The fall season offers a variety of opportunities to enjoy the autumnal weather while engaging in some different activities than the standard triathlon, running, or biking race. In my run up to the St. Louis Rock n Roll Marathon at the end of this month, I am taking advantage of a couple of these opportunities. This past weekend was the Kentucky Bourbon Chase, a 200-mile team relay race (similar to the famed Hood to Coast) through the heart of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail and ending in nearby downtown Lexington. I had actually raced this event last year as a sub and had a great time, but never got around to posting a report on the blog. This year, I participated with the same core team as last year, but was able to extend additional invitations to my dad, sister and her fiancé who were all in the same van as me. Here’s how the weekend went…
The weekend began with some logistics, including driving to Lexington to meet other teammates before picking up the rental vehicles and heading back to the meeting point to drop off cars and combine everyone into the 2 team SUVs. From here, we made our way to the Jim Beam distillery for check-in and to get ready for our 2:15pm start on Friday. My group was in the first vehicle, so we were immediately on-duty.
Our first runner took off from the distillery on a brutally exposed and hilly 7 mile route in the middle of a hotter than normal afternoon…welcome to the Chase! The rest of “Van1” moved along the route to the end of leg 1. Here, runner 2 took over, runner 1 cooled down and cleaned up a bit, and we moved along to the next transition. This is basically the name of the game when your vehicle is the active one. I was slotted as runner number 4, so began my warm-up as soon as we arrived at the Heaven Hill distillery (where my route began).
Leg 4 – Little Pottershop of Horrors, 5.2 miles (Guidebook rating: difficult)
Our 3rd runner almost snuck up on me, so I didn’t have time to stand in the transition and get stiff and was able to take off pretty much immediately. This route was basically flat to downhill for the first couple miles as it passed some residential areas and a golf course in Bardstown, KY before leaving town via Pottershop Lane. This is where the route gets interesting since Pottershop is a basically a rolling country road with some pretty steep rolling hills. With it being hot and my initial run of the event, I was focusing on not going out too hard since my other legs were longer in distance and rated equally as difficult. This intentional pacing restriction was made more difficult by the other leg 4 runners being quick. Avoiding the temptation to chase down the couple runners that passed me was no easy task. I distracted myself by enjoying the countryside and trying to keep my heart rate under control. As you reach the last mile of this segment of the race, the rollers keep coming more fast and furious and the segment culminates with a steep (shin and quad killing) downhill which is immediately followed by a .25mile+ steep and winding uphill. I focused on damage control on the down slope and transitioned to baby-stepping the uphill and before I knew it, I was rounding the bend and the team vehicles were in sight. Also in sight was my dad (runner #5), so I gladly “passed the baton” to him and completed my first portion of the race.
5.2 miles in 37:07 (~7:08/mile pace)
Once I caught my breath, vehicle 1 moved forward to catch my dad finishing and send my future brother in law on his way, completing our first set. Along the way, we kept our 2nd vehicle informed of our progress so they were set to take over the race at the Maker’s Mark distillery. The party atmosphere at Maker’s was further heightened by an appearance by our team’s biggest fans, my wife and mom, who had spent the afternoon touring the area. They accompanied us to dinner at a coffee shop in Danville (shout-out to The Hub for delicious sandwiches, wraps, coffee, and 24hour service and bathrooms during the Chase). Once we were fed, we knew it wouldn’t be too long before vehicle 2 would return control to us, so we went to nearby Boyle County High School, where they graciously opened their doors to teams to get some rest, to relax in our remaining down time.
All too soon, we were called back into action, so headed out of Danville one town over to Perrysburg to start our 2nd rotation. All the evening running took place in and around Danville, with the first 2 legs running straight from Perrysville to Danville and the remaining 4 performing a loop South to Stanford before returning to Danville once again. The first 3 runners of our vehicle dominated their respective portions in the cooler night-time weather (we started our 2nd session almost exactly at midnight), and before long I was running again…down a highway…at 2AM…not sure of where I was going.
Leg 16 – Standing Fort (Stanford), 6.5 miles (Guidebook rating: difficult)
This leg was as straightforward as could be, mostly running along a shoulder of a highway before turning onto the main roads into the small town of Stanford and cruising some back streets before flying down the final hill near the city hall clock-tower to hand off to the next runner. Or at least that’s how it should have gone.
With the humidity low and the night temperature down around 50, I set out in near ideal running conditions, and my legs felt strong. I pushed a pretty good pace, but didn’t want to overdo it. Due to our team’s allotted starting time for the relay, though, we realized we were falling behind the main pack of teams (through no fault of our own), so I saw this as an opportunity to grab back a couple of minutes. I enjoyed the moonlight and the lonely peace along the highway for the first 2.5 miles before I begin to feel strangely isolated. Then I began to become irrational since I had not looked at the route closely beforehand, so started to consider if I might be lost. I passed a sign earlier that basically just said “Caution: Runners on the Road”. However, I wasn’t having the greatest sign reading visibility due to glare from my headlamp off the signs. The more I moved forward without any signs of other runners, the more I convinced myself that I misread the sign telling me to turn somewhere. I decided to continue forward though since it seemed to be lighter up ahead and I could hopefully get my bearings there. Finally, I came upon another sign and realized I was on the right path; there just weren’t many runners out here with me. Soon enough, a police car marked the point where we would actually turn off the course and I was in the outskirts of Stanford and finally able to see other runners. I realized in my panic I had sped up (a survival mechanism I suppose) and was making great time with only a downhill finish separating me from my team. I began to open it up when I saw the 1 mile to go sign and blew past another smaller sign that looked similar to those on the highway. I crouched down a bit to try and read it, but was unable and didn’t want to lose my momentum so moved straight ahead. As I barreled down the hill and onto Main Street Stanford, I realized I was approaching from the wrong direction. I was supposed to turn at the unreadable sign. I looked back and realized another runner had followed me in my mistake. I checked my Garmin and it appeared the distance was the same as the advertised route, so I assumed I’d be fine just proceeding to the handoff. I was wrong. The volunteer running the transition made me (and my poor victim) turn back and head out of town back up the hill to the turn we missed. I begrudgingly complied, but slowed down substantially for my “penalty loop” which turned out to be nearly 1.1 miles…so much for making up time. I guess I at least got a little extra training in.
7.7 miles in 53:51 (~7:10 pace including penalty cooldown)
The leg immediately following mine was the longest segment our vehicle had to face, so by the time we wrapped up our remaining 2 portions of our 2nd session, it was well past 4AM. Boyle County HS had closed up shop at 4, so our best option was to move forward to the next hand-off point at Four Roses distillery and just nap in the SUV. We made our way through the night to Four Roses with a quick McDonald’s stop, and watched the teams running alongside the main highway nearly the entire drive. Finally, we parked in the Four Roses parking lot a little after 5 and slept for a couple hours. The place was already buzzing with activity from teams ahead of us on the road.
Not long after dawn, I was unable to sleep anymore and awoke to find my dad had left a while ago to wander the grounds. I decided to also do a bit of exploring and admiring the Spanish architecture used by the distillery. Before long, I was chilly and returned to the van to find the team rising for the day. We received the call that our other vehicle was due to arrive in around an hour, so it was time for our first runner to begin getting ready to complete her final segment. At around 9:30AM, we were back on duty with one set of 6 segments remaining to run. The morning was cool, but the temperature promised to rise into the 80s through the day, so most of us would be running in the heat.
Our first 3 runners had segments that were relatively short compared to their previous efforts, and they knocked them out quickly…showing only minor drop-offs in pace from their initial paces. These legs took us from Four Roses to Wild Turkey, then across the “High Bridge” and into the outskirts of horse farm country. I took the handoff and left for my final segment of the race, feeling somewhat fatigued but also motivated.
Leg 28 – This Ain’t France, This is “Ver-Sales”, 7.8 miles (guidebook rating: difficult)
Initially when planning for this event, I had keyed on this segment since it was the final and the longest of my set. I was hoping to run this leg strong as a confidence booster heading into my Marathon in a couple weeks that I would be able to run strong on accumulated fatigue. Unfortunately, I didn’t pace as well as I had planned on the night run and probably burned more matches, particularly with the penalty lap. That combined with lack of caloric intake compared to the previous year and the higher temperature at the time of takeoff led to me realigning my goals. I was now just hoping to finish with a steady, sub-8 pace and get the job done.
I took off feeling worn down, but not bad and cruised the first couple miles. A bad early sign was that I was taking special notice of every uphill, the lack of shade, and the heat. By the 5k portion of the run, I turned onto a different road and knew things were starting to get rough. I ascended a long exposed hill and distracted myself with the beautiful countryside before stopping to walk at the next uphill I encountered. The remainder of the run was a jog/walk involving a lot of self-talk to motivate myself forward. Another team on the road offered me a water bottle around mile 6, which I gladly took along as I headed into town to finish my run. I had to walk one more time in the final mile, but was able to manage a measly kick to the hand-off and finish my contribution to the Chase…I was spent.
7.8 miles in 1:01:50 (~8:01/mile pace)
Our remaining two runners took care of business, including our final runner crushing his last segment and sprinting into Woodford Reserve to put a cap on vehicle 1’s final set of runs. Our super-fans reunited with us at this final distillery stop and transition. We relaxed a bit, enjoyed a bourbon ball and complimentary shot of Woodford, some of us collected our commemorative Bourbon Chase bottles of bourbon, and we left for Lexington to grab a big lunch.
Being the first vehicle done, we had a chance to break out to our individual vehicles, return our rental, and a couple of us even grabbed a shower and change of clothes before we made our way to the finish line party.
At around 7PM, our vehicle 2 final runner made his way down the home stretch and we joined him for the kick to the line and to receive our medals. After some post-race pictures and congratulating, most of us headed our separate ways. I decided to forego the free bourbon tasting since I was driving a car back to the hotel and my tolerance was almost certainly non-existent…a bit of a shame since I do enjoy good bourbon. My family (4 of us participants, and our 2 super fans) picked up some beer and ordered pizza at the hotel and celebrated our accomplishment before crashing early. These relay races are an exhausting experience, but a ton of fun.
Next weekend I’m switching my mode of transport and taking on a bike tour in Indiana at the Hilly Hundred. This should be a little less taxing, but I’m looking forward to it.
The full team – Victorious!
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