Bourbon Chase 2013

Stonemill Streakers at the start of the 2013 Bourbon Chase Relay.

Writing a blog with a vizsla in your lap makes for a bit of a difficult endeavor, but I will try to persevere and give a short summary of this year's Bourbon Chase Relay.

Back in 2004, a number of my former college cross country teammates decided to put together a team for the Hood to Coast Relay.  This is the granddaddy of relay races.  Relay races are usually 200 miles, completed by 12 runners, rotating thru 36 legs, each runner running 3 times, with the race taking about 24 hours. They are a blast and we began to reunite every year to do a different race.  Now, in 2013, we would be competing in our 10th annual race.

2004 : Hood to Coast (Mt Hood to Seaside, OR)
2005 : The Relay (Calistoga to Santa Cruz, CA)
2006 : Mt Rainier to the Pacific (WA)
2007 : Reach the Beach (NH)
2008 : Wild West Relay (Loveland to Steamboat Springs, CO)
2009 : Hood to Coast
2010 : Bourbon Chase (Jim Beam Distillery to Lexington, KY)a
2011 : Ragnar Las Vegas
2012 : Reach the Beach
2013 : Bourbon Chase

We went off at 5:30pm on Friday evening, under blue skies and with wonderful fall foliage.  The race begins at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, KY and runs thru the Kentucky countryside, past 6 distilleries in total and numerous, gorgeous horse farms, before finishing in downtown Lexington.

Jim Beam enjoys a glass of bourbon on a fine fall day.

The Start.

This time around I had the privilege of being in Van 2.  Each van has 6 runners and a driver.  When Van 1 is running, Van 2 is resting and visa versa.  So after watching Dr. Tscholl take off, we had some time to kill.  Luckily our first set of legs started at the Maker's Mark distillery, so time to kill meant tasting some bourbon mix drinks and roaming the grounds.

Maker's Mark

Night time approaches. 

At about 9:30pm Van 1 came rolling in, and soon after Allison handed off to Maggie to start our 1st set of legs.  My first leg was run from Lebanon to Springfield.  At 8.5 miles it was my longest leg in the race.  Nice to get that long one out of the way first.


View Larger Map

It started out okay, but soon became a slog.  6:30 pace became 7:00 pace, which then slowed even further to 7:30 pace.  Some fatigue from Jungfrau Marathon surely set in.  Add in the fact I hadn't really run much since the marathon, I clearly wasn't in prime shape to run fast for a leg this long.  In the end, I averaged 7:00 on the dot.  Not to bad as it was uphill from 4 to 8.  Another positive was that my left hip which had bothered me since Jungfrau, wasn't too tight.  But now after running 8.5 miles, I was sure it would tighten up significantly while riding in a van for the next few hours.

Our homes for the next 24 hours.  Running and then sitting in one of these does not help tight hips or most other nagging injuries.

We had reserved a hotel room along the course.  This was the first of many dysfunctional moments in van 2 that seemed to plague us the whole race.   While waiting for van 1 at Maker's Mark, we pulled up our reservation to confirm where the hotel was.  At this point, it was realized the hotel room was reserved for Saturday night not Friday night.  After calling the hotel to find there were no rooms available, we had about an hour of worrying before they called back to say that our reservations were indeed for Friday night.  Minds begin to do weird things when tired and have no sleep.  This was a bad sign that we hadn't run yet and were operating at full mental capacity and were already having odd moments.  (Our next dysfunctional moment was to tell Van 1 the wrong city for our next exchange point.  Luckily it was realized before it was too late and they arrived just a few moments before Monahan.)

The hotel room ended up only having 1 bed.  4 people laid across it.  2 other slept on the floor.  And 1 slept in the van.  Still 2 hours of sleep on a hotel floor is better than in a van with 6 or 7 people.  I slept fairly well.  My hip was really tight when I awoke.

Leg 2 for me was shorter at 6 miles.  I massaged the hip with a lacrosse ball and did a good warmup to get the hip loose.  My leg ran from Harrodsburg north along KY 127.  After getting the exchange from Riley, I went out hard for 1/2 mile before gettting stuck waiting at a train crossing.  One other guy was there.  He already had been there several minutes.  It would be 3 or 4 more minutes before the train passed thru.  I could have run easy that first 1/2 mile.  Drat.

This leg was a bit dangerous.  The highway had a very small shoulder, where the rumble strip was.  So I was forced to run in the lane.  It was dark when I started but the sun was beginning to rise.  For the most part, cars moved over, but a couple cars for no reason, blew by me much closer than they needed to.  The hip was okayish, but I could feel my stride a bit off.  I did run faster, completing this leg in 6:46 pace.

Leg 21
http://tpks.ws/q9FF

Someone's idea of being creative.  At the exchange for legs 22 to 23.

Rain soon began to fall lightly as we finished up our 2nd set of legs.

Saturday morning brings chilly temps and rain.

Finishing our 2nd set of legs at Four Roses Distillery.

After handing off to Van 1, we drove to the outskirts of Frankfurt, where Riley's Aunt and Uncle live.

Determining if the van can safely cross this creek.

After 2 legs, most everyone is sleepy.

Our intrepid driver stays focused as the weather turns worse.

They had graciously offered their home to us the last time we did the Bourbon Chase, and once again were extremely hospitable.  She made us bacon and eggs. Along with a hot shower and nap on the couch, I felt rejuvenated.  All the while a gusty rainstorm was raging outside.  Sorry Van 1.  (After they completed their 3rd legs, van 1 also was able to swing by the house for some southern hospitality.)  We headed out to meet van 1 at Woodford Reserve.

Woodford Reserve Distillery

Water is the key to good Bourbon

Small taster before setting off on our 3rd set of legs.

Van 1 arrives having survived the rain storm.

The Tscholl Brothers

Maggie (Van 2) and Laura (Van 1) consult on how things are going.

These guys were really into this race.

The cow team's driver.

The cow teams van.  Not only was it cool, they were handing out chocolate milk.

Allison finishing her 3rd leg.

Handing off.  Van 2 is now on the clock for a 3rd time.

Leaving Woodford Reserve.

With the race stopping and the sun starting to poke thru the clouds, my 3rd leg was run in the perfect fall conditions in absolutely stunning country.  A short 5 miles, a oddly completely painfree hip and a rolling course (rather than long grinding uphills), all led to me feeling good for the first time in this race.  I cruised along in 6:29 pace.   

View Larger Map

The finish was in a quaint little town.  Midway, KY.  Of course, after handing off, I would direct us the wrong way out of town.  We would drive a rather circuitous route before meeting back up with the race course.

The exchange point for the start of my 3rd leg.

Finally, people to pass and downhill to run fast on.

The locals weren't all that interested in my running.

Why the long face?

A sight for sore legs.

 After 200 miles, 36 legs, 24 hours and 27 minutes, we arrived in Lexington.  Monahan leading us home.

Finishing strong.

The team runs in together.

Post Race Bourbon Tasting

Another successful relay in the books, the Streaker's than enjoyed a Sunday Funday at Keeneland Park, watching the ponies.

Tailgating before 1st post.

Keeneland Paddock area.

Race #2.  Horse #6.  To Win.  My first bet and only winning bet of the day.

Keeneland

And they're off!

Close races captivated the crowd.

Along with our traditional Sunday Funday, the Streakers once again stayed in style post-race.  We rented out a house along with a guest house on a horse farm outside Lexington.  On approximately 100 acres, the property had multiple barns, a pond, and a 533 yard long driveway.

Entrance to GlenLary

Sunday Morning Sunrise.

Horses on the farm.  They ran along side us as we did our easy run on Sunday morning around the property.

The guest cottage.  

Put another Streaker Adventure in the books.  To next year!

All my pics from this year's Bourbon Chase weekend.

Bourbon Chase 2013

Post Jungfrau : Following in the Footsteps of 007 and More!

The following post is a bit long and has a number of pictures and may take a bit of time to load.  If you want to just skip to pics from the trip, just click on the albums below.

Lauterbrunnen - Murren - Gimmelwald - Post Race - Jungfrau Marathon

Zurich - Post Race - Jungfrau Marathon

Schilthorn - Post Race - Jungfrau Marathon

After racing the Jungfrau Marathon on Saturday, I spent the next few days in the Lauterbrunnen region.  On Sunday the gang did an easy hike from Stechelberg to Trachselfauenen.  Probably 4 or 5 miles roundtrip.  It was a dreary morning with clouds filling the valley.  It rained off and on during our hike.  Luckily this wasn't race day weather.  We caught a huge break having a rain free race.

Bit of an dreary, drizzly day on Sunday.

On Monday, Fio and Riley headed back to Zurich.  Riley to fly back to the States.  Fio to go back to work.  I hiked from Lauterbrunnen up to Gimmelwald. 

Cemetery in Lauterbrunnen beneath Staubbachfall.

Looking back at Lauterbrunnen as I climb out of town.

Initially the hike was fine.  Then it began to rain a bit.  Then rain harder.  Then get colder.  And by the time I got to Gimmelwald, it started to turn to snow.  Really glad this wasn't race day.  Stayed at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald for the next 3 days.

View from my room at Mountain Hostel.  Began snowing as I arrived in Gimmelwald.

When I woke up on Tuesday, the upper portions of the mountains had received significant amount of snowfall.  My original plans were beginning to go by the wayside.  I wouldn't be able to hike the Schilthorn in these conditions.  The other hike I planned might still be possible.  So I headed out the door with the idea of hiking to Oberhornsee.

Looking up at the top of the Schilthorn on Tuesday.  Not gonna hike it in these conditions.

This turned out to be a really fun hike.  Once again I discovered that the Swiss don't like switchbacks.  The trail climbed steeply out of the river valley up to Tanzboden.  The other thing I discovered, is that Swiss cows, while providing excellent milk for chocolate and cheese, are all plotting something.  Just look at this guy.

And this guy.

I don't know what it is.  But they are up to something.  It might just be obliterating trails.  For the most part, even with the snowfall, following the trail was relatively straight forward.  However, these cows completely destroyed any semblance of a trail in this area and took me about 20 to 30 minutes to figure out where to go.

Looking back at Murren (center left of pic) and Gimmelwald (below Murren in lower left of pic)

Continuing on, I finally came across some footsteps of another hiker and route finding became very easy.  The sun also had begun to peak in and out of the clouds.

Reaching Obersteinberg.

When I reached Obersteinberg, I was a little tired of trudging thru the snow.  Based on the signs, Oberhornsee was another hour away.  And although the sun was peaking thru the clouds, I wasn't sure I wanted to climb any higher.  I took a quick look around Hotel Obersteinberg.  Then made the trek back to Gimmelwald, by way of Hotel Tschingelhorn.  The sun would come out in full force and began to melt the snow.  Most of my way back was clear of snow, but a bit muddy.

Hotel Tschingelhorn.  The great thing about hiking in Switzerland, even in what seems remote areas, there are these places to stop and have food and drink.  

After about 6 hours hiking I arrived back in Gimmelwald.  I would then trek up to Murren to make use of their rec center.  By staying in the hostel, I received a free pass to the rec center.  So each night I would end up walking up to Murren, using the hot tub at the rec center, then showered there, instead of paying 2 or 3 francs for a 5 min shower at the hostel.  It is about 20 minute walk between the villages.


I could have taken this between the villages,

Cable car runs from Murren to Gimmelwald.

But I would have missed out on this,

Herding cows thru Murren

With the sun coming out in the afternoon, I was optimistic I might be able to climb the Schilthorn on Wednesday.  But when I woke up on Wednesday morning, I got up to another foggy, cloudy day.  I was uncertain what to do, but decided to head out anyway.  If it was like Tuesday, the sun might come out and I would be bummed if I missed my chance to climb to the top.  But if it stayed cloudy, or weather rolled in, there was a lower loop I could do on the mountain that still would be doable and likely enjoyable.  I left the hostel unsure of what the day would bring.

Heading out of Gimmelwald on Wednesday Morning.

The initial hike out of Gimmelwald (4490 ft) drops down into a river valley, to a low point of 4160 ft.  As with any trail in this region, you pass by numerous waterfalls.  Shortly the trail began to ascend.  It quickly broke tree line at which point you can see the Piz Gloria, the hideout of Ernst Blofeld.  The drawback to the hike from this direction, is the summit, with the restaurant on top, is visible for the majority of the time.  Damn you Blofeld.  And it seems so close and yet so far the entire way.  It's like running on a beach.  But the day was turning out to be great.  The clouds had mostly cleared out, the sun came out, and it was comfortable temp.  The idea of reaching the summit now seemed reasonable.

The top of the Schilthorn and Piz Gloria

The initial trail leading out of Gimmelwald and into the river valley is a wide single lane dirt road.  But as it climbs above treeline, it becomes a single track trail.  Route finding is quite easy when there is no snow on the ground as the Swiss readily mark all their trails.

Well marked trail, when there is no snow.

The trail climbs thru cow pastures into a basin.  At 6690 feet, in the bowl of the basin is the Rotstock-Hutte.

Rotstock-Hutte

Up until this point I hadn't seen anyone besides a few dozen cows.  Stepping inside the hut, I found a half-dozen people sitting around having lunch.  I grabbed a quick snack and pondered my next move.  The wind had picked up as I reached the hut.  I was worried a bit that the weather might be turning nasty and I still had nearly 3000 ft to climb.   Not wanting to waste a window of opportunity to reach the summit, I quickly bid farewell to those in the hut and continued on my way.

Signs point the way.  As if I couldn't tell where I needed to go. 

This is where the hike gets interesting.  As stated before, I don't think the Swiss believe in switchbacks.  The trail out of the basin up to the ridge, followed what I would guess was just a sheep/cattle trail.  It went straight up.  On the plus side, I was protected from the winds again and the clouds didn't look threatening.

Looking back down into the basin and hut.

As the picture shows, you gain a lot of vertical quickly.  Near the ridge, the route finding became more difficult.  The were no cairns.  With snow covering more of the ground on the ridge, you couldn't see the painted rocks.  I also was working with a poor map.  It was one of those freebies that are not drawn to scale, but is more like a ski trail map.  It shows the mountains and the trails but not completely.  I was approaching the summit from the "backside" and once I reached the ridge, the map didn't show how the trail reached the summit.  I had looked for a decent trail map in Lauterbrunnen and Murren the days before, but nothing was all that great.  No where near the quality of a Sky Terrain map.  So I hadn't bought one.  I was slightly worried that might be an issue.  But I figured, having hiked a fair amount in the mountains, one generally gets the idea of where the trail should go.  So I had to do a bit of bushwhacking (without the bushes), and soon found myself back on trail.

With snow, route finding is not so easy.  Can't see painted rocks.

Once on the ridge, around 8800ft, the trail became completely clear.  But I was exposed to a vicious wind.  I'm guessing consistent 20-30mph with gusts of 40-50. It was bad in sections. So bad I had to brace myself to stay standing.  I was tiring quickly.  This 45 mins of hiking really began to suck.

Winds were rough here, as I am totally exposed to them.

As I got closer to the top, and into some rocks, I was once again protected from the wind.  And the route got fun.  Up until this point, this was purely a Class 2 climb.  A hard Class 2 because of the vertical gain in spots and due to the wind, but no scrambling whatsoever.  Now there was some scrambling.  And more snow to deal with.  But the Swiss do make things slightly easier with ladders.

Even before the staircase, there were many spots with ropes anchored into the rock to hold onto.  Then after the staircase, there was this.

But there also was some scrambling that didn't have any ropes or stairs to use.  And there was a bit of exposure, nothing overly ridiculous, but enough to make it exciting.

Almost to the top.  Anyone home?

As I neared the top, I began to feel the pull of just taking the cable car back down.  I was 5 hours into the hike and with the wind, plus trudging thru snow and the fact I had raced a marathon just 4 days before, I was starting to really drag.  Wouldn't a beer at the top be nice?  And even though it would be pricey, wouldn't the cable car ride back down be cool?  This was my thought process as I approached the summit and was I all I could think about that I didn't realize that I still hadn't seen anyone. Instead, I thought it odd that they hadn't shoveled and cleared the walkways and observation platform around the Piz Gloria.  As I was taking pictures it dawned on me, the Piz Gloria was closed and I was the only one on top the mountain.

Those footprints.  Those are mine.  No one else has been up here in a day or two.

I would imagine this is like climbing Pikes Peak and finding no one on the top.  An extremely rare occurrence.  As I understood I was all alone on top I had two thoughts, this was really cool, and now I need to hike back down.  With it still being very windy and clouds seemingly to be rolling in, I figured I couldn't stay to long on top.  But I did take a few minutes to enjoy the solitude and amazing views.

Looking back at the ridge I climbed up.

Looking down into the basin I had climbed up.  You can barely make out Rotstock-Hutte in the left portion of the basin.

Panaroma taken from the Schilthorn.  From left to right is the Eiger,  Monch,  and Jungfrau (hidden in the clouds)

Self Portrait to prove I indeed was there.

Now it was time to tackle the descent.  I was planning to descend down the Schilttal basin to Gimmela and then Murren.  As this was the north facing slope, there was still a fair amount of snow to trudge thru.  I didn't bother trying to find a trail, but just made the best way down the initial descent.

This way down.

Making tracks on the descent.

The snow was about knee deep and actually made the descent easier than trying to go down the trail.  Only wish I had an ice ax as it would have been a fun glissade.  Shortly I got down the initial steep descent and out of the snow field.

Looking back up at the Piz Gloria and the initial descent thru the snowfield.

Having gotten thru this section, my fear of potential weather issues dissipated and I could enjoy the views on the rest of the descent.

Birg is the mid-station point between Murren and Piz Gloira.  The Eiger dominates the background.

Small lake below Birg.

The Schilttal valley that I will descend thru to reach Murren.

Hey look, more waterfalls.

At the bottom of the basin, near Schiltalp.  Cows are once again plotting something.  

After a long descent thru the basin, I finally saw the first person on the trail.  From a distance I just thought it was another hiker, but hadn't seen any tracks up top so didn't know where they came from.  As I got closer, I realized he was carrying something.  Then I got close enough to get this pic.

Don't see that too often in Colorado.  After nearly 7 hours, I finally came into Murren.

Murren, a welcome sight for some tired legs.

Cable car!? We don't need no stinkin cable car!

Stopped in Murren to use the town rec center once again. Took a long soak in hot tub then hot shower, before continuing down to the hostel in Gimmelwald for a well deserved beer and pizza.

Dinner with a view.

In the end it was nearly a 13 mile loop with 6024 feet vertical gain.  Total time (with clock stopped for breaks at Rotstock-Hutte, on the top, and Murren) was 7 hours 20 minutes.  A great day in the mountains in complete solitude with postcard views.

Thursday was my last day in the Lauterbrunnen valley.  Again I woke up to clouds filling the valley.  There would be 2 things I had on the agenda for the week that I wouldn't be able to do, but otherwise it was a fantastic few days.  Even the snow was fun.  I headed out of the hostel one last time, this time to hike back down to Lauterbrunnen, by way of Stechelberg, thus completing one giant loop.

My humble abode the past few days.

Waterfalls and Cable Cars.  They are everywhere in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

BASE Jumpers are also everywhere in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

Unless they go splat, the locals don't seem to even notice them.

After nearly a week in the valley, it was time to head back to Zurich for the weekend.

On the train.

Farewell for now.  I think I will be back again.