2013 Oak Barrel HM in Lynchburg, TN

Short and sweet version;

Time: 1:55:13

AG: 18/56

OA: 190/1026

Longer with pics;

This was my second time running the Oak Barrel Half Marathon, and my 4^th HM. Last year’s time was 2:01:27. This is a small (~1200 registrants) race in rural Lynchburg, TN. It is the home of the Jack Daniels’s Distillery, which makes and produces all the Jack Daniels whiskey and they offer free tours that last about an hour. They are also the main sponsor of the HM. This is a beautiful course run through the country which offers some spectacular views of some large farms, but also has the occasional pungent smell of a farm, think cow poo. This course also has a big hill with its own FB page, the hill is called Whiskey Hill. Here is the elevation profile of the race course (most people walk the steepest part, including me, ha)

                      and here is my training hill profile

As you can see, I have almost a mirror image to train on. I typically run my training hill 1-4 times per week on my regular runs, and there are times that it kicks my butt, just like Whiskey Hill did.

Since I’d run a big PR in February of 1:51:33, I didn’t have any real goals for this race, except to beat last year’s time. At the start of the race, I had this silly notion that I could run a 1:50, but soon realized that this would not happen today. I started out doing okay with the first 3 miles on target, but then just wasn’t able to hold the 8:23 pace I wanted. I lost quite a bit of time on Whiskey Hill as you can see in my splits.

So after Whiskey Hill whipped my butt at mile 5, I was able to find a decent pace and hold on for the rest of the race.

This is a very nice race that is well organized and I highly recommend it. Is a matter of fact, I will continue to run this race as long as I’m able. Now for some pics, this is the finisher’s medal that is made from a retired whiskey barrel.

And here is another souvenir that I picked up, it's the Single Barrel blend.

The Nike Tech Tee

Me after the race. The blue bracelets on my R arm are for colon cancer. And if you look closely at my L arm, you can see my orange "running for Jenny" bracelet near my watch.

Some of my thoughts post race;

1) I had a very good training cycle for the February HM, with a lot of focus and concentration on getting in the quality runs, using the Ryan Hall Plan(10 week).

2) After the February Half, I had 6 weeks until this HM. I thought that I could just pick up on week 5 of the same RH plan to have another good race, hence the sub 1:50 thoughts.

3) I worked 12 hour night shift the entire month of March leading up to this race, and barely done the miles, much less the speed work.

4) As a whole, I think my fitness is pretty solid, and with a decent work schedule, and another solid training cycle, I honestly think that I could get close to a 1:48 time in the half.

5) FM in the future, ???

6) 7 months post op from my colon cancer surgery, priceless.

Thanks for reading,

Mitch

Well done, Hog! That looks like a killer hill and you did great.  It's too bad about your work schedule. I bet you could have done even better. That sounds like a fun race. Great work!

Coralie, yes to the same day, it only took about 45 minutes.

Jack, thanks, the hill is tough.

Traci, Huntsville Half in November? Yes. Huntsville marathon in December? Depends how the summer goes, but most likely YES.

Great job!  Nice medal.

Way to go on the HM time on a course with a hill named Whiskey Hill.  I must say the finisher's medal and the etched glass of your souvenir are both very cool.  More importantly, congratulations on seven months post op for colon cancer surgery!

Thanks for the RR!

Congratulations, Mitch!  You are an inspiration!

Way to go, Mitch!  Great job beating your goal.  That hill looks like...fun?