Running the Beer Mile

Back in 2013, I was invited to this crazy event put on by a bunch of UW-River Falls Alumni called “The Beer Mile”.  Since then, I am a 3x beer mile finisher!

What is the beer mile?

Chug a Beer (1)

Run A lap

Chug a Beer (2)

Run A lap

Chug a Beer (3)

Run A lap

Chug a Beer (4)

Run A lap

If you throw up, you have to run a penalty lap!

Running a mile is the easy part- it is the beer chugging and sloshing around in your stomach that makes this event so difficult. My mile PR is close to 5:40. My beer mile PR (from my prime) was 9:55. Running this event in under 15 min is an accomplishment. 

I ran this event for the first time when I was 21 with a 9:55 finish time. I ran it for the second time when I was 22 with a 11:40 finish time. I was nervous to run it this year because I don’t drink beer, ever. I don’t really like the taste of beer. However, I can never say “no” to a running event! 


Here are the official Results from the 2016 Beer Mile:

Screen Shot 2016-07-10 at 7.05.37 AM

As you can tell, there are some seriously fast beer-milers in this group. The winner, who ran 6:03, went on to run a second beer mile 3 hours later. All of these guys could probably beat me in an “open mile”, so I am not too surprised with being 4th to last 🙂 

I always tell new people, “take your mile time and double it- that’s your beer mile time” LOL. In my case this year, it was much more than double my mile time!

Screen Shot 2016-07-10 at 7.12.55 AM

Here is the group after the beer mile! 

My best advice for someone going to run a beer mile is:

1- slow and steady wins the race

2- burp as much as you can

3- do it on a empty-ish stomach

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