I cannot figure out why people ask me to run half-marathons with them. I am slow. Turtle slow! And when it’s **snowing** (yes, more on that later) and you have to wait outside for your slow runner friend to finish…well lets just say I am grateful that I still have any friends at this point.

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Elyana is a regular on my half-marathon in every state journey (see Half-Marathon #5, Half-Marathon #7 and Half-Marathon #11). When she mentioned that she and her fiancé, Shane, were going on a road trip and would do a half- marathon in Kentucky I was all on board. It had been 2.5 years since I had run a race thanks to COVID-19 plus two pregnancies and I knew I needed to get back in the saddle (#horsepun 🤣🤣🤣🤣)

While Elyana and Shane drove to Kentucky, I bought plane tickets to arrive in Lexington Thursday night.

Lexington airport is SMALL. Not like Biloxi, Mississippi small but pretty darn close. Needless to say, there were not near enough uber drivers available to transport our entire flight across the city. After waiting close to 30 minutes, my uber driver pulled up. Normally, I am your typical American in a rideshare: Please don’t talk to me and I won’t talk to you. I don’t know what I ate for dinner but for some reason I was Chatty Cathy. And you know what? My uber driver was SUPER knowledgeable. Things I learned from my Lexington-native driver:

1. This weekend is Keeneland Opening Weekend. Keeneland is a horse racing venue and has two meets every year – one in the spring and one in the fall. The spring meet is April 8 – 29, 2022. Opening weekend is a big deal in Lexington and my uber driver recommended we buy tickets to attend.
2. Besides racing, Lexington is known for breeding and selling thoroughbreds. And apparently if you have a successful horse, breeding is unfathomably profitable. How profitable you ask? Well in 2021 American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner, had a stud fee of $100,000 per session. And he can go at is up to three times a day during peak breeding season!! And people say that sex work is illegal in America…. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣
3. The symbol for the city of Lexington is a blue horse. Which is apparently an ode to horses turning blue after eating the Kentucky bluegrass. Don’t think there is scientific evidence to back that one up but its a good marketing ploy!

Okay am I allowed to say something super idiotic? This is a safe space right?

I genuinely had NO idea Lexington was all about horses. And yes, I should have put it together since we were running a race called “Horse Capital Marathon and Half-Marathon.” Don’t judge me…LIFE IS HARD!

Anyways, all I am going to say is that I learned more about horses this weekend in Lexington than in my entire life.

I spent a night in our Airbnb solo before Elyana and Shane arrived. I shared with them the wealth of knowledge that I had learned from my uber driver as well and they were all onboard with the recommendations. So even though it was raining, we trekked out to Keeneland for opening day races.

This may be a good point to provide a little bit more background for those of you, like me, that know nothing about Lexington. Lexington is the home to the University of Kentucky. I know very little about UK except for that they are a large university (google tells me 20K undergraduates) and they have a prominent Greek population. This second fact I only discovered as I was walking around Lexington and I stumbled upon this mammoth of a fraternity house.

I mean it literally looks like Monticello minus the round dome-thing on the top.

As someone who went to college and did a fair amount of partying (oops?), I should have thought about connecting horse racing with college students. I’m embarrassed to say I did not. But don’t worry, as soon as we arrived to Keeneland we were all reminded. For any Virginia school alums, Keeneland is Foxfields on steroids. Lots of drinking with a side of horses, cigars and gambling.

It was raining and cold and gross and STILL women were rocking dresses and heels. I am unsure if I was aghast, concerned, or just impressed with their dedication to the cause. For reference, Elyana and I were legitimately wearing winter jackets because it was that nasty outside.

On the bright side, we were rewarded with an airplane bottle of Jim Beam solely for taking a photo of a group. College students definitely have their pros! 🙂

The other good news? I actually saw a few horse races!!!

This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal given that we were at a horse racing venue. However, I was redeeming college Julia (see photo below) who managed to spend an ENTIRE day at a horse race and somehow missed seeing all the horses.

Now, in all fairness to college Julia, the horse races really don’t last that long (I learned this at Keeneland as adult Julia 🤣). So it is sort of plausible that I missed all the races….kind of…maybe…actually let’s just move on. 🤦🏻‍♀️

After our adventures to Keeneland, we grabbed the traditional pre-race food (PASTA obviously) and then headed home for a chill night.

The next morning, we all bundle up (because yes it is still beyond freezing outside) and head to Kentucky Horse Park. I wish I could say that Elyana, Shane and I all ran together but that would just be such a lie. Elyana and Shane are those people that are annoyingly fast even if they don’t train. I also wish I could say that I trained and therefore I wasn’t that much behind them but that would be another lie. I didn’t train. I was super slow and miserable.

And you know what made it even more miserable?

THIS DAMN SNOW!!!! WHY ON EARTH IS IT SNOWING IN KENTUCKY IN APRIL?!?! I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR RUNNING IN THE SNOW!!!

Not only are Shane and Elyana miles ahead of me, but while I am running (read: dying) in this weather, Andy and his family are going to a freaking tulip farm and I am getting all the group texts. Never in my life have I ever wished so hard to be somewhere else.

Alas, as I somehow always manage to do, I did finish in a whopping 2 hours and 44 minutes (12:33 mile pace for those math inclined).

Things I liked about the race:

1. Easy Access/Parking: It was very easy to get in and out of the race location (no pre or post race traffic) and there was plenty of close-by parking.
2. Beautiful views: While the weather put a damper on my visual enjoyment, the race was truly in horse country and it was gorgeous.

3. Great Perks: Afterwards there were a lot of yummy snacks available. Also, they had my absolute favorite perk: FREE PHOTOS!!

Things I didn’t like about the race:

1. Directions: While there was a lot of parking, the directions to the race start were awful. We, along with dozens of other cars, went to the wrong location to start. Even worse than the race start directions, the directions on the race course were subpar. Some poor woman completely missed the turn-off for the marathon runners (which I agree was not adequately labeled) and she literally had to run an absurd number of additional miles.
2. Out and Back: The race was out and back which is not my favorite because it is more boring. Plus, the entire second half of the race was facing the wind/snow so you were just getting pelted the last six miles. I’m pretty sure I was moving backwards at some points.
3. Rolling Hills: The race was ALL rolling hills which doesn’t seem that bad until the next day when you literally can’t move. Albeit, that may have just been my general out-of-shapeness so we will try to not pass too much judgment on that one.

Before I move on I must give a serious shout-out to Elyana and Shane who so kindly waited for me in the snow, sleet and rain while I took an hour to finish after them. This is what we call true friendship! 💕💕

Post-race, shower and food we headed to Sun Valley Farm for a thoroughbred breeding tour which was highly recommended by the guides at Lexington’s Visitor Center. Comments/thoughts/interesting nuggets:

• Sun Valley Farm was founded in 1997, is family-owned/operated and has 200 acres. They breed horses which basically means they work really hard to get horses pregnant. And these horses are literally pregnant all.year.round. I do not exaggerate: 23 days after a horse gives birth, they try to get her pregnant again! Can you imagine?!? I think 23 days post-pregnancy I was proud of myself for going on a walk around the block…let alone trying to work on bringing another child into these world 🤯
• Given that birth is the ultimate goal, breeding farms will put a mask on the horses with a blue light that makes them think it is daylight longer than it is (until 11 PM). I’m a little confused on the scientific reason of this but apparently its supposed to speed up pregnancy or fertility or some other baby-making thing.

• The money making portion of horse breeding is super interesting. Each stud (male horse used for breeding) has a “stud fee” which essentially means “how much will it cost for me to mount a female horse while she is ovulating.” These fees can range from a couple of thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another payment option is called a fowl share where you waive the stud fee but when the fowl is sold you split the profits with the stud farm.

• When a fowl is born they go by their two parents’ names. The horses don’t get their own name until they are ready for the racetrack, usually around two years old. Names can be up to 18 characters and have to be approved by the Jockey Club. If you want to name a horse after someone you need to get their approval (just a heads up – I’m totally open to having a horse named after me!).
• Kentucky has a ton of limestone water which is apparently great for thoroughbreds and one of the reasons Kentucky is known for horses. (There was some scientific reason for it but I totally missed it.)

Overall, I enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. However, I didn’t think it lived up to the hype that the woman at the Visitor’s Center expressed. We did get to pet the horses and play with the barn cats (LOVE) but I can’t imagine wanting to do the tour again after having done it once.

And of course, no blog post would be complete with a review of the food/drink locations we visited on our trip:

• DV8 Kitchen – Yes. Just yes. A casual eatery with top notch breakfast.

• Lussi Brown Coffee Bar – In a quest to satisfy my caffeine addiction, I went here for a cappuccino. Little did I know this trendy coffee shop also moonlights as a bar. While I did not try any of their alcohol beverages, the menu looked delicious.

• Goodfellas Pizza – There was the LONGEST line to get dinner here so we figured it must be great. However, I wasn’t that impressed. The pizza was fine but nothing amazing. There was definitely a good atmosphere so that counts for something but honestly it was really hard to find a place to sit and for the cost didn’t seem worth the wait.
• Wise Bird Cider Co – A super cute cidery with lots of open space, games and is dog/kid friendly.

• Distillery District – Both Goodfellas and Wise Bird Cider were in the Distillery District which I was a huge fan of. There were a ton of place to eat, drink and engage in activities. Highly recommend making a trip there if you are in Lexington.

Even though we had some questionable weather, Kentucky you treated us well! Another state (and race) down! Only 35 left to go…