Number 17 - Kentucky Derby Marathon in Louisville, KY
One third of the way to completing the tour of 5o states + D.C. The weather was good, mid-50's to mid-60's partly cloudy to sunny. This was my second trip to Louisville for this event; the last time (99) I ran the half marathon with my friends from St. Louis, Steve and Vicki.
Jan and I stopped by my cousin Harry's house to visit he and his wife Helga, their daughter Heidi, husband Lenny and grandchildren Maggie and Alyssa. Helga prepared a great pasta dinner for us with home made cheesecake and snickerdoodles. Harry, Helga and Heidi also came down to the race where I met them at about the 12 mile mark.
This course had a few more hills than my usual selection for a marathon, but I seemed to handle them well. I finished 10th of 44 runners in my age group with a time of 3:59:07. I guess that 26.2 mile long run four weeks earlier helped my endurance. One of my favorite parts of the course was running into Churchill Downs. The route runs under the track and around the infield. We were treated while running in the infield with recordings of prior Kentucky Derby races.
While it was not like the mega-events of Chicago, Boston or New York, it was one of my favorites of the mid-size cities. Jan was a great support again; she met me at all the check points and encouraged those around her to root for me when I came by. The race had a few other highlights including a running Elvis club that played Elvis songs while running and a jokester who was leading a 4:00 pace group. Here is one of his jokes: A guy and his wife were playing golf. He hits his ball behind a tool shed. He says to his wife, if I open the shed door I can hit the ball through the door and through the window up onto the green. He hits the ball, it ricochets off the workbench in the tool shed and hits his wife in the head and she dies. Two years later the same guy is playing golf with a friend. His friend hits the ball behind the tool shed and says if I open the shed door I can hit the ball through the door and through the window up onto the green. The other guy says, that is a bad idea. I did that two years ago and took an 8. Being a golfer that was pretty funny.
After the race we visited Jan's sister Phyllis and her husband Harvey, and their son Marty and wife Nancy in nearby Winchester, KY.
It was a great weekend; Jan and I had time alone, we visited family and I had a very successful race. Next stop is the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, D.C. in October.