Race Report: The Bourbon Chase Relay

Okay, I think I'm finally recovered enough to write this up!

What is this event?

The Bourbon Chase Relay is a 200-mile relay race along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It starts just outside of Louisville, KY, travels down through Danville, KY, and back up to the finish line in Lexington, KY. The course is broken up into 36 segments of varying lengths (called "legs") with specific start/end checkpoints (called "exchanges") where the "baton" (a slap bracelet with a timing chip on it) is passed from one team member to the next. The idea is that a 12-person team rotates through their roster 3 times, each runner in turn doing a leg and passing along to the next. There are logistical challenges of transportation (typically done with two 15-passenger vans per team) and of course figuring out when to eat and when to sleep since there are no breaks in the running of the race. You run through the day and night!

The Full Course

Here's the catch for us though: due to injuries of several teammates, we were down to 9 runners and 1 walker by the time we got to race day. Logistical nightmare! Thankfully we were all able to make adjustments, some picked up extra runs, and we covered the miles. I picked up one of the longest runs, a 8.9-miler during Van #2's first shift.

Pre-Race

One of the challenges is getting the entire team to the start line. Most of the team was driving in the vans from Atlanta, but Megan and I were coming from Greenville. We rented a car one-way to get to Louisville (since we couldn't drive our own cars... no way back to it once you finish the race!). We left Thursday morning and drove the ~6 hours to Louisville.

Mid-drive stop for lunch. And oh yes, chocolate milk!

We all hit lots of construction traffic, so it took a bit longer than originally planned, but we made it and all got to the Kick-Off Party in downtown L'ville at Angel's Envy distillery.

Half of the team... with BOURBON!

Terrible photography skills.

Dinner at Against the Grain

Righteous.

Not long after dinner we all returned to the hotel and crashed for the night. It was the last "good" sleep any of us would have for about 48 hours!

First Run - Leg #5
4.48 mi @ 8:14/mi
But first...
So we got up, got our coffee, and got to the start line at Jim Beam Distillery. Team photos were had, and the race began for us at 10:15 a.m.

Starbucks!

#team

I was the 5th of 6 runners in Van #1, so I still had a few hours before my first leg. By the time it was my turn to run, it was HOT. Like mid-80s. Ugh. Was anticipating cool Kentucky mountain weather, not this junk, especially since it was in the 40s in the morning!

Ready to run - waiting for the hand-off

And there I go!

My leg was pretty hilly. It was thankfully pretty short (the shortest of my 4 runs) and of course I was "fresh" so it ended up being my fastest.

I finished feeling good (and sweaty), passed the baton to the final teammate in our van, and we headed to Maker's Mark distillery to exchange to the other van. While Van #1 was transitioning to a relaxation period, I had to hop into Van #2 to do my "bonus" leg with them. I intentionally did this while I was still pretty fresh with only 4.5 miles under my belt, but this was also going to be one of the longest legs.

Second run - Leg #9
9.0 mi @ 8:59/mi avg

My run was in the middle of the Van #2 shift, so I didn't have to wait too long to begin. I started in the middle of a small town, ran up (yes up hills) to a highway, then the remaining 7+ miles were on the shoulder of a rolling hilly highway with NO shade. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, so thankfully the sun wasn't directly overhead, but it was warm.

Grabbed some dinner at a roadside sack (bbq chicken sandwich!) and we hopped back in the van. I don't recall a whole lot from the rest of this shift, but I know it got dark and we saw one van ahead of us almost tip over when they went off the shoulder of the road. So that was fun.

We reunited with Van #1 in downtown Danville, KY to begin our night shift while Van #2 got some rest at the local high school who kindly offered up their gym and locker room showers for a mere $5 donation.

Third run - Leg #17
5.5 mi @ 8:45/mi

The night run! I'm usually afraid during my night runs on these relays, but this one I thoroughly enjoyed! The weather was nice and cool, there were plenty of other runners within sight so I never felt alone, and it was a good course. Part on lonely rural roads (very dark!), part on a highway shoulder (thankfully not too busy at this hour), and part back in the town of Danville. I ran this at like 11pm? Midnight? I can't remember. But it was great, and I was way pumped up when I finished.

Poms = necessary

After this leg I finally got to rest some! We headed to the high school and everyone else wanted to / was already asleep in the van. I felt disgusting, so I paid my $5 and indulged in a shower (BEST SHOWER EVER) then got some decent sleep on the gym floor for a couple of hours.

We got up and headed to our next Van hand-off location around 5am and all got prepped for our final runs of the relay.

Fourth Run - Leg #29
7.64 mi @ 9:09/mi

My run didn't start until close to 11 a.m. so I had plenty of time to relax in the morning. I napped a little in the van while the others were running but eventually got myself awake and ready to go. My legs were sore by this point, and though it was my second longest run of the event, it was by far the prettiest. Rolling hills through horse pastures as far as you could see, eventually winding its way into the Woodford Reserve Distillery.

Done!

I was happy to be finished and ready for another shower. We departed to find lunch and the hotel for shower/nap before rejoining at the finish line to await the final runner in Van #2.

I'll be honest, by the time we finished I was excited but so tired that I could barely get myself psyched up! We did it though.

Before and after. What a journey!

The rest of the evening consisted of team dinner and early bedtime, then Megan and I drove home in a rental car on Sunday morning. Again, got stuck in traffic, but otherwise an uneventful trip home.

Such a fun event!!!