Oak Barrel 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

Half Marathon #19
State #14
12 in 2012 Race #6

Pre-Race Friday
P and I knew that we would tour the Jack Daniels Distillery on Friday.  To be honest, there isn’t much else to do in Lynchburg, TN. Note: to any interested-the tasting tours are at 11:45 and 2:30 only.  We waited till 2:30 and really enjoyed the tour-but just so you know, a taste is 1 ounce or less. It’s the law-Lynchburg is actually a dry county and the only place to buy booze is at the JD Visitors Center and they had to pass a special law for the tasting and for JD to sell their bottles.  Anyway-point to all of that rambling is the tour is cool, but don’t necessarily have to taste. They offer many tours throughout the day-just tastings at those two times.

me and the tallest bottle of jack

packet pickup at the JD welcome center

me, JD, and P. Did you know JD was only 5’2? You can’t see it but he’s on a platform. I’m 5’4.

We picked up a bottle of the Single Barrel and had it engraved with the race logo, picked up our race packets (no expo-just packet pickup), and headed to our cabin that we rented.  We were about 10 miles away from Lynchburg but because it’s an all back roads drive it took closer to 20-25 minutes to get back and forth.  After spending the afternoon in downtown Lynchburg and at the distillery we were pretty tired.

the view from our cabin by the lake.  very peaceful!

Our plan was to head to dinner at an italian restaurant at another small town nearby, but when we arrived the place was closed.  So we headed to the grocery store instead and ending up cooking spaghetti at our cabin-which ended up working out quite nicely!

As I said in yesterdays post-I changed my plan-again and didn’t end up running 20 miles.  There was no way to run on back road highways in the dark.  So the big bonus was “sleeping in” on race day.

We set our alarm for 6am and headed to bed.

Pre-Race
P and I got up, ate breakfast and headed to the start area.  We had to sit in a little traffic waiting to park the car, but since we left plenty early, we were okay.

I was excited to meet up with Jill and Ashley right before the start.  I also got to meet Scott, a Run it Fast member.  I saw several of those shirts along the course.  :) I said my goodbyes to P and wished him luck!

Ashley, Me, Jill

Miles 1-8
Since the race was small, there were no corrals.  This always frustrates me because way too many people start ahead of where they should.  Jill and I did some bobbing and weaving while catching up.  Jill had been sick and by mile 2 she told me to go on.  She insisted and I pulled ahead.  I told myself not to go too crazy-this still needed to be a training run.

Mile 2-3 we hit a cow pasture of some sort.  It definitely smelled and you had to watch your feet to avoid poop.  No, seriously.  You did.

the cows were eating in troughs behind the hay

eeww…poop.

Around mile 3 we started gradually going up.  I noticed a guy maintaining a 9 minute pace so I followed him till we got to Whiskey Hill, the infamous hill that can make or break you in this race.  I knew it was steep and he said he usually walked a bit of it (his 3rd time running this race).  I heard music starting at the bottom of the hill and knew it was beginning.  I’m pretty sure I cursed as I climbed up.  I swear the hill seemed harder than any hill at Big Sur.  I will admit, I walked a few steps to be safe and heard more music at the top and kept running.

Miles 9-13.1
The time seemed to fly by.  I spent much of my time chasing this lady and a man that was apparently pacing her on his bike.  It was quite annoying and even as I passed her he kept telling her to keep up with him.  I think he should’ve paid a race fee.  He was even carrying her water.  Ridiculous.  If you can’t run 13.1 without your husband telling you what to do, don’t do it.  Rant over.  Positive note-The scenery was great-it pretty much looked like this the entire race.

in and out of shade and nothing but green all around

I loved it.  Sadly, around mile 10, there was a runner down.  The race organizers were already with him and an ambulance came by not long after I passed him.  Of course, seeing as it is in a tiny little town, a lady came out in her night gown asking what the ambulance was doing as I ran by.  I guess that was her excitement for the day.  I do hope the runner is okay.

The last few miles I picked up some speed.  I figured, why not.  I knew I could handle it for a few miles and wouldn’t hurt too bad.  Lots of cheers towards the finish line and I sprinted towards my medal.

Official Results
So, after looking at my results online, I realized that my ranking was wrong.  I emailed the race director and she said that there was an issue organizing the times by chip time, so they are all ranked by gun time.  That sucks.  I know my numbers are a little off, but I can tell that I should be 19 in my age group.

1:58:30

287/953 overall 

93/501 females

19/104 females 30-34     

coolest medal.

Garmin Results

I wonder where whisky hill was??

Post Race

The post race was sooo good!  There was a band and more food than a race of 1000 could ask for.  They had someone making pancakes, they had soup, water, gatorade, chocolate milk, cookies, fresh scones, pizza and I think I am forgetting something.  I grabbed a chocolate milk and water and scone and headed to move the car closer while I waited on P.  We had lunch reservations and knew we would pressed for time.  

downtown Lynchburg, many different tents of food

the band is at the back of the truck

As I was coming back towards the finish with hopes of getting pics of P crossing, I see him flash by.  Much faster than expected! New PR for P!!  I am so proud of him.  He had a great race too.  

Me and P post race

We grabbed a few snacks for him and as we were heading out I heard my name.  It was Suzanne.  She PR’d by 3 minutes!  So good to see her and catch up, if only for a minute.  And side note, check out her recap-she actually has pics of whiskey hill-I didn’t want to use any energy to take my camera out at that point

Me and Suzanne

We headed back to the cabin to shower and then turned around and drove back to downtown Lynchburg to quickly grab an autograph from the master distiller (he signed our medals and our bottle of whiskey) and for lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s.  I made these reservations in January.  This place is really well known and serves food 2-3 times a day family style.  We sat at a table with 13 or so “strangers” and the food was ready when we sat down.  Hello end of lenten season.  

The table is already set-you just sit and eat family style. No ordering.

oh heavenly, southern goodness.

I definitely ate my calories back in fried okra and mac and cheese.  My weaknesses.

After lunch, we drove to Huntsville, AL for Easter.

Overall:

Favs:

the course

the medal

the volunteers

the hat/bag/shirt

the cost (only $50)

the town

jack daniels

post race

Not So Much:

if I had to say anything it would be inaccurate results-but no big deal. 

The Bling

Um, they say it’s a piece of a jack daniels barrel.  This thing is so freaking cool.  Top 5 bling for sure. 

The shirt is women’s cut long sleeve tech-tee, tech running hat, and Nike reusable drawstring bag.  All awesome.

front of the medal. the words are burned/imprinted I think.  it actually smells good too

the back reminds you to “drink responsibly.” We had the Master Distiller, Jeff, sign our medals.

awesome shirt, hat, and bag!

Final Thoughts

I was ready to sign up again at the finish line.  Not kidding.  Forget the big races.  The small races do so much more for runners and really take time into planning and taking care of everyone.  I enjoyed getting away from Atlanta to a one traffic light town.  The square is tiny and quaint and hotels and restaurants aren’t this town’s thing, but hospitality and Southern charm are.  I highly, highly recommend this race to anyone in the South or anyone looking to race the states and needs to check off Tennessee.  Coolest medal, course, and race I’ve seen for the state so far (judging from other race reviews on blogs). 

If my schedule allows it, I’d love to be back.