The Bourbon Chase - Overnight 200 Mile Relay

Yesterday I had a new Twitter follower, @willrun4bourbon, and upon checking them out found a great race idea for this fall!


The Bourbon Chase - Lexington, KY - October 9-10, 2009
Here's the rundown:

What? The Bourbon Chase is a unique, overnight relay adventure in which teams of runners cover 200 miles of scenic byways along the famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Participants will experience the best of Kentucky. Starting near Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World, and wrapping up with a festive finish in downtown Lexington, the Horse Capital of the World, The Bourbon Chase will treat runners to gorgeous horse farms and the rolling Bluegrass countryside.

And, as the event name implies, the featured attraction of the race will be the Kentucky Bourbon Trail which links the state's legendary distilleries.

When? The Bourbon Chase will take place October 9-10, 2009, with the starting times staggered based upon each team's estimated finish time. Beginning near the Jim Beam American Outpost & Homestead, the first flight of teams will start the 200 mile course at 8am. During the next 12 hours, every 15 minutes a new set of teams will begin their overnight journey through the Bluegrass State.

How? Teams are made up of 12 runners. Each member of the team will run three legs over distances varying from 3 – 7 miles. Each team will provide two support vans to drop off and pick up runners at designated exchange points along the 200-mile route. So, you don't have to be a world-class runner. From casual joggers to serious racers, this event is great fun for everyone.

Amenities? In addition to every finisher receiving a Bourbon Chase medal and a high-performance athletic Bourbon Chase shirt, a post-race party will be held in the heart of Lexington under the shadow of Rupp Arena. Streets will be closed to allow for live music, food and celebratory drinks.

Sounds pretty amazing, right?!

So here's the deal folks. I am 100% down to do this race. Matt's family lives in Kentucky so we would have no problem heading up that way for a long weekend. I can captain a 12-person team, and I already have interest from about 4-5 people.

Important Deets:
We would need to rent 2 passenger vans, and have 2 people who would volunteer to drive throughout the race, dropping us off and picking us up. (Boyfriends/Husbands??) If Matt doesn't decide to run, I am sure he will fill one of those spots.

We would all need to (obviously) find our own transportation to Kentucky, but we could definitely figure out a way to split up hotel rooms for those who would need to. (I believe the race organizers are still figuring out host hotels and all that jazz as this is the inaugural race.)

There is a limit of 150 teams for the race. It probably won't fill up too soon, but I would like to know sooner than later, who is committing to the race.

PLUS-if we register before March 31st, team registration is only $900! That comes out to $75 per person.

If we wait to register, it shoots up to $1200 and for those of us not-so-mathematically-inclined, that is $100 per person.

We do have the option of putting down a $300 deposit for our team, and paying the remainder prior to the race.

If anyone is interested in joining our team, please comment here and let me know how you're feeling about it.

I would like to know FOR SURE, by Wednesday, March 25th. That way you guys could get checks to me by Monday, March 30th.

This is going to be a fun event, and it would be a great way to meet some of you who I only know through a computer! :) KY is pretty far for some of you folks, but it would definitely be a good time had by all! Plus, there would be lots of Bourbon for us to celebrate with post-race!

As far as bringing along significant others, I think that would be fine! The more the merrier! But if we all don't fit in the 2 vans, some people may have to stay back (or go on their own tours of the distilleries we will only be running by!) as we can only have those 2 vehicles on the race course.

So check out the website, check your schedules, and let me know!

GET EXCITED!

Weekend Wrap-Up + Monday's Run + Groceries for a Week!

Whew! long title. Well it was a great weekend away, although there was a lot of driving involved (20 hours total) there was also a lot of fun had. We spent all day Friday getting the reception hall ready for Saturday (did I mention we were in town for my boyfriend's sister's wedding in which I was a bridesmaid and he was a groomsman?), then getting ready ourselves for rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, then going to said events, then...in my case...passing out.

Saturday was a lot of fun that involved; 1) Me sleeping in and thus not running at 7 am like I had planned, 2) Indulging in a breakfast cooked by the boy's grandparents and thinking I would run afterwards, 3) Obviously eating too much anyways 4) Leaving breakfast to learn that it was raining, which leads to 5) not running on the only day I would have had time and/or somewhere to run while we were away.

After breakfast Saturday, we showered and left for the church to get ready there, curling my hair alone took about 2 hours! As soon as we were all ready and looking purdy, we reported to the chapel for pictures.
The bride and groom decided to do these first, which apparently is the new thing to do, so that they wouldn't have to worry about them afterwards. (I.E. we all get to boozin' quicker...solid plan.)

KB waiting around for pictures to be over...nervously awaiting the wedding!

Meet the BF!

My boo also waiting for pics to be done...

Then there was the reception, lots of wine, dancing...it starts to get fuzzy there. Basically, we had a great time and were sad to leave on Sunday. Of course his family loaded us down with a cooler full of leftovers that we then ate-continuously-throughout the 10 hour drive home.

I am glad I did not step on that scale this morning.

...and back to the present:

Today was a very productive day at work after a good night's sleep last night, and I was feeling pretty good when I set out for my run. I had decided to shoot for 6 miles (over the bridge and back) but knew that I might be sluggish since I hadn't run since last Wednesday...yikes.

The first mile I felt pretty good, I was moving at a solid pace and reached the top of the bridge pretty quickly. I started to notice that my left shin was kind of bothering me, but at first just chalked this up to a few days off running and my muscles easing back into it.

But as I started descending down the bridge, it started to throb, and I stopped a few times to stretch thinking this would help, but it didn't. Finally at about the 2 mile mark, I decided to turn around hoping that I could get back without making it worse.

So....I ended up walking quite a bit of the 3rd mile, and not only was my left shin killing, but my right arch was also bothering me (as it has since I got my new shoes). I am about to ice my shins before bed and stretch really well, hopefully that will help. I really don't want this to set me back!

I am also going to either ditch my new shoes and go back to my trusty Asics, or attempt to return them...not sure if that will work.

In Other News....
I was very inspired by Bobbi's recent post, Healthy Eating on the Cheap to start planning our weekly meals out on Sunday and then grocery shopping according to (ONLY) what you need to make these meals (+ snacks, etc).

So I did that today, and here is our line-up for this week's dinners:

Monday: Shrimp Stir-Fry with Brown Rice
Tuesday: Quinoa and Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash
Wednesday: Salad night: KB to have marinated and grilled portobello mushrooms on hers, BF to have marinated and grilled chicken on his.
Thursday: Tilapia Puttanesca with Whole Wheat Angel Hair
Friday: Either more shrimp stir fry, or a risotto dish with sauteed shrimp

(**We have over 3 pounds of shrimp that we brought back from the wedding, we usually never buy shrimp)

We also used her tip to take along a calculator to add up our items as we added them to the cart. I thought the BF would think this was unecessary, but he really got into adding everything up and deciding what we really needed to throw in the buggy.

<--Sorry couldn't resist this one :) See the blushing bride in the background? So beautiful!

Some of the ingredients for our meals we already have on hand and didn't have to buy, like the pasta, Tilapia and all ingredients for that dish, shrimp, 2 bags of stir fry veggies, brown rice and risotto. We had to also buy some other things for snacks, breakfasts and lunch.

My breakfasts are usually either oatmeal or cereal, so I decided to go with oatmeal this week and bought some Quick Cooking Oats, as well as bananas that I can add in with cinnamon and Splenda. His breakfast is currenly nothing, but I am trying to move him in the direction of eating breakfast vs. not eating late night. He has a bag of Wal Mart brand Cheerio's he will eat for that.

My snacks are apples, hummus and celery, light popcorn and string cheese (which he also will eat). His snacks are Publix brand Oats and Honey granola bars and 100 Calorie Packs of Cheetos. He also sometimes eats apples and light yogurt (which we have some of those left from last week as well).

My lunches are kind of all over the place. I sometimes eat leftovers, bring a salad or some soup, or grab a salad from somewhere. I bought salad stuff for me this week, one Lean Cuisine (Butternut Squash Ravioli) and will probably end up making a natural PB and banana sandwich a few days. I was going to make a big pot of Lentil Soup like Bobbi suggested, but Publix only had this 15 bean soup that I have made before and it was nasty...so maybe next time once I have a recipe. His lunches will be PB and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, leftovers, or salads (he actually eats a lot of big salads).

So, we managed to get enough groceries for one week (hopefully) for a grand total of:

$68.54!!!

I couldn't believe that is all we spent. I think what helped, was planning by using things we already had. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but we usually just go buy a bunch of things regardless of (or without looking at) what we have at home. Which most of the time, ends up in wasted food, and nobody likes to waste food. :)

So hopefully, by this weekend we will still have food left and can say that we planned sufficiently. It was pretty fun to plan out all the dinners I will cook! This will also force me to actually cook them instead of being lazy after a hard run.

I'm going to try to run again after work tomorrow, for as long as I can, in hopes that I will feel back to my normal self. Fingers crossed!

And for your viewing pleasure, more pics from the wedding :)

<---The bridesmaids, pre-wedding

Me and the boy :)