The beer mile: a race like no other. Four laps around a track, each one preceded by chugging a beer. The beer must be at least 5% ABV and may not be opened ahead of time. Any runner who throws up incurs a penalty lap. And that's about it.
Born in 1980's Canada (it has been joked that Canadians are to the beer mile as East Africans are to the marathon), it has since grown in popularity in recent years, with national championships and top beer milers earning endorsements and making appearances on national tv.
I've only ever done one other beer mile in my life, which I did two years ago completely by myself with Stevie spectating. My only two goals then were to finish under ten minutes and not throw up. I accomplished the latter but failed in the former when I quickly discovered how bad I am at chugging beer. Still, I came reasonably close by finishing in 10:45.
Here's the post from that experience two years ago (includes bonus comment from a disgruntled former student):
My first beer mile.
Anyway, apparently my love of running and beer is becoming more widely known, because this year I was invited to take part in an annual beer mile with several others. Many from Who's Up? would be there as well. I put it on my calendar and immediately started "training".
My goal for this year's beer mile was to beat 10:45 whether I puked or not. Spoiler alert: I didn't even come close. I don't even know my exact time. Maybe twenty minutes? Let's just say you could have measured my performance last night with a sundial.
My two issues last time had been my lack of chugging ability, and how full I still was when I started. So I spent last week practicing chugging beer, sometimes going out for my daily run directly afterwards to acclimate to the sloshing effect. I also made sure not to eat as much beforehand.
But after drinking the first beer in respectable time, the carbonation immediately caught up with me, making it incredibly hard to stomach subsequent beers. I had also decided to go with warm Budweiser as opposed to ice cold like last time, because I'd read that warm beer is easier to chug. The only problem is that I may as well have been drinking rotgut fermented in horsepiss. My gassy stomach made it difficult to chug beers 2, 3 and 4, while the foul taste made it all but impossible.
There was nothing I could do but stand there and take dainty, horrid sips while others lapped me.
Fellow runner: C'mon Scott, last beer! You can do it!
Scott: Uh, dude, this is my 3rd one.
Fellow runner: ouch.
The winner finished in 7:33. Like I said, I have no idea what my final time was but estimate about twenty minutes. On my final lap, I was joined by another guy out of solidarity, and everyone clapped for me as I finished. DFL.
Surprisingly we all went out to a bar afterwards where we had more beer and discovered that one of the runners had to be disqualified. He neglected to check the ABV on his beer of choice (Modelo) which ended up only being 4.4%.
I'm tempted to say this was my last beer mile ever, but let's be honest, the competitiveness with myself is going to kick in, and I'm already trying to think of how I can do better next time.
Until then, I'll keep the running and beer separate.
Born in 1980's Canada (it has been joked that Canadians are to the beer mile as East Africans are to the marathon), it has since grown in popularity in recent years, with national championships and top beer milers earning endorsements and making appearances on national tv.
I've only ever done one other beer mile in my life, which I did two years ago completely by myself with Stevie spectating. My only two goals then were to finish under ten minutes and not throw up. I accomplished the latter but failed in the former when I quickly discovered how bad I am at chugging beer. Still, I came reasonably close by finishing in 10:45.
Here's the post from that experience two years ago (includes bonus comment from a disgruntled former student):
My first beer mile.
Anyway, apparently my love of running and beer is becoming more widely known, because this year I was invited to take part in an annual beer mile with several others. Many from Who's Up? would be there as well. I put it on my calendar and immediately started "training".
My goal for this year's beer mile was to beat 10:45 whether I puked or not. Spoiler alert: I didn't even come close. I don't even know my exact time. Maybe twenty minutes? Let's just say you could have measured my performance last night with a sundial.
My two issues last time had been my lack of chugging ability, and how full I still was when I started. So I spent last week practicing chugging beer, sometimes going out for my daily run directly afterwards to acclimate to the sloshing effect. I also made sure not to eat as much beforehand.
But after drinking the first beer in respectable time, the carbonation immediately caught up with me, making it incredibly hard to stomach subsequent beers. I had also decided to go with warm Budweiser as opposed to ice cold like last time, because I'd read that warm beer is easier to chug. The only problem is that I may as well have been drinking rotgut fermented in horsepiss. My gassy stomach made it difficult to chug beers 2, 3 and 4, while the foul taste made it all but impossible.
There was nothing I could do but stand there and take dainty, horrid sips while others lapped me.
Fellow runner: C'mon Scott, last beer! You can do it!
Scott: Uh, dude, this is my 3rd one.
Fellow runner: ouch.
The winner finished in 7:33. Like I said, I have no idea what my final time was but estimate about twenty minutes. On my final lap, I was joined by another guy out of solidarity, and everyone clapped for me as I finished. DFL.
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| Who's Up? was only a small faction of the beer milers |
Surprisingly we all went out to a bar afterwards where we had more beer and discovered that one of the runners had to be disqualified. He neglected to check the ABV on his beer of choice (Modelo) which ended up only being 4.4%.
I'm tempted to say this was my last beer mile ever, but let's be honest, the competitiveness with myself is going to kick in, and I'm already trying to think of how I can do better next time.
Until then, I'll keep the running and beer separate.
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