Race: Urban Bourbon Half Marathon
Place: Louisville, Kentucky
Date: October 22, 2016
Time: 1:44:47
It was the weekend before Halloween…and after a few long runs with my running partner, Matthew, he and I had come up with some fun ideas should he choose to run the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon with me. Like…at one point we were going to dress as Batman & Robin…and then, at the halfway point, we were going to switch out so the other person was Batman and the other was Robin. When we couldn’t find Robin outfits, it changed to Superman & Wonder Woman. I had the Wonder Woman running costume…but as I said…this race was the weekend before Halloween. Superman was a bit difficult to come by. What he did end up with was a great brown cotton shirt. YES! We were SO ready for this!
My biggest concern that morning was the chilly air. My body doesn’t do well in cooler temperatures. Once it gets under the 60s…it’s iffy. When it hits the 40s, like it did that morning, my body sometimes doesn’t want to function at all. So, I had to decide if I was going to do a singlet with arm warmers…or just short sleeves. I went back and forth on it, but totally ended up going with the arm warmers and singlet. It was a decision I immediately began questioning my decision.
I headed downstairs at my apartment that morning in my outfit choice to see if I could take the cold air. I did all my physical therapy stretches, warmup moves, and plyometrics and figured…I’d probably warm up when running the half…I’d stick with it. I’d just wear warm things before the race. I also donned my KDF Marathon Ambassador shirt for the group picture prior to the race start. My foot was NOT loving the cold air though, so I knew that this race was going to be about feeling that out and seeing how it did as the miles began to wrack up! I’ve learned to really listen to my body…so I knew I’d be hyper aware of it as the morning went on. That being said, I headed back upstairs to eat some cereal and finish up pre-race prep.
My good friend, Kat, who ran the KDF Half Marathon in 2014 with me…and who I paced the Buffalo Marathon with the same spring, was in town and staying with me. Poor thing probably had to get up way earlier than she intended that morning, but she was a good sport. I wished she could have run it too…but another time, for sure! My roomie, Cathy, and I saw her off (with a vegan and gluten-free breakfast from Annie May’s…and some additional road eats) and then hopped into the car for the dash over the river to Louisville. Parking wasn’t too much of a problem. And…to keep me warm on the hike from the car to the photo op, I donned the warm poncho I got at the NYC Marathon in 2014.
I had messaged the other Ambassadors to warn them that I was running a little late, and, I was the last one to show up, but a couple of others had just gotten there as well. I shed the poncho and set up for the photo op. I love my Ambassador family and love these little photo op moments together. Seriously, I want to hang out with them for the rest of my life. After the photo, I put the poncho back on and texted my running partner, Matthew, to see if he was there yet. He was…and I told him to stay put…because I was incoming.
Just as I spotted him, my friend, Katie, spotted me. There were hugs…and photos…and some chatting. Katie and I have been trying to meet up at races for awhile now. It finally happened. YAY!! Now to find a time to have her over for a run and dinner. That also must happen. Maybe sometime during the holidays. I love hosting people for the holidays. What do you think, Katie?
Matthew was in the best outfit for running. A brown cotton shirt and shorts. He also had a white long sleeve shirt under it because, as I mentioned, it was freakin’ cold that morning. His girlfriend, Dawn, made sure she got some pictures before wishing him luck. She and Cathy went to find a good spot at the start line while he and I started to walk down the line to the corrals. The opening to get into them was a good ways down. We were back with some over 2 hour pacers, so we did our best to work our way up a bit more. We were treating this as a fun training run…but we wanted to be somewhere near our normal pace, for sure. We got as far as we could before the National Anthem…and then…the gun to send us off.
We gave a wave to Dawn & Cathy as we crossed the start line and passed them. We ran down West Main and made the turn onto 2nd Street and then onto E Muhammad Ali Blvd. The first mile clicked over and we were off to the training (races). In fact, Matthew and I just settled in and sort of just started talking. It was great. In fact, we actually paced the first 4 miles rather quickly and then, slowed it down on the hills of Cherokee Park. In doing so, we were able to take on the hills and still feel strong at the top. Of course, once we climbed to the top at Hogan’s Fountain, I told Matthew that we were hitting my favorite speed…DOWNHILL!!
The next three miles were back up in pace as we came out of Cherokee Park and made our way down Cherokee Parkway to Cherokee Road to Baxter Avenue. I got a lot…and I mean a lot of Wonder Woman shout-outs. It made me smile. I’d wave and smile and pump my fist at anyone who shouted out at me. But my favorite, I think, came around Mile 9, when a woman shouted, “IT’S WONDER WOMAN!” She turned to her companion and said, “She was always my favorite superhero.” It’s little things like that, people!!
The sun was out and while the air was still cold, the runners were definitely warm at this point. Matthew said he was glad he wasn’t running a marathon, because we were 10 miles in and he was struggling a bit. He took in some fuel and we moved into our final three miles. As we got into the last mile, my legs were ready to move, so I settled into a bit of a faster pace and began to make the dash back down East Main toward the finish line. I could hear a crowd and an announcer, so I knew it was close.
And then I saw Dawn and Cathy…and they were yelling and shouting. And I crossed the finish line, foot twinging, but not hurting bad, hip feeling good, and just…glad to be done. It was a good run. Matthew came across momentarily after me!
We received our medal (hey…a training run with bling…LOVE that!), and it made my race to have Chris from the KDF Ambassadors put my medal around my neck. Seriously, that meant so much to me. Then, Matthew and I went to do the photo ops. Afterwards, I spotted a good friend, Ron Steve, who had a brilliant race that day, beating his goal by 2 minutes!! THAT was very good news. I wanted him to have a good race and he certainly did!! We all moved through the chute, getting our water, snacks, bananas, and chocolate milks…and went to the after party setting. Runners got to have like 8 bourbon shots if they wanted…and got soup and pizza as well. Because of my food allergies, I didn’t partake, but Cathy did eat my slice of pizza. It was, apparently, really good pizza. Dawn and Matthew came to sit with us in the sun and I did get up to do a few leg swings to keep the hip loose.
After getting serenaded by the lead singer of The Louisville Crashers…it was time to get going. Lots to do that day…and some brunch and grocery shopping was going to start it off. I said goodbye to Ron, Matthew and Dawn, and went to accomplish the rest of the tasks that needed to be done that day, before heading to the Jack O’ Lantern Spectacular later that night with my friend Amanda!
It was quite a day.
So, my official results of the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon is that I finished in 1:44:47, which is a 3 minute improvement from the Indy Women’s Half Marathon. No rain…just cold. And I wasn’t even pushing it. I’ll take that! I was the 249/2508 finishers overall. I was 52/1406 women to finish this race. And in the 45-59 age division, I came in 5/154. Not bad at all. I was very happy with the way I ran this race, given some aches and pains, and the cold weather, which never helps. Yep…definitely a worthwhile training run (race).
The Celiathlete 