Bourbon Chase

For the fifth time in the past six years, October has also sent John running along Kentucky's back roads as part of the Bourbon Chase, a 200-mile relay race that takes runners on a tour of the beauty of Kentucky and its bourbon distilleries. John runs with a group of professors and former students from EKU and Transylvania University. Their team name - Intellectual Pursuits. This year John was in Van 2, which means his chase started in the afternoon at the Maker's Mark distillery. The whole set-up creates a wonderful environment, with runners from all around the country excited to run a lot and get little sleep.

The way it works is pretty simple. There are 36 legs of the race and 12 runners on the team. You run 3 different times, and those times depend on which leg you are and how fast your teammates run. For Van 2, when you finish running at 5:00am or so, you find a Waffle House in Danville and sit down for a good meal. Here is one of John's teammates, Kelly Abraham, in perfect Bourbon Chase apparel. It's whatever is warm, dry and doesn't smell.

Obviously when you are running at night the scenery is not so incredible. But when the sun is shining you often have to pinch yourself. You are tired, sure, but you are running through the heart of horse country, and the farms are beautiful. The back roads of Kentucky, especially on a crisp fall day, are something to behold. And when you are lucky you get to run by horse farms where the horses out in the fields will run with you for a little bit. It's cool and very humbling all at the same time. Here we see Kirk Abraham, Kelly's husband, finishing strong on one of the more picturesque transitions.

This is John at the end of his final leg, a 6.7 miler that ended near the Kentucky Horse Park. This wrapped up just over 19 miles of running over the course of the previous 24 hours on about 2.5 hours of sleep. And John can't wait to do it again. There are 12 legs on the Chase and John has now run 5 out of those 12. He has to do it at least 7 more years.

And this is how we finish. For the last 100 yards we don our academic robes and bring it home. It's a great feeling and just a great deal of fun. For nearly 30 hours you share an experience with a group of folks who are as crazy as you are. This picture, it should be noted, was taken by Sarah, who should also receive credit for her accomplishments. Every year during the chase she takes the Abraham girls while John, Kirk, and Kelly run and then brings everyone to the finish line. Can't wait until next year!