Run the Bluegrass

I heard about this race from a friend I met at the race in China. Since my brother is in grad school in Kentucky and Brad wanted to visit some distilleries, we decided to go for it. They have a 7 mile and a half marathon - both are on a beautiful course through Kentucky horse county and both get a race shirt and a finisher medal.

Since it was only 2 weeks after the Asheville Half, I decided to just do the 7 mile with Brad. We booked a room at one of the partner hotels, the Campbell House, and started planning our trip. 

We decided to leave early on Friday for the drive up so that we could maximize our time. We try to avoid chains when we travel, so we stopped at a restaurant called Bluebird in tiny Stanford, KY (apparently one of the oldest settlements in Kentucky) on the way to Maker's Mark.

Since the race was Saturday, we had a fairly early night on Friday - got our packets, explored the expo (and bought Bondi bands), checked in to the hotel, and went to dinner with my brother at a restaurant in downtown Lexington called Saul Good. 

The race shirt this year was a soft, lightweight hoodie. We both love them.

Saturday was race day. I was glad the race started on the later side for a bit more sleep and a but more warmth, but it was still pretty frigid while we were waiting to actually start. The atmosphere before the race was great, and in addition to the National Anthem the bugler from Keeneland played the Call to the Post and someone played Old Kentucky Home.

The course was challenging, but not too hilly, and it was beautiful. 

Brad and I stayed together until almost the end, when I decided to try to pass the girl I saw up ahead. For a minute I wasn't sure I could catch her, but I did! After getting our finisher medals, they gave out bags of food. They were all different - I looked around a little until I found one with Nilla wafers and a Kit Kat to go with the Jif peanut butter they all had (Jif is made nearby). 

The medals are great, too!

The post-race party looked great - many food trucks, locally-made ice cream (that I really wanted even though it was so cold), a free beer from Kentucky Ale and a free slice from Papa John's, but it was still so cold that I just couldn't enjoy hanging out. So we left and met my friend Mary from Team USA in China for lunch at Wallace Station (featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives). After lunch she showed us a cool old distillery that's not currently operating but looks like it's being fixed up. 

After lunch, we continued our distillery adventures with Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace before finding that ice cream at a local store to enjoy at the hotel while resting a bit.

Saturday night we got pizza from Pies and Pints and watched the Kentucky Elite 8 game at Ethereal Brewing. Then Sunday we went to Wild Eggs for breakfast and one last distillery (Four Roses) before heading home. 

What a great weekend trip! This is a great race to plan a little mini-vacation around. We might do it again someday... there are still a few more distilleries Brad wants to check out.  

Asheville Half Marathon at Biltmore

I'd really been looking forward to this race! Ever since I did the marathon last year I was planning to do the half this year, and being selected as an ambassador only made me more excited about it. My friend Steph was an ambassador too and our friend Kim decided to run the full and our other friend Kristin was going to cheer and volunteer so I knew it would be a fun girls' weekend.

Steph and I drove up after work in Friday and met up with some of the other ambassadors at Wicked Weed for dinner. I knew they had good beer, but I'd never actually eaten there. The Greek burger, sweet potato fries, and Brussels sprouts appetizer were delicious and it was fun to get to know some of the people I'd only known through facebook for about 6 months.

On Saturday, my volunteer shift at the expo didn't start until 10:15, so my parents came over to take me to breakfast at Biscuit Head. More yummy food!

The Expo was at the Doubletree hotel in Biltmore, just down the street from the entrance to Biltmore Estate. I worked the general info and future race registration table at the expo and had a great time! I loved getting to know some of the runners a little better by helping them register for next year (a full weekend of racing with the half and full on different days - mark your calendar for March 12-13, 2016!) or for the Royal Trifecta of races at Biltmore. 

I remembered this runner from when she registered for Asheville at another expo and she was so excited to be the first person to register for the Backyard to Vineyard Challenge (half on Saturday, full on Sunday). 

And then this is my new friend Jenny who actually lives near Greenville too. She and her friend Kelsey are all set for the full trifecta!

I also enjoyed talking through the course with runners and spectators and telling people about Biltmore (I've been a passholder for years and been there more times than I can count). 

Once again, the swag was excellent.

When my shift was over I was pretty exhausted. My mom came back and we had lunch at my sister's house and then went for a nice sunshine-y walk in West Asheville. The weather was so much better than last year!!!

Then I headed back to the Doubletree because I had earned a free room for Saturday night. I took a short nap and then Kim and Kristin arrived (Steph wrote "Go Wonder Women" on the chalkboard for us - Steph and Kristin and I are doing Ironman Raleigh 70.3 in May as a relay and all dressing as Wonder Woman). 

Now that we were all together we went over to the White Duck in the River Arts district for tacos (at my request/insistence). It was quick, easy and delicious- perfect for a night where we needed to get to bed early. 

Even though the beds at the Doubletree were super comfy, I always have trouble sleeping the night before a race and this was no exception. The good thing was that we were super close to Biltmore and we were planning to ride the shuttle from the hotel, so we could sleep slightly later than we otherwise would have. I was disappointed by the Doubletree's decision to no longer include free breakfast in the rooms, but at least they did have some food available for purchase.

When we got to Biltmore, we saw that the race staff had consolidated more of the race activities up by the barn, including the post race food tent where we saw our favorite volunteer cutting oranges and bagels. 

We hung out in the barn for a while, then dropped off our bags at the checked bag tent and headed for the start line. Steph and I met up with the ambassadors for a picture. 

The sun was rising just as the race started. 

I told Kim I would stay with her as long as I could, and I enjoyed jumping to the side and taking a few pictures along the way, like this view of the sunrise. My friend Liz also decided to stay with us.

The half follows the same course as the full until after mile 10, so I knew pretty much what to expect - a slight downhill from the start before a steep uphill to the Deerpark restaurant. On the way up, we ran into Jenny. Race day was her birthday! :) 

The first water stop was at the top of the hill and just like last year the volunteers were awesome. 

Next was that amazing downhill back to the Approach Road. The course follows the original path that the architects designed to being people into the Estate, slowly climbing through forests of rhododendrons and azaleas (not blooming yet though) up to the house. At the top of the (long) hill, there was a detour through the parking lots and another water stop with great volunteers, like this guy.

Then around the corner, through the gate and we got our view of the house. I sprinted ahead to take a picture of Kim with the house and then got a selfie of both of us too. :)

After the house, there's a long downhill to the French Broad river, through beautiful woods and gardens. 

I loved that there were actually flowers blooming in the gardens this year!

A nice view of the house from the side: 

And Kim and Liz enjoying the downhill:

Once we got down to the river we had a nice flat path to run on for a while. I was looking forward to grabbing this shot of Kim by the lagoon with the house in the background, but the light didn't exactly cooperate.

The next aid station had Girl Scout cookies! I think others did, but I was ready for it at mile 9 or so. (Also, they had all sorts of Gu flavors. Kim had a french vanilla one around mile 8 that tasted like that icing you get with cinnamon rolls.) 

Just after that, Kim left me to cross the bridge to the west side of the Estate (see my race report from last year for more on that). 

Around the next corner I saw Kristin and told her I'd be back soon to help cheer for Kim. She took this:

The 1ish mile out and back between 10 and 12 seemed long, but I passed the time chatting with other runners and being amazed at the first place marathon guy who was around mile 17 when I was around mile 12. Then it was up the last little (but still tough!) hill to the finish and the blankets and medals. 

Like I said, the weather was amazing. It was pretty cool at the start, but I was comfortable running in short sleeves. But when I finished, I got cold pretty quickly and was very glad for the blanket!

A different color this year:

I took a quick detour up to the barn to use the restroom and grab some food. Once I finished eating I took a quick minute to change into my brand new Undress. I love it! I didn't really need it at Biltmore since they had restrooms, but it was super convenient to be able to change in a tent full of people quickly and easily. 

Then I found Steph and we joined Kristin to cheer (her sign was very popular). 

We saw my friend from the expo with her friends (love their costumes!):

And then Kim came by!

After we saw her we went to mile 21 (where the marathoners pass almost right by the finish line) because I knew from experience that cheering there would be a nice boost for the runners. 

We saw our friend Marty finish his first marathon!

Kim passed us and Kristin had a special sign for her:

Steph hadn't eaten, so we went to get some food. And Liz had a PR so I took a picture of her ringing the PR bell!

Here's Kim finishing!

After she finished we went up to get her food and actually take time to eat enough ourselves too. The post-race food was great! They had bananas and oranges, bagels, fruit bars, doughnuts, moon pies, pretzels, chips, water and hot chocolate. Yum. I definitely ate a couple moon pies. :)

Post-race picture of all 4 of us:

Once everyone had a chance to eat, stretch and change we went into the winery for a little tasting...

... and then stopped at the Hop (I know, no one who reads this is surprised) for an ice cream lunch before heading back to Greenville.

It was an exhausting weekend, and I still don't think I've caught up on sleep, but I had a great time! I really love this race. I've already started trying to talk Brad into doing it with me next year...

Reedy River 10K

The Reedy River Run is one of my favorite local races, and I set my 10K PR there a few years ago. This year, my husband joined me in the 10K (instead of doing the 5K), so I decided to stay with him.

It was a beautiful day and not too cold. This is not an easy course, but it is pretty. The start is uphill, but you turn and head downhill pretty quickly. The first big hill is around mile 2, but it's followed by a nice downhill and then a section by the river on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The middle miles are mostly flat with an out and back in Cleveland Park before another big hill between miles 5 and 6. The finish is super fun - a left turn at mile 6 and then a long downhill to the finish. 

As in the past, the post-race food was great, with bread from Great Harvest, brownies from Zoe's Kitchen, and subs from Jersey Mike's. 

The other fun thing about this race is they give medals to people who set PRs, which Brad did!

Asheville Hot Chocolate 10K

My friend Steph signed up for the Hot Chocolate 10K in Asheville. I had thought about doing it in the past since it sounds like a fun event and it benefits an elementary school, plus there's hot chocolate (!), so I decided to join her this year. 

We went up the night before, and as luck would have it, the Hop was having a free tasting night at their new creamery. Fun! So we had ice cream before dinner and then went to bed fairly early. 

It rained the whole way to Asheville and they were predicting snow and/or freezing rain during the race. So, Saturday morning we put on all the clothes we brought and headed downtown. Luckily they had a bag check, so we could wear coats to walk to the race site from where we parked.

Ready to run! (Note that it's not snowing!) It was COLD and windy, but the only precipitation was some freezing drizzle towards the end.

Since the race starts in Montford, I knew there would be hills, but I hadn't really looked at the course. Almost immediately there was a long downhill to the river, and then we had a nice out and back through the River Arts District with just a few small hills. Sometime after mile 4 we turned right on Hill St to go back up. Once we got to the top of Hill St I thought we would be done with the uphills, but no. The last mile was up, up, up, and pretty steep at times. I had been pacing around 7:40 per mile until the hills. With the last mile I think I finished closer to 8 for a 49:36. Still not too bad! 

At the finish they had water immediately and then the hot chocolate (homemade), plus fruit, bagels, and those yummy maple cookies from Earth Fare (Trader Joe's has them too). I sat down for a minute, retrieved our bag from the very helpful bag check volunteers, and went to cheer for Steph. There was a lot of cool stuff at the Expo - I wish I had thought to throw some cash in my bag!

After Steph finished, we ran into some other friends, Royce and Natalie. Royce has ALS and he's coaching Natalie (his wife) and another friend for triathlons through their nonprofit, Active Reconnect (check out their inspiring story on their website activereconnect.com and follow them on Royce's blog, journeyonwithroyce.blogspot.com). I'm excited to see them at a few more events this year! 

Jingle Bell Run/Walk for arthritis

My friend Kim wanted a big team for the Jingle Bell Run for arthritis in Greenville today, so we decided to join in. 

I hadn't been feeling very good all week, so I wasn't really sure how it would go, but I knew it would be fun and planned not to worry too much about my time. 

It was a very festive atmosphere! This is our team at the start:

I actually hadn't run at ICAR much, but I had heard it was somewhat hilly.

Sure enough, after a short downhill right at the start we hit our first hill. I was hanging out with Brad and taking it relatively easy, but I also liked Kim's age group medal from last year, so I wanted to stay ahead of as many girls as possible. I lost Brad a little on the hill and caught up to Kim. We ran together for a little while and noticed that we were under 8 for the first mile. At the top of the hill we turned around and headed back down, so you got to see everyone. It was fun to cheer for all our friends. Just when I was thinking about slowing down, my friend Kristin said that she had only counted 4 women ahead of us. I started having thoughts of placing overall, so I picked d it up a little. The second hill (I think there were basically 3) was the worst, but slowly I passed 3 of those girls. Then when we were almost back to the start we had to turn right and go up one more hill. I passed another girl almost at the top. We got a good view of the competition as they were coming back down and I saw that there was only one more girl in front of me. It would have been cool to be first, but I knew I didn't quite have it today and I was very happy with second. :)

It was fun to cheer for everyone as they finished and then we went to find the post-race food. Chik-fil-a was a sponsor, so we got some chicken nuggets to go with the fruit and granola bars. Yum. 

Then it was time for awards. Turns out they only did the top person overall, but I was first in my age group! 

3 of us placed in our age groups!

So, in summary - if you're considering this race it's a fun, festive race for a good cause and definitely worth a try!