2012 North Carolina Beer Runs

 

With the 2012 calendar year in full swing, its the time of year that I start planning my spring, summer and fall race plans. Unlike previous years, I have a big race coming up this month as well but looking past that and into March, I decided to throw a list up of beer runs across the state. I'll update this list as I learn of more races but for now, take a peak and find a beer run or two to target of your own. Please let me know of any races I've missed.

In case you are new to the concept, a beer run in this context is an organized run or race that includes the serving of cold beer at the finish to participants. While tasting good and making you feel good, beer is also an excellent way to aid the body in recovery following a distance run.*

*Nonalcoholic Beer Aids Marathon Recovery

*BEER RUN! A (somewhat) scientific look at how a postrun pint (or two) impacts your favorite activity.

March 3 - St. Paddy's Run Green 8k

4th annual event finishing at Tir na nog Irish Pub in downtown Raleigh. Post-race street party, beer truck. Last year's party included Craggie Brewing beers. See my 2010 report.

March 17 - Old Town Beerun 2012 5 Miler

Annual race held at the Old Town Draft House on the edge of UNC Greensboro campus. Starts and finishes outside Old Town with Natty Greene's Brewing Company beers on draft at the finish. Each registered runner gets two beers with their entry. See my 2011 and 2010 reports. Register for 2012 HERE

March 18 - Tobacco Road Marathon and Half Marathon 

3rd annual race held in Morrisville and run on the flat and fast American Tobacco Trail. Post-race party includes the Natty Greene's Beer Garden. A Natty's beer truck will be on site, each runner gets two free beers.

March 24 - Race the Bar 5k 

A new race, part of the new Race the Bar series that will include 4 events in 2012. This event will be a 5K at The Last Resort and Meltdown on Deacon Blvd. in Winston-Salem, featuring beer from Carolina Brewery.

March 31 - The Kinston 8000 Run for the River 8k and 1 mile fun run

7th annual event finishing within a block of race sponsor Mother Earth Brewing in downtown Kinston. The Mother Earth taproom and brewery will be open at 10am following the race. 

March 31 - Black Mountain Greenway Challenge 5k and 10k

5th annual event held at Pisgah Brewing Company. It's a safe bet that there is beer at the finish of this one.

April 19 - The Foxhunt 5k 

2nd annual evening event held in downtown Raleigh at Natty Greene's Brewery. Each registrant receives two beers with entry. See my 2011 report.

May 12 - Race the Bar 5k and 8k

A new race, part of the new Race the Bar series that will include 4 events in 2012. This event will include a 5K and 8K race at Lindley Park Filling Station and Sticks and Stones at the corner of Walker and Elam in Greensboro, featuring beer from Highland Brewery. 

May 19-20 - Warrior Dash North Carolina - Huntersville

A national mud run race event series. Seems a bit corporate to me, not sure what beer they serve but each entrant gets a beer at the finish.

June 2 - Running of the Bulls 8k 
4th annual race held in downtown Durham near the historic Durham Athletic Park. Event sponsor Fullsteam Brewery is just around the corner from the finish and I recall their taproom was open for business after this past year's event.

In addition, let me remind everyone you can make any race or run a beerrun by enjoying a cold craft beer after your run. Just pack a can or two in a cooler, find a bar or tailgate nearby and recover. Enjoy!

The Killer Years

Recently while researching an upcoming Hollywood film about Formula 1 directed by Ron Howard to be named "Rush", I stumbled across a recent BBC documentary about the same era. "Grand Prix - The Killer Years" is a documentary about the 60's and 70's, a period in F1 history when many drivers were killed each season during Grand Prix weekends. I've studied F1 history for years, I've seen some of the crashes, read about the drivers who perished, heard about the lack of track and car safety but this film really does put it all out there with perhaps a bit of television glorification of the dangers F1 drivers faced. Below you can watch the entire one hour documentary that aired on BBC. (Yes, it does contain some graphic content)

40 Days & 40 Nights, My Holiday Run Streak

To end another personally accomplishing year as a runner, I wanted to finish out 2011 with a race or goal that would keep me motivated to run over the holidays. I considered a 5k here or a 10k there, maybe a New Year's Day event somewhere but really nothing caught my eye. Than I came across a challenge of sorts from Runner's World magazine via their twitter page. The challenge was to run at least one mile per day from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day - a holiday run streak that is. 39 days straight of running at least a mile, every day. While still considering the idea, my friend Tim - the beer runner in Wisconsin with Draft Magazine, a man known for his own run streak posed a twist on the challenge suggesting running at least a mile and drinking a beer every day. I've followed Tim's own run streak over the past 15 months or so that he started on his 29th birthday and has continued on past his 30th birthday. I've got a few years on Tim but I figured what the hay, I'll take on the challenge from both @runnersworld and @draftmag's @thebeerrunner and see where it takes me.

Having run 3 out of the past 5 days (including the beer mile on Saturday) before Thanksgiving, I went into the start of my streak plenty warmed up. My biggest concern was getting sick from running outside in the cold or inflaming one of my knees. My expectation is that I would be running on the treadmill a lot and most of my runs would be 1 to 1.5 miles per day. Generally, I take December and January off from running because of the holidays and that is when its cold, gets dark early here in NC. By February, I feel guilty and fat and start working to recover for the spring season.

Michelle, her parents and I were headed to the coast to visit my family for Thanksgiving Day so I had to get my run done early or it wasn't going to happen. I started the streak with a 4.3 mile run from home out and around my part of town. The runs came quickly over the coming days and I quickly learned ways to fit them in my schedule making adjustments on other things in my life to accommodate the need to run. On Day 4, I even made it out to North Raleigh to a new, flat section of greenway along the Neuse River for a fast 5.1 mile run. My pace was fairly close to my race pace from several 5 mile races I ran earlier in the year. I felt good that the streak was possible as I completed the first week. Over the first 7 days, I averaged 2.85 miles per day with every run outside. In addition tracking my mileage via GPS on RunKeeper and LogYourRun, I also reactivated my Daily Mile account and recorded my mileage there. Daily Mile is a social tool for sharing and motivating with other runner friends virtually while recording mileage and viewing your progress.

Moving into December, I maintained my schedule with relative ease. I had to run indoors on the treadmill once due to a cold snap one evening but overall, I was feeling good, logging my miles and enjoying tasty beers daily. Within two weeks of running daily, I had lost about 4-5 pounds and hadn't changed my diet at all. I was lighter than my summertime marathon training weight. On December 15, which was three weeks in, the weather in North Carolina was simply amazing. We had springlike temps in the low 70's so I couldn't resist the urge to run twice outside that day snagging two 3 mile runs before dark. Looking back, I never ran less than two miles a day from December 13 on. I was simply amazed how easy the run streak was going for me and how great I felt most days. Even on a day following a little too much partying, I quickly recovered knowing I had a run to get done.

Along with recording my miles, I was using twitter and to a lesser extent facebook, to interact with other holiday run streakers. At the suggestion of Runner's World and Tim, I tweeted my daily results with the hashtags #RWrunstreak and #BRrunstreak. I also followed others on their reports which was added motivation. The best thing was I didn't feel sniffly or come down with cold symptoms as the days wore on. In the past, running in the cool air has gotten me sick with lung infections (I was actually told by my Dr not to run in the cold) but as the December days counted down, I didn't have a problem. Another benefit to my daily runs is that I was motivated to go out weekly and run with the Big Boss Run Club at their winter location on Tuesday nights, starting and finishing at Bottle Revolution, a local bottle shop. Always a great group of enthusiastic runners and beer runners, it was nice to join them each Tuesday over the holidays.

As Christmas approached, I reviewed my results and set a few more goals to keep me pushing through the run streak finish line. I decided to try and make December my biggest mileage month of the year, to run at least 100 miles over my 39 day streak and to run at least 700 miles total for the year. Thanks to my LogYourRun log, I could easily calculate all of these. Christmas eve was a 5 miler, Christmas Day - a 2 miler, New Year's Eve - a 4.1 miler with the NC Roadrunner's Club, New Year's Day, a 3.3 miler and to make it 40 days, I ran January 2 to complete my 40 day run streak!

In the end, I met all my goals including making December my biggest mileage month of 2011 and making 2011 my biggest mileage year ever. I ran over 715 miles for the year without even training for a full marathon. I averaged 2.9 miles per day for the streak and probably tasted about that many beers per day as well. Best of all, I avoided holiday weight gain for the first time in many years and built a nice base for the running season as 2012 approaches.

I enjoyed many a fine brew over the holidays of 2011 including a slew of them at our 2nd annual Holiday Bottle party. Thanks to my Untappd account, I also shared my beers consumed with friends and checked out what they were sipping along the way. Due to some fine friends and fine beer retailers, there was no shortage of fermented offerings in the fridge to celebrate each day's run. 

With the run streak complete, I'm still running into January, just not everyday. I managed a 7.1 miler this past weekend and plan to register to run a half marathon in less than 6 weeks. Cheers and Carpe Viam!!

Holiday Laps 2011

Last month, I made it up to VIRginia International Raceway with some friends to participate in the annual Holiday Laps for charity event. Each year, VIR holds this public event as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army of Virginia in which anyone can drive their personal vehicle on the 3.27 mile road course for a $25 toy, food or cash donation. I went in 2009 right after I got my 2006 MINI Cooper S but missed the event in 2010.

Several friends joined me for the 75 minute drive up from Raleigh - each in their own rides including several Audi A4s, a Hyundai Elantra Sonata, a VW GTI and BMW M3.

It was a sunny but chilly fall day at the track in which hundreds of other drivers showed up for the chance to drive the historic course. Each of us drove the track in an approximate 20 minute session behind a pace car with varying degrees of excitement depending on the speed of the pace car driver and the ability of the other drivers in the group.





While my straight line speeds were down from the 2009 event (due to more conservative pace car driving), my laps through the turns and uphill esses were probably more exciting as the pace was quicker through them in my sessions. Overall, it was a fun and safe event; well worth the $50 in donations and fuel expense for the day.

Running the Beer Mile

Over the past couple years, I have taken to the idea that beer and running most certainly go together but normally, not in that order. Yes, I have indulged in a pint before a three or five mile run at Big Boss Run Club over this past summer but generally speaking, I prefer to indulge after my run or race. It's a proven fact that beer helps with recovery and in my humble opinion, it just tastes better than water or sports drinks after a good workout.

So setting that premise to the side for a moment - about a year ago I learned of an event called the Beer Mile in which participants must drink four 12oz beers while running one mile. Earlier this summer, a friend of mine hosted a running of the Beer Mile here in Raleigh. I was out of town that weekend and missed it but finally got my chance last weekend when another running of the Beer Mile was held at a local track for all those willing to take the challenge.

As a Beer Mile competitor, I studied the rules and did a little research online to see what tactics I would need to finish the race. Basically, each beer runner must provide his or her own beers - four 12oz cans or bottles of 5% ABV or higher fermented beer. Each runner must run the race in the following format -  drink a beer, run a 1/4 mile (1 lap on a 400m track), drink a beer, run a 1/4 mile, drink a beer, run 1/4 mile, drink a beer, run 1/4 mile and done. You have to drink the beer within a designated box at the start/finish line before each lap and no tricks are allowed. ie. no straws, no punctured cans, no shotgunning, no bongs, no running with your beer and so forth. If a runner pukes during his 1 mile run, another 1/4 mile must be run as a penalty lap. Those are the basics behind the Beer Mile but there are plenty more rules also posted at the beermile.com.

For my beer, I wanted to go with something fairly light in body but with enough flavor that I would enjoy chugging four of them. I considered several different NC canned beers but in the end went with Ska Brewing's Euphoria Pale Ale. I liked the can label and I liked the beer so that was good enough for me.

Race day came and I met my fellow competitors (including our race organizer who was also running the Beer Mile for the second time) at a local public school's track. Several friends of the group showed up to spectate and assist with recording the moment as six of us hurled ourselves around the track for the sloshy one mile sprint.

When the time had come, we each opened and chugged our first beer. I finished first and took off on my first lap belching loudly the first 100 meters. I picked up speed, rounded the last corner and slowed down to trot into the start for my next beer. From there, I just repeated the steps three more times paying close attention to where the rest of my competitors were. Luckily, the urge to vomit never hit me and I finished the mile with a winning time of 8:38.

The rest of the field powered through the mile as well with only one runner puking. He was drinking an oatmeal stout from the bottle which seemed a rough challenge in itself.

While I don't intend to make a habit out of running the Beer Mile or drinking and running, I do expect to run it again in the future and defend my title as the Triangle Beer Runners Challenge Champion.

Big thanks to Kevin for organizing the event and Dave from the Craft Beer Collective for the video recap.