Gettin’ Slushy Beer Mile, Seattle, WA – 10/26/2011
Last week I raced in a “Beer Mile“, in which you chug a can of beer and run a lap around a track, 4 times. Â That is to say:
chug, run
chug, run
chug, run
chug, run
finish!
I had a damn good time and I learned a lot. I think I’ll definitely be able to place better next year. Lessons learned:
- Throat freeze. I don’t ever get ‘brain freeze’ because my esophagus freaks out first. I bought some Budweiser that I was letting warm up to prevent this issue, but on the way there I realized the buds were wide-mouthed, which is against the rules, so I ended up with cold rainier to chug. Doh.
- It’s not the liquid, it’s the carbonation. You have to be able to belch the bubbles out, lest they get to bouncing and decide to come out more violently. I did pretty well here.
- I need to practice sprinting off the line. It took way too long to get up to a good speed, and I think I could have gone much faster, especially if I’d warmed up more before the race.
The guy that won beat me by two minutes. In fact, he finished while I was still chugging my 4th beer. So, I’ve got a lot of ground to make up, but I think I can do it. This was my first time, and I was super pleased just to beat 10 minutes.
Post-race celebrations and libations took place at College Inn Pub, where I had half a plate of nachos and a veggie grinder, which I think tasted pretty good, but by that point things were getting a little fuzzy. I’d just run a whole mile, after all.
Results:
total: 9:52
placed: 6/14 overall.