Never heard of one? Me either until I ran the Big Hit 1/2 last year, which was a few weeks after the Bourbon Chase (BC) and where I set my most competitive PR a 1:15:15 (5:45 for 13.1 miles). But, this year the Big Hit was a week prior to the Chase. So, as the BC was my primary focus for the fall, I decided to only race the 1/4 and just make it a pace training day for the BC. Since I wanted to be able to run well under 6 minute pace for the enitre relay a week later, I went out at about 5:45 in the 1/4 marathon (6.55 miles). Within a few minutes I was pretty much alone at the front. This is a really nice event that just hasn't gotten very big in its first two years. In fact, last year 1:15 was third, and this year it would have won handily. It's a terrific venue, big promotions company, and they give away sweet custom Louisville Slugger bats, but it just hasn't gotten really competitive. Which was fine with me, since I was using my free entry to get a good training day in, not race shoulder to shoulder burrying myself a week before the BC. In the course of the race, I ran past the police lead-out twice and got to the stadium before the organizers had even set up the cones to tell you to turn in to the center field gate (luckily my friend Tom Nielsen is the head grounds keeper at Slugger Field and I knew where I was going). If you look at the start of the video, you'll see the guys scurrying across the bottom of the frame looking for the microphone to announce my arrival.
It IS a really well done event. And, the 1/2 is a blazing fast course (even faster this year than last) and how many of you have a 1/4 marathon PR?
Check out the Brooks gear in the video: Distance Singlet, Infiniti III Shorts, and T7 Racer shoes.
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