Last Friday I hopped on a plane and flew to Louisville, KY so I could run in the Derby mini-Marathon on Saturday, April 25 with KQ.
I got in over an hour later than expected due to a flight delay, but we finally made it over to the Convention Center to pick up our race packets. Leading up to the weekend, I was definitely on weather watch as my weather app was calling for rain and storms on Saturday. Right after I landed, I received an email from the race directors talking about how they were in contact with the National Weather Service, and some tips for running in the rain such as hats, body glide, and non-cotton socks. It seemed everyone took that email to heart because as we were walking through the vendor sections of the expo almost everything was gone! Luckily KQ and I are diehard Balega sock wearers and they are non-cotton so at least we were set on that aspect!
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| The (DRY) pre-race shot. Note all the layers! |
After grabbing a dinner full of carbs, we called it a night early and headed to bed. Saturday morning dawned cold and gloomy, but not rainy (yet). After a lengthy debate about what to wear (rain gear, long-sleeve, short-sleeve, shorts, capris), we finally headed down to the race course. The rain held off until the starting gun. It started out as a steady sprinkle, then a mist, and then finally starting to come down hard while I was running through Churchill downs (around mile 8). It was a cold, heavy rain and at one point I was running with my hands hooded over my eyes so that I could see. After the race, KQ and I realized we had never really run a race in the rain before, or at least not rain like this. One cool thing that happened was when I was running in Churchill Downs and heading under the track, a horse and rider rode over where I was running! That was really fun to see as I was going along! Between the rain and still being tired from the last weekend, I wasn't as mentally and physically prepared as I would have liked to have been for the race. In my mind, I thought I was running a full 20 minutes behind (yikes!) what I expected to run. Turns out I was only 1 second behind, compared to last year's time. All things considered, I'll take it!
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| Cold and wet post-race metal shots! I could not figure out how to work the heat wrap thing! |
After the race we went and got our traditional celebratory Chick-fil-a, then went home to shower and get warm! We had plans to go to Churchill Downs that night, but we ended up napping and then it hailed, so that didn't happen. Instead we ordered Chinese and watched Prefontaine, the movie about the runner Steve Prefontaine.
We woke up on Sunday morning to a gorgeous Kentucky day. It really was picture perfect- KQ and I kept saying we wish the weather was like that on Saturday! First we headed to church and then made another stop on the Bourbon Trail - the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky.
We had an awesome tour guide and it was a very educational and interactive tour! I got to stick my finger in a giant vat of yeast/fermenting alcohol (as if the texture wasn't gross enough, the taste wasn't great either) and then we had a fun taste test at the end!
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| The far left glass was the "knock you out" white and the far right was a special blend only available at the distillery! |
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| KQ making her 'concentrating scientist' face as she dipped her bourbon in the signature red wax! |
Maker's Mark is known for it's signature red wax over the top of the bottle, and you can dip it at the store at the end of the tour! KQ got a bottle and was able to dip the wax on her own bottle!
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| Proudly displaying her handiwork! |
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| Just a glimpse of the gorgeous day we had in the rolling hills of Kentucky! |
I left Sunday night around 7:30 and didn't get home until Midnight, but it totally was worth it! That was such a fun-filled weekend and I'm glad its becoming an annual thing!
