Dave, Tom, Carole, Shawna, Jen, Me
This past weekend I took part in the Bourbon Chase 200 mile relay which runs from Clermont, Kentucky to Lexington, Kentucky along the Bourbon Trail. I will say that the best part of this event was running it with a great group of friends.
This all started a couple of months ago when we were having our pre race meeting for the Red Eye Relay. We found out that there was a spot open that we could take, we just had to have the entry money right then. We made it happen. Next thing you know, it’s 3 months later and your running 200 miles across Kentucky!
The day started off pretty early for everyone, I think. At least it did for me. We had planned on meeting at the Y at 9. So I was out of bed around 6:30 am in order to make sure that the kids were up and ready to head out the door for school. After that it was time to double check and make sure that I had everything that I needed. I was planning on heading to Panera Bread to pick up a dozen bagels for us to munch on as we ran. So I was not too surprised when I got a text from Jen requesting a Pumpkin Spice latte. It was like she was reading my mind! After having breakfast with Autumn we made our way to the Y to meet everyone.
When I pulled into the parking lot I didn’t see anyone else. So I started second guessing myself and thinking maybe I had misunderstood where we were meeting. I had already made the mistake of thinking that we were meeting at 8:30 instead of 9. Luckily I asked Shawna and she told me the correct time, only after asking if I was drunk during our meeting. I was only there a few minutes before everyone else showed up. Then it was up to Brad, Shawna’s husband and driver extraordinaire, to figure out the jigsaw puzzle he had to put together in order to get all of our gear into the back of the Suburban. So we stood around and watched as he made it happen. Next thing you know, we were on our way.
Not sure exactly how long it really took to get there, but it seemed pretty quick to me. We made a quick pit stop for gas and fuel for Brad before heading to the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont. Once we were there it was time to check in. We had a little under an hour until our start time. Suddenly you would think that we had never done this before. I headed to the check in with no id, so as I ran back to the car to get it I handed Dave my waiver. When I got back, Shawna said that I was checked in and that she was my emergency contact because she couldn’t find my waiver. I thought I had actually given it to her. It wasn’t until Dave turned in his that we realized what I had done. Then it was on to the start, at which point we realized my number was in the car! Again, are we new at this? Shawna took off for the car for me.
I finally had my number when I realized that I had left my water bottle sitting on my kitchen counter. Not sure where my head was when getting ready for this one. The only good thing is that for whatever reason I don’t usually drink a lot when I run. Not sure why, but I don’t. My first leg was only 7 miles, so I knew I would be fine.
Before I knew it we were off! The first leg ran along a very nice trail for almost 3 miles. It was pretty awesome. I could get down with running on those type of trails, but the ones that involve climbing mud banks and crossing streams don’t appeal to me at all. I managed to finish my first leg in a little under an hour. Then it was up to everyone else to get there legs done, which they did in awesome fashion!
The rotation went me, Dave, Carole, Tom, Shawna, and Jen. This went on for the rest of the night and into the next day.
As we arrived at the half way point we got a bit of a surprise. Jen was coming in to hand off to me. As she approached the hand off and called out our team number they told us that we had to stop because we had a 2 hour hold. When we asked why, they told us that we were running 43 seconds faster than the times that we had submitted when we signed up. Now mind you, these times were submitted almost 3 months ago. Don’t they think that just maybe we might be a little bit faster? Or that because the weather was great we were running great? Brad immediately called Shawna and told her that her and Tom needed to head over there. Before I knew it Shawna and Tom were by my side. They then began to argue our case. Tom said that he was not waiting 2 hours. He said that we were either running and getting DQ’d or going home. So we headed back to the van to see what everyone wanted to do. We decided to run it and let them DQ us if they wanted. Tom and I headed back to the hand off and when Tom told them that we were going anyway they said that it was fixed and we were good to go. They said that they would add our time back. If they did or not, I’m not sure. I do know that at that point we were less than 2 minutes behind the leading men’s ultra team. It was definitely a momentum killer.
At that point everyone only had 3 legs left. I ran my 4th leg with a lady from Cincinnati. It was kind of nice to have someone to talk to over the next 5 miles. It kept me from running too fast. I ended up averaging about 8:45’s for this leg, which was good. Before we knew it the sun was coming up and we were coming in to the home stretch.
I think that everyone was just about wiped out before starting there final leg, but everyone dug deep and pulled it out. We ended up finishing 200 miles in 29:48:07. I think we kicked major ass!!
Next on my agenda is the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. This will be my first. The awesome thing is that everyone from the relay, with the exception of Brad, will be running it with me. How awesome is that. I can’t wait. I am sure there will be more relays in my future, because they kick ass and we have an awesome team.
Congrats to our team, wearejustdoing9:40s! Can’t wait until next time.
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