Bourbon Chase Complete!

I’m happy to report my team and I completed the Bourbon Chase this past Saturday. It’s a 200 mile relay from the Jim Beam Distillery outside of Bardstown, Ky through Makers Mark, Four Roses, Woodford Reserve and finishing in Lexington, Kentucky.  If you aren’t familiar with the terrain in Kentucky, let me just tell you it’s rolling hills throughout!

We had a team of 12 runners – each person ran three times for total mileage between 12 and 22 miles! Each runner ran at least one leg in the dark in the middle of the night with a reflective vest and headlamp to guide the way. Not much sleep was had in the 27 hours it took us to complete the course. Lots of bananas, bagels and cliff bars were consumed.

You might ask, “Why would anyone want to do this sort of thing?” In short – it’s a great challenge and a fun way as a runner to be a part of a team. Running is often a solitary pursuit with individual goals. Being on a relay, we all had the same goal – finish under 28 hours (we did!) We supported each other instead of competing against each other. And we pushed our selves to run when are legs were tired, our bodies were tired and we’d already run a few times.

I have competed in several of these relays and I have to say every time it’s different and every time it’s a blast! Last week I talked about goals setting. This had been one of my goals. During my training I came down with walking pneumonia and was not able to run for 2 weeks! Not ideal at all … but I still competed and surprised myself. It was a good reminder for me – it’s not always easy getting to a goal but despite the obstacles – don’t give up. How easily I could have thrown in the towel and let my team know I didn’t think I’d have the lungs or stamina for this race just 2 weeks out from being so sick.  Excuse are always there if you look for them. Excuse present themselves when you start to have doubts. But what if we ignore them and stay the course?  We may just surprise ourselves! We are all capable of so much more than we realize!