On Thursday October 14th, I got on a plane and headed off to Lousiville, KY to meet the rest of the We Run for the Hill of It relay team. We were headed to Kentucky to participate in the 2016 Bourbon Chase. This was an adventure relay my team had wanted to run for some time and got in this year. Since I had already signed up for the New York City marathon, I was planning to use this relay as a race simulation and training run. I was hoping it would let me know where I am in my training and potentially what pace I could shoot for in the marathon.The day prior to leaving was Yom Kippur. So I had been fasting all day. I was not certain how that might affect my race. Regardless, I was going to stay with my plan. When I had returned home from Temple, I noticed that I had numerous texts from my teammates. I figured it was just typical banter. But as read through them, I was shocked to see that one of our best female runners had broken her foot during a trail run that day. It was too late to get a substitute. This would mean we would have to shuffle the runners and 3 of us would have to pick up an extra leg. My co-captain said she would figure it out and let us know when we all met for dinner.
I met Vanessa, Tammy and Mario at the rental counter so we could pick up the van and head over to Doc Crow's for dinner. When we arrived and met the rest of the team, I immediately ordered a shot of bourbon. I figured I should get in the mood of the race theme and maybe it would help dull the pain of what I knew was coming. I was going to have to pick up an extra leg since I was one of 2 runners who were training for the New York City marathon. I was right. I was going to run both Leg 2 and 3 to start my race. 11 miles! The sad thing is that I was a little excited about the challenge.
After dinner, we headed down to Shepherdsville, KY to our hotel. When we arrived, we gathered in the lobby to make last minute plans and reorganize the vans. Brian had a surprise for us. The race was planning to have a toga party theme at the finish line. Brian had taken all of our team's photos and had them photo shopped onto Greek/Toga bodies. We were dying as he slowly revealed each runner's new portrait. They were magnets so we could put them on the side of the vans. After some last minute announcements, we headed to bed.
At 8:30 a.m., we all met in the lobby and loaded up the vans for the ride over to the starting line at the Jim Beam Distillery Visitor center. Since I was part of Van 1, we headed up to the safety training while the rest of the team went to check out the scene and sample some Jim Beam samples. Once we went through the training, we gathered for a team photo. Then we helped Leslie get ready to start the race. She started right at 10:30 a.m. The rest of our van said goodbye to Van 2 and headed to the exchange at C & S Woodworking. Leslie had estimated that she would finish in about 70 minutes.I got out of the van and warmed up a bit. Since I now had to cover 11 miles, I wanted to be ready. I had a goal to run a sub-9 minute pace. But I was going to run by feel rather than my watch. Leslie came in right on pace at 11:40 a.m. I took the handoff and headed out. Leg 2 started off on country roads, then I turned off and had to run 4 miles on the shoulder of SH 245. The weather was perfect. It was overcast and 57 degrees. I was feeling really good. I checked out my pace at about the halfway point and I was running a comfortable sub-9 pace. I finally reached the turn off to the exchange.
When I reached the exchange, I went through it. I started to walk so that I could take some water that my teammate Jason had for me. I had run 7.4 miles in 1:04:01 which was an 8:39 per mile pace. I didn't know that at the time. After taking on the water, I headed out for the 3.6 mile Leg 3. I was feeling really good. The Leg began on outskirts of town and then wound through the center of Bardstown, KY which is known as the Bourbon Capital of the World. The Leg was almost flat and I was locked in. I reached the exchange at 1:13 p.m. and handed off. I looked down at my watch and found that I had run the 11 miles in 1:34:14 an 8:34 per mile pace. I had finished the 3.6 miles at a blistering (for me) 8:03 per mile pace.
I have to say, I was very surprised at how fast I had covered the mileage. Plus I felt great. So I went into the Heaven Hill Distillery Visitor Center to grab a sample. They gave me 2 half-shots. One was Evan Williams Kentucky Cider and the other was Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Bourbon Cream. I toasted my run and I have to say both went down smooth. After cooling down a bit, I got in the van and we headed off to meet our runner.
Our final runner finished up at 3:22 p.m. Our van had covered 34.3 miles. The big exchange was at Maker's Mark Distillery. Once we had sent off Van 2, we toured the visitors center. We of course sampled some of Maker's Mark's fall flavored bourbons. After enjoying the exchange area, we wanted to head over to Danville, KY where we would be meeting Van 2 when they had finished their first 6 legs. We grabbed dinner and then found a place to park and settled in for a short nap while we waited for the text that their last runner was on the road.The text came in around 8:30 p.m. Leslie got out of the van and we all started to get ready for our next legs. This time Jason was going to have to run 2 legs. His first would be Leg 15 (3.2 miles) and then he would run Leg 18 (6.2 miles). My leg would cover 6.6 miles and finish in downtown Stanford. We sent Leslie off at 8:56 p.m. and headed over to the Willow Grove Baptist Church parking lot where I would start my 2nd leg.
Leslie came in and handed off to me at 9:37 p.m. It was 59 degrees and threatening to rain. I headed out and locked into a comfortable pace. The first mile felt really good. So I stayed at that pace and just ran. The race had rated this leg as “Difficult,” but it didn't seem too bad. We were running on the shoulder of US 150 which was a little uncomfortable in the dark. I was really glad when I turned off the highway and started to run through Stanford’s neighborhoods. I never felt taxed during the entire run. I arrived at the exchange at 10:34 p.m. and handed off to Jason. I had only run 6.5 miles. But I had finished in 54:59 which was an 8:28 per mile pace.
My van covered the next 4 legs in quick succession and a total of 32.6 miles. Jason came in to the Brightleaf Resort in Danville, KY and handed off to Van 2. It was 1:35 a.m. We got in the van and headed off to the exchange at the Wild Turkey Visitors Center in Lawrenceburg, KY. It had really a nice parking area and very dark which allowed us to settle in and actually get some sleep. We knew we only had about 5 hours before we would have to start our final legs.
The text came in at 6:00 a.m. that Van 2's last runner was on the road. I had actually slept soundly for about 3 hours which was really nice. We all got out and started prepping for our final leg. Cynthia (who had recently run a 50 mile ultra race) was going to run Legs 28 and 29 back to back covering 11.4 miles. My final leg was going to be 7.7 miles and right around sunrise. I was actually looking forward to it.
Mario came into the exchange at 6:29 a.m. and handed off to Leslie. She had a short 3.4 miles. So we had to get going. The exchange was on the side of a road with a small parking lot. Leslie came in at 7:00 a.m. and handed off to me. It was still dark. I headed out to run this relatively long leg, but it was truly a peaceful gem. There were very few runners and we were running along narrow 2 lane roads through farmland. As the sun started to rise, I could finally see the beautiful scenery of Kentucky horse country. It was so nice. It was still overcast although the temperature had risen to 64 degrees. I was still feeling good and made the turn for the last mile onto a bike path. I handed off to our other Leslie and finally looked at my watch. I had run the 7.7 miles in 1:07:34 which was an 8:46 pace.
My part of The Bourbon Chase was over. Now all I had to do was support my teammates and get to the finish line to celebrate with my team. I had run 25.2 miles in 3:35:35 which was an 8:34 per mile overall pace. This was my final test for the NYC Marathon. It went much better than I could have imagined. I know I am ready. Now I just need to finish my last training runs and head to New York. I think I have a good chance of breaking 4 hours again. But you never know. Regardless I am really excited about where I am and can't wait to see how it goes.
We Run for the Hill of It had run 203.6 miles with only 11 runners. We finished in 30:30:47 which was a 9 minute per mile pace. We were 167th overall out of 432 teams who had finished the race. We were 84th out of 240 teams who ran in the Mixed Open division. Pretty good result given that we were down a runner. As we celebrated at the finish line, all we could talk about was what race we were going to sign up for next year. And that is what I love about these races. They challenge you physically but you get to do it with friends and share the suffering and joy along the way. In the end, all you have are great memories.
I would highly recommend this race to anyone who likes these types of events. It was one of the most organized and well run relays I have participated in over the years. All the exchanges were well staffed. The leg maps were accurate and the vendors at the major exchanges were great. Best of all, the bourbon distilleries really rolled out the red carpet for the runners. All I can say is this was an excellent overall experience and I had one of my best relay performances. Next stop New York City!
Oct. 10 – 8.20 miles (1:26:21, 10:32 pace) - Hill Repeats
Oct. 11 – 11.50 miles (1:46:29, 9:15 pace) - Mile Repeats (8:27 pace)
Oct. 13 – 10.20 miles (1:29:38, 8:47 pace) - Tempo Run
Oct. 14 – 11.00 miles (1:34:14, 8:34 pace) - The Bourbon Chase - Legs 2 & 3
Oct. 14 – 6.50 miles (54:59, 8:28 pace) - The Bourbon Chase - Legs 14
Oct. 15 – 7.70 miles (1:07:34, 8:46 pace) - The Bourbon Chase - Legs 26
Oct. 17 – 6.20 miles (1:04:03, 10:20 pace) - Hill Repeats
Oct. 18 – 9.50 miles (1:25:36, 9:01 pace) - Mile Repeats (8:27 pace)
Oct. 20 – 10.20 miles (1:30:10, 8:50 pace) - Tempo Run
Oct. 21 – 6.20 miles (54:29, 8:47 pace)
Oct. 22 – 10.20 miles (1:27:42, 8:36 pace)
Total Miles: 97.4 miles
2016 Total Miles: 1,746.9 miles
