Pub Run Guinness Challenge

Thomas and I have both always wanted to run the Pub Run Guinness Challenge, but it has never worked into our fall race schedule. This fall with Chicago so early in the season, I was pondering running the race. After how well the Backyard Bonanza went and how recovered I felt in that race, I decided it was worth giving it a go. Thomas had told me if I ever decided to run the race, to let him know because he would like to run it with me. I figured I'd check with him and if he wanted to run, I'd sign up. If he didn't want to run it, I wouldn't sign up. He was in so we went for it. The race is 4 miles of running. I thought it was 4 pints of Guinness during the race, but found out when looking at course details the day before the race its actually only 3 pints. It was a bit difficult to read the course map so I wasn't sure where the beer stations would be. They ended up being at around 1.5 miles, 3 miles, and right at the finish line at 4 miles. You finished your beer and ran maybe 25-50 meters to the finish. The pints were Guinness, hence the name, Guinness Challenge.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. Based on my Strava data for the last beer mile I ran, I averaged 6:10 pace for running, but finished in 8:30 which would mean around 30 seconds per chug. That was with cans. This race is with cups which are a bit faster to chug. For the beer miles I ran with cups, I only added about 50 seconds over what Strava showed was my moving time. That would be about 12 seconds per chug. Those cups were 12 ounces and this race was 16 ounces. So I decided to assume each chug would be around 30 seconds, rounding up. I ran some tempos during my Chicago build in around 7:20 pace so I thought I could probably run around 7:30 pace for the race and then add the chugs on for an average of under 8:00 pace. That was my goal, to average sub-8:00 pace for this race with the chugs included. This is a really competitive race so that would put me top 3 in my age group.

You have to get to the race early to get your beer wristband, that way the volunteers on the course know you are of age and can take a cup at the Guinness stations. We talked all about what we were going to do with our IDs and who we would pass them off to and then when we arrived, I realized I forgot my ID at home. Ty was dropping us off and planned to come pick us up later so he turned around to go get my ID. I knew he didn't have time to get my ID and get back before the race started. I had a picture of my ID on my phone and figured I would see if they would accept that. One of my friends who was there to spectate told me to just use hers so I did and was able to get my wristband. I would have felt more guilty about it if it weren't for that fact that I'm 39 years old!

Pre-race with April!

I found April before the race and we went to the start line together. She was running the non-drinking race. We took off and I realized I started too far back from the start line. There were a lot of people ahead of me who started pretty slowly and I almost ran into them as we crossed the start line. I went to the side and was passing a lot of people once we got going. When we turned out of the main downtown area and had fewer tall buildings, I was shocked by how windy it was! It was pretty crazy. My watch beeped for the first mile in 7:12. I was really surprised by that, I definitely didn't expect to be running that fast. April passed me right after the mile mark. That was the toughest portion of the race because we were running directly into the wind. I stopped at the first beer stop and took a second to catch my breath as I chugged my first beer. When I took off running after my chug, I realized I forgot to pull my beer tag off and turn it in so I pulled it and stuck it in the pocket of my shorts. April had gapped me a bit as I was drinking, but I caught back up to her and we ran together. Mile 2 was surprisingly faster than my first mile, even with a chug in there, with a time of 7:10.

Taking off at the start.

We had quite a few long straight aways so I could see who was ahead of me. The top female in the Guinness Challenge and the top female in the non-drinking race were running together. Then the woman in 2nd in the Guinness Challenge had a decent lead on me, but I was gaining on the 3rd female in the Guinness Challenge. April was running in 2nd place for the non-drinking race and I was in 4th for the challenge. I arrived at the 2nd beer stop while the 3rd place female was still there. I grabbed my beer and started drinking. There was a guy there with a bull horn and he yelled, "These ladies are duking it out, but one of them is better at drinking beer!" Then I tossed my cup in the trash and took off as she was still drinking her beer. I was pretty proud of that. Thomas said the guy with a bull horn was taunting guys around him because he passed 10 people who got to the beer station before him. Mile 3 was 7:31. I caught back up to April and we were running together. She really helped push me the last mile. She kept telling me, "Lock it in! The lady behind you is fast!" I kept dropping the pace as much as I could. As we neared the 4 mile mark and the last beer stop, April was yelling at me again to "Lock it in!" I figured it meant she could see the lady behind me was closing but I didn't get too worried because I knew as long as I went into the last beer stop before her, I would be fine because I could chug faster than her. April kept going as I stopped and I took more time at the last beer station because I had a harder time catching my breath. I walked sipping it and then saw I was almost to the end of the table so I chugged it down and took off sprinting to the finish. My last mile was my fastest at 7:05. I finished in 29:19, an average of 7:16 pace! I was so surprised, I definitely didn't expect to run that fast, especially while stopping to chug beer! My stomach felt a little sick after the race but once I drank some water, it felt fine.

Last beer stop of the race.

Running to the finish.

I was 3rd female, 2nd in my age group, and 47th overall. Thomas finished in 28:07 which put him 32nd overall and 7th in his age group. We stayed to pick up my overall award which was a $50 gift card to McNellie's! I didn't pick up my age group award or my award for being a top 25 female finisher because Thomas and Michaela needed to get back to Pittsburg to take care of my parents' dogs. They were in Texas for a wedding. The race was an absolute blast and I'm still thrilled with how well it went. Thomas and I both want to do it again next year and make sure we have time to hang out for longer after the race. I had so many friends there and it was so much fun to see them. I even made plans for a long trail run the next morning before leaving. I've gotten so used to going into races and them going worse than I expected, that it was a wonderful surprise to exceed my expectations for the race by so much! I was just hoping to place in my age group and finished 3rd overall female! My average mile pace was also so much faster than I expected. I'm so excited to run shorter races in the spring and see how they go! Next up is a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I feel much more confident that I can pull something speedy off after this race. I would love to run low-7:00 pace and be close to my time from last year so we shall see!

Thomas finishing the race.

Post-race with April and Alicia.