The Athletic Brewing TCS Waterfront Marathon Race Team

 

The story begins at the Beer Mile held by Athletic Brewing and iRun Magazine on Saturday, August 19 when a long time dream came true—being a runner (I started running just before I turn 40), I wanted to run a Beer Mile Race.

 

I had intentions to do so for a long time, but the fact that I don’t drink beer unless it’s a momentous occasion (along with the fear of how I would feel drinking so much beer in a short time) had my foot pumping the brakes and put a pause on this crazy idea. Heck, I didn’t think I could drink a beer, let alone four! Could I even drink four bottles of San Pellegrino??

 

Ben Kaplan organized the race and did it in top-class style. To start, he rounded up a great group of participants, heck he even had a pro participant who gave up her top secrets to a successful race. Ben’s magic was the beer: Athletic Brewing supplied the non-alcoholic beer, which in theory doesn’t qualify for a true beer mile as 5% is the minimum alcohol content of the beer imbibed.  I can be a stickler for rules, but when it comes down to including friends who opt out of drinking alcohol for personal reasons, I am just as pleased to ‘fudge the rules’!

 

 

To make me feel better about the non-alcoholic beer, my husband said, ‘It’s like drinking the real thing without the after effects.’

I did it! I downed 4 beers in under 10 minutes and finished my mile in a time of 11:40 as was announced by the official time keeper (an 11-year-old kid, son of the eventual winner). Five stars to Athletic Brewing for supplying the beer—truly awesome beer for drinkers and non-drinkers alike.

And last but not least, 5 stars to Gord, coach and beer mile mentor!!!

 

 

So, how did the beer mile get me to register for the half marathon? Well, two weeks prior to the race I broke my 3rd bone this year, second time breaking my left metatarsal, but most recently I broke my right metatarsal (4 weeks before running in the Tokyo Marathon). When I asked my husband if he wanted to participate, he said, ‘How can you do it on a broken foot?’ I replied, ‘I didn’t see that there was a required time to complete!’”