Bowling Green, KY Marathon and Half
Nov. 4, 2018
4:20:15 36/129 Overall 3rd in 60-69/Jodi-1:57:50 92/365
Grand Master (over 50) Champion
When Jodi mentioned that she’d like
to visit family in Indiana and Kentucky this November, I found that Bowling
Green, KY has a marathon and a half that weekend, so I signed us up. That way I
could get another state done on my second go round and Jodi could get a good
training-run half-marathon race in. Bowling Green looked to have some serious
hills and it did not disappoint with 4 long steep ones in the first 5 miles and
then in miles 14-19 since it was a two-loop course. I wanted to see where I
might be in running a BQ time of 4:05 so I ran a 2:02 first half that felt
great after the hills with my paces right around 9 minutes after the first 3-4
miles. But then when I hit the first big hill again in mile 14 and the wind was
in my face, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I decided to walk as needed
especially on the hills and just finish. I sorely wanted to quit a couple of
times. Thankfully Jodi met me on the course a few times and ran with me and
kept me going. She ended up with 18 miles after running the half. After she ran
me through the finish, it was so exciting to find out that she had won the
Grand Masters award for fastest female over 50! That was particularly
impressive after having walked the Indy half with her cousin and having been on
her feet for over 4 ½ hours doing it the day before in Indy. (More on that
below.) I gave back a lot of time in the second half and finished in 4:20:15.
My quads and lower back were pretty sore during that second trip around the course,
so I was very happy to be done. And along with Jodi’s big win, I found that I
got 3rd in 60-69 and was oldest male to place in age group awards!
We also enjoyed starting and finishing at the ballpark used by the minor league
baseball Bowling Green Hot Rods. I noted that a couple of current SF Giants
played there: Matt Moore and Albert Suarez.
This was Marathon #162; 26 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian
provinces.
(The description is roughly in order of
the pictures.)
------
Our
trip to Indy actually started a year ago after we had run the Indianapolis Full
(me)l and Half (Jodi). We spent some time with Jodi’s cousin, Clint. She offered
to do the half with him if he would do some training for it because he was so
inspired and hoped to get healthier and start running again. Friday night, Jodi
and I ate dinner with her dad and step-mom, John and Judy and her
sister-in-law, Jenni in a great restaurant which had been recommended by the owner
of the Airbnb where we spent the night. It was a short visit, but so great to
be able to spend some time with them while we were close to where they live in
Kokomo. Well, Clint’s training turned out to be minimal, but he still wanted to
go for it, and Jodi agreed to walk with him as far as he could go. She had even
tried to talk him into doing the 5K instead of the half, but he was insistent
on trying to do the half.
They
had many adventures including losing sight of the pack in the first mile and
getting lost and trying to stay ahead of the “meat wagon”. I had dropped them off
at the start and then gotten breakfast. The race course went close by where we were
staying so I was able to walk to mile 9 and wait and wait and wait for them in
the freezing cold. Interesting to observe the folks at the back of the pack and
then finally see Clint and Jodi come into sight. It didn’t seem like Clint
would get past 10 miles, but I met them at the finish and he seemed to have
gotten a second wind. Since they had lost miles early attempting to locate the
course, Clint insisted that they add 1.5 more miles to get 13.1 on Jodi’s
Garmin. So, while they did that, I got a table at Steak and Shake so they could
quickly get their hard-earned food rewards and recuperate. It may have taken
4:37, but Clint got it done! And then Jodi and I drove 3 hours to Bowling Green
to get ready for the next days’ race.
The
Bowling Green packet pick-up and pasta dinner were at the Corvette Museum as BG
is where they are made. We enjoyed being able to look around and even sit in
one; close as I’ll get to driving one. We spent Saturday night in BG and ran
the races on Sunday morning before heading to Mayfield, KY for the next 3 days
to spend some time with Jodi’s mom and step-dad. In Mayfield we got to see the
largest warehouse I’ve ever seen which is where Mike and Nancy work for a
shoe-distribution company. The owner looks like Santa and has a huge guitar
collection as you can see in the photos. Mayfield is similar to Mayberry, but
it has a Wal-Mart and many other major chains. We saw a number of deer out in
the country and enjoyed running in the cutest park. We also took a trip to
Paducah where we saw some amazing historical murals along the Tennessee River
overlook and the National Quilt Museum.
On
Wednesday we headed to Nashville where we took a two-hour bus tour of some of
the sights there including the capitol, Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall
of Fame, honky-tonks and recording studios, and Vanderbilt University. Plenty
of things to visit in-depth on our next trip there, but we didn’t have time
this trip as we quickly headed on to Knoxville to visit some of my cousins
there.
We
got to see Kathy and Lloyd Smith and Darlene and John Bishop. Dar and JB
retired from working close to 40 years at Camp Awana and now live in the
penthouse at Kathy and Lloyd’s. It was a short time, but we shared some good
meals and conversations. Dar and I even had time for a quick 9-holes on their
par 3 course so that was a bonus. Jodi and I flew home from Nashville on Friday
having gotten to see all those that we had hoped to see and do all the things
we had hoped to get in, so it was a very successful trip covering over 987
miles in the car. We came home to Charlotte, Layla, and CIM who were very happy
to have us home!
