew that I had swam well. When checking my times after the race, I saw that I completed the swim in 10:12 (2:33/100) which is my best swim pace of the season. I focused on being very efficient in T1 and quickly got out on the bike course. Later I saw that my T1 time was 1:46, which is not only my best T1 time this year, but it is one of my best of all time. 

The bike course was a 20k out and back course that was mostly flat with some gradually rolling hills and no big climbs at all. The combination of a short course with no climbs and no head wind made me decide to really push it on the bike. I was able to finish the bike course in 41:49 (17.8mph) which blew away my 16mph average at the Quad Cities Triathlon 3 weeks ago. I managed to get through T2 in 1:38, which was also my best time for the year.

With a seasons best in the swim, T1, bike, and T2 I headed out on the run feeling great. Even though it wasn't very hot out, the sun was pretty intense so I decided to not push very hard at the beginning of the run. My 1 mile split was 12:25 and I was feeling pretty good so I started to push a little harder and completed a mile 2 split of 12:15. I steadily increased my pace over the last mile to end with an 11:51 split and a total 5k time of 37:21 (12:01/mi). Even though my time was about 50 seconds slower than the Ames Triathlon, it was still an unthinkable time even a month ago. 

Running hard to the finish line

Going into the race I knew that I was the only triathlete in my category and just had to finish the race to win. Even without direct competition, I was able to put together my best race of the year so far. This was my 3rd triathlon in 4 weeks and I have improved so much over those 3 races. It has done really great things for my confidence. My 1st place finish and gold medal meant another 80 points for John Deere. 

My turn on the podium

John Deere medalists

Wrap Up

I really like competing in the corporate games as it gives an extra sense of purpose to racing. It is also an opportunity to meet other coworkers who share hobbies. Even though I earned medals by default in both races, I'm still very proud of them. 6 months ago I wasn't even sure that I would ever get back into training and racing and look at me now! My passion for triathlon has officially been renewed and it feels like a part of me that has been missing for awhile is whole again. 

Next up I will be racing in the Bix 7 on July 29. Originally the Des Moines Corporate Games was supposed to be my last triathlon of the year, but I've been enjoying it so much that I am pondering signing up for 1 or 2 more this year. Whether or not I sign up for another one, it has been such a fantastic and memorable racing season and I'm hoping it only gets better from here.