kentucky

I checked off my 23rd state! After a brief detour to Texas (#22), I made my way to Kentucky to visit my friend Katie. The last time I saw her was at her wedding a couple of years ago. It was time to see her again and why not do it in her home state.

I spent 4 days doing lots of fun things, including those specific to Kentucky. First up was the Derby miniMarathon. This was the first big race since my marathon last October. It was difficult to assess how this was going to go. I got my long runs in but some of the training was a bit sporadic. But I went out and ran consistent 8-minute miles. I finished with 1:45:46, so I was pretty happy. Later in the year I would like to PR, but will have to see what race would be best for that and where I'm at with my training.

The race started in downtown Louisville, where I passed the Louisville Slugger Museum (which I went to later in the weekend) and made my way down to Churchill Downs. After seeing a horse running on the track, I turned back towards town while passing some of the U of L campus, and later on, Katie at mile 12. After the finish I celebrated with a beer (or 2) and a fried twinkie at the Chow Wagon. Delish.

On Sunday we made our way to the Museum where I tried out Jeter's bat. If there weren't any nets I'm positive I would have hit a HR. I got to see the bats being made—including the Mother's Day commemorative pink bats—and got a mini bat to take home with me.

On my last day, I had to try some straight bourbon whisky. We drove to Loretto, KY where we took a tour of Maker's Mark Distillery. It was very nice. We walked around the grounds to the various buildings to see the full distilling process. And of course tried some of the bourbon, including Maker's 49 and Maker's White.

All in all a very good trip. Catching up with friends, running, seeing new things, enjoying great weather (minus the hail storm), and so on. What more could I ask for?