From the great tradition of Hash House Harriers ("a drinking club with a running problem"), to the Brew Mile races here in Indy and Louisville, to club runs that start and end the local pub, to coolers at the end of the trail for post-run carb replenishment, runners appear to have an above average taste for beer... after the run.
But what about during the run?
Certainly not, right? Who would want to drink beer in the middle of a run?
Oh, I don't know... me! And my running buddy Scott. And 2500 other people with questionable decision making skills.
That was what drew all of us to the city's first Tap 'N' Run, a 4K race that includes 4 beer stops. I am not making this up.
This is NOT a water stop.
You chug a beer before you cross the starting line. Then, roughly every kilometer (0.6-ish miles) there's another beer stop. Enter the Beer Chug zone, drink your beer, get back to running. The chugs are 4 oz, which is manageable, and it's good beer from Goose Island, which is critical since the chugs get kinda warm sitting in the sun. If you don't cheat, you'll have consumed a pint of craft beer during the run. And bonus, you'll also have burned off the calories from said beer, all in 4K.
1K Beer Chug station
So that's the run. Crazy, right? You don't know the half of it.
There's also a mustache contest that spawned dozens of 70's porn-star shaves. There's a short-shorts contest that produced way too many guys wearing way too revealing Daisy Duke cut-offs. And well over half of the runners were in costume. And we're talking about plain old Halloween recycling, there were beer-centric costumes...
We're all here for the beer, sister.
Like a carrot dangled in front of a mule,
a Bud kept this girl moving forward
Lederhosen? This is a beer run, not a beer garden!
and some rather adult-themed puns...
I wouldn't recommend rubbing Aladdin's lamp.
and some that were just wrong....
American Gladiators Lives!
But why?
and these two handsome bastards who went meta-costume, masquerading as guys too cool to dress up.
The costumes, the short distance, the absurdity or beer stops, and the 5:00pm start in Broadripple which provides ample opportunity for pre-race liquid carbo-loading, made for a festival type atmosphere.
Mass toast before the starting chug.
The course? Pretty boring. The jaw-dropping day-of cost of $46 was bordering on extortion. T-shirt isn't horrible. And the medal doubles as a bottle opener. Yes, you get a medal... for a 4K... I assume it's meant to be ironic.
Best fill-in-the-blank I saw was
"Beer makes me smrt."
Scott and I savored the event, meaning we wee slow. More jogged than ran. We did, though, pass dozens of our fellow "competitors" in the beer zones. Apparently the faster runners were less skilled chuggers. We proclaimed ourselves the unofficial winners.
Victory goes to those who are audacious enough to claim it.
The good folks at Jam Active have put on these hilarious, and fairly ridiculous, and totally fun events in several cities. If they come to your town, and you don't mind the pricey entry fee for a 4K, and you're pretty sure you can stomach a pint during a run without booting it, I highly recommend jumping into a Tap 'N' Run.
Good running,
Doug
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