I'm not normally calendar-impaired, but occasionally it happens. I've spent much of my life "winging it", and this past weekend was a marvel of serendipity and the value of human connections. I don't recommend winging everything, and it's definitely a personality preference, but sometimes it's fun to just refuse to worry about ANYTHING and trust that things will work out. And if they don't...deal with it. At least there'll be no "what if" going on.
Due to my inability to read a calendar, about a week and a half out I realized that I was indeed free and available to do the Bourbon Chase. For those that haven't had to suffer through my gushing about this event, it is a 200-mile relay that stops at every distillery on the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky (there are many more that are not part of the official trail). It starts at Jim Beam, near Louisville, and finishes in downtown Lexington approximately 30 hours later. I've done this event three times, and I wasn't doing well with the idea of missing out this year for no good reason. This just wouldn't do.
Thankfully the Bourbon Chase people have a very efficient online bulletin board, where teams and runners can find each other. Sunday, five days before the race, I went online and found a team that sounded like a good candidate: happy with a slower runner (10:00 pace), all female (a first for me), a great team name (the Bourbonettes), and focused on enjoying the experience. By Sunday night, I was speaking with the team captain, Liz. While some members knew each other, most did not. This will be fun!
For those who have never done a relay, the logistics can get confusing. The Chase is 200 miles, and makes stops at Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hills, Four Roses, and Maker's Mark. It also passes through several quaint small towns along the way, and is a great way to see a lot of the Kentucky bourbon and horse country. This year there were 400 teams, and most teams had 12 runners. Like most teams, we had two vans with six runners each, and each runner had to run three legs, for a grand total of 36 segments. At the end of each leg, a wristband with a chip in it was handed off to the next runner. The average total mileage for each runner was 13-18 miles, with some legs longer (and harder) than others. I was runner #11, so was in Van 2. Three of us were Chase veterans; three were not.
Since Van 2 didn't have to be anywhere until after noon, I drove down to Louisville early Friday morning. One of the runners lived in Louisville, and could recommend a very safe place to leave my car: the parking lot across from a police station in an historic and relatively quiet part of town. Perfect! However, she was in Van 1 and had to leave Louisville before 6am, so I still had to hook up with my people somehow. Another runner flew in from Pennsylvania Thursday night and would be picking up our rental van Friday morning, then heading over to Lexington to pick up everyone else. She swung by to fetch me, and we rode together. Yet another runner lived in Lexington, where we picked up the rest of our crew. Time to head to Maker's Mark, get checked in, explore the distillery, and wait for runner #6 to arrive.
The team's first runner left Jim Beam at 9:45am Friday morning. Sometime after 2:30pm runner #6 arrived, handed off the wristband, and Van 2 was on our way. We cheered our incoming and outgoing runners, hopped into the van, and headed for the next exchange point. Now we would REALLY start getting to know each other, find out how accurate our pace estimates were (and how dependable we were as runners), and how well everyone did with lack of sleep.
Thankfully, we had a drama-free group. Everyone was there to do their part, have a good time, and make the most of the experience as a team. We breezed through our first six legs, with everyone having a good run. All of us either ran at pace or faster, and between the two vans we built a 35-minute lead on our estimated time. The predicted severe weather held off, and all we got was a few hours of rain. The runners in Van 1 had to deal with the worst of the rain, but everyone was happy it wasn't miserably cold and lightning. We handed off the wristband around 8pm, and went off in search of food and sleep.
Danville, KY is home to two major runner exchanges, and they have embraced the invasion of white vans and tired/hungry runners. The Hub coffee shop stays open overnight, and not only sells wonderful coffee, but very good sandwiches. It stays swamped with business all night long. This was the earliest I've ever been there -- years past it's been well after midnight. We got fed, and I ordered an extra sandwich for later. The local high school was renting out floor space in their gym for $5/head, so we went over there to attempt to sleep for a few hours. They had wrestling mats out, so we joined the other folks in their sleeping bags and laid down to rest.
We heard the heavy rain on the roof around midnight, when we needed to be getting up and ready to go. Oh joy. This could be a messy night. I don't think any of us slept, but we had all dozed some and enjoyed laying down and spreading out for a bit. Our lovely hosts had coffee and snacks, so we loaded up and headed out to the next exchange...and were thrilled that the rain had stopped. A quick check of the radar showed that the bad weather was done for the duration. We would be dry from now on, and the temp was going to stay perfect for running, in the 50's. Hooray! Life is good.
Somewhere in the night we ended up parking right behind some friends of mine from Indianapolis. I had no idea where they were, and they saw me first. Turned out they had grossly over-estimated how long it would take them, and they were going too fast. The race directors were holding them back for two hours before letting them run again, so they were cooling their heels. (Race organizers want all the teams to finish within a certain window Saturday afternoon/evening, and they plan aid station hours accordingly.) It was a remarkable coincidence to see them at all. They were staying positive, but were bummed about having to kill so much time.
Side note: Each year the race has a theme: this year it was disco. Some teams went all-out decorating their vans. We saw this team's vans throughout the race, and laughed every time. They had lights mounted to illuminate the disco balls, and one was playing disco music through a loudspeaker all night long. Very impressive.
Now we were running on narrow country roads with no lights whatsoever, aside from whatever light we were carrying and the occasional headlights of vans moving on to the next exchange. It was wonderful. This is truly horse country, and most of these roads aren't much more than a car-width wide. They wind around and through and up and down hills throughout farmland, and the area (in the daylight) is quite beautiful. Running at night in such a quiet, dark area is a very peaceful experience. You occasionally see the tail-light of another runner up ahead, or the headlamp of one catching up and passing, and that's it. Not even shadows, it's so dark. I finally had to hold my headlamp in my hand to better see the road ahead, and loved it. I knew I was almost there when I saw Four Roses illuminated up ahead on a hill. Handed off the wristband and helped myself to a bourbon ball (chocolate with bourbon inside). My first leg had been a 10k, this one was 5.3 miles, and it felt quite good. All of us had a good run, and handed off the wristband to Van 1 at Wild Turkey around 6am or so.
A couple of us passed out in our sleeping bags in the van and slept through Wild Turkey. Before I knew it, we were parked at a Cracker Barrel that was close to the next exchange. Even though I had inhaled my second sandwich at some point in the night, I figured it'd be a good idea to eat again. We had some breakfast, I ran into my Indy friends again on my way out of the restaurant, exchanged hugs, and went back out to the van to sleep some more. I've never gotten so much sleep at this event, and it was quite nice!
Our last set of legs began around 11am or so, and by now everyone was feeling the lack of sleep. Even though we all had good runs, they were far more painful than the previous legs. Finally I handed off the wristband to our last and final runner, and we headed to the finish line to run in the last hundred feet with her. The finish is in downtown Lexington, and the streets are closed for a giant outdoor party. Another team member lived about two blocks away, so we parked the van there and walked over. Before long our finishing runner rounded the bend, and the team followed her across the finish line. Go Bourbonettes! We finished just under 30 hours, in 29:49:06. That was good enough for 5th out of 16 Female Open teams, not bad for a group that wasn't even really competing! Now it was time to have some bourbon.
We were issued wristbands with four tabs to redeem for samples, and ushered into a giant tent. Tables lined the perimeter, and all of the participating distillers were handing out samples. I ran into my Indianapolis friends again, who offered a place to stay in Frankfort, about 30 minutes away. I really wanted to drink without worrying about driving, so I declined. The van was only two blocks away, I knew from experience that the bench seats were pretty comfortable, and I had my sleeping bag, so that was always an option. My teammates couldn't offer any space, but it wasn't too cold and I just didn't care where I slept. I wanted bourbon samples and food.
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A little later, still in the very crowded bourbon tent, I looked up and saw two people from last year's team. I didn't even know they were running this year! They're both from Chicago, and had just done the race with only eight people, due to dropouts and injuries. Yikes. That's a lot of hard running. They had a room at the Hilton across the street, and had plumbing and a floor to offer. Sold! We enjoyed some more bourbon, then I headed to the room for a shower (which was a little slice of heaven). I went back out for dinner and another bourbon sample (friends gave me their unused tabs), then gave up and called it a night. My roommates were out until later, but I was too sound asleep to notice when they came back. Slept ten hours on the floor and made up for the previous two days' lack of rest. Thank you Brian and Jessica!
Sunday morning, I met the driver of the other van and we got on our way. I drove our van back to Louisville, got a ride to my car, then went to see a friend who lives about 30 minutes away in southern Indiana. We had a good visit, she fed me a wonderful pot-roast meal, and I headed home to my bed and two happy cats. Of course, once I got into my bed, I couldn't sleep. Go figure. Kill Bill 2 is always entertaining.
I'm not known for obsessing over details, but this was probably one of the most half-assed things I've done in a long time. I didn't plan anything beyond the bare minimum needed for the immediate future, and it somehow seemed to work. Solutions kept dropping into my lap, at the right time. Let's hear it for serendipity!
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