RunnersDrinkBeer.com

We’re excited to announce that Rahr and DFWruns are teaming up to put on the first Inaugural Rahr & Sons Oktoberfest 5K! Celebrate your favorite Dallas microbrew, it’s reopening, and Oktoberfest all at the same time by joining us for some great beer and an even better 5K!

This event takes place on Saturday, September 25th @ the Rahr Brewery! DFWruns was gracious enough to setup a discount just for RDB! How do you claim your discount?

Go to http://www.rahroktoberfest.com/ and click on Registration. Follow the prompts to register and enter the information below when prompted:

Team/Group Name: Runners Drink Beer

Group Discount code: rdb (all lowercase letters)

Also checkout the RDB Facebook page for an event invite as well. Hope to see you there, as we are proud to support the Rahr Brewery. Glad to have them back!

- Melvin

It is with much regret that Kyle and Mel have to postpone the RDB Beer Mile currently scheduled for Thursday, August 5th. Our current plan is to reschedule it to do it in late October or possibly early November.

We are extremely excited to put this on – it was the most requested event that we were asked to host or put on by our members. It’s obviously a lot of fun – what’s more fun than pounding 4 beers, 1 before every 400M lap?

One of our main concerns was the safety of our members. Drinking 4 beers within a 10-20 minute timeframe is somewhat dangerous, especially for those lighter drinkers. We did not put a big emphasis on having a designated driver, which we should have done to begin with. There was also the legality concern, but that became less and less of an issue after we started researching locations other than a school track to do this at.

Our big concern and the reason for postponing the Beer Mile is the weather. With a scheduled high of around 105 degrees not including the heat index, there’s a big reason for concern. It’s one thing if it’s 75 degrees out with a slight breeze. It’s another if we’re putting our members in jeopardy of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, severe dehydration, and any other number of heat related ailments that comes with not only running in the extreme heat, but drinking 4 beers in a short amount of time.

This will not be a popular decision, but it’s a decision we have to make. It’s all fun and games when we laugh at someone throwing up and we get some great Facebook photos, but it’s another when one of your friends goes into convulsions and requires an ambulance trip to the hospital. It’s not worth the risk of putting our friends and members in a precarious position due to the heat.

We are currently looking at dates (making sure it doesn’t coincide or fall too close to a race) in late October to early November to reschedule. We hope people understand the reasoning for us rescheduling.

In the meantime – we’re open to a casual get-together somewhere to enjoy some beers in place of the beer mile on Thursday 8/5 – if enough of you want to meet up for some beers or have some other suggestion in place of it, we’re all ears. Thanks for understanding.

- Melvin & Kyle

So RDB has gotten complaints from people about the beer mile being too short. Just a mile? It’s a lot harder than you’ll think. If it’s still not enough of a race for you, trying drinking 13 beers during a half marathon like this guy. Great read, albeit, borderline insanity. What do you think?

http://exercisingwhileintoxicated.wordpress.com/

As I sit on my comfy chair, with my 2XU socks, legs kicked up drinking a St. Arnold Elissa IPA. I wanted to share with you my experience of my first midnight run called El Scorcho.

What is El Scorcho? Well as the website (www.elscorchorun.com) states “El Scorcho is a ridiculously foolish endurance run that takes place at midnight in Fort Worth, Texas in the middle of summer. Because we’re so nice, we give you a choice–run 25km or 50 km. that’s 15.53499 miles or 31.06999 miles. We like to think of the two distances as La Scorchita and El Scorcho.” Why did I want to run this race? Well last year I heard some good things about it and not only that, I have never ran a night race before. So it was something I had to do in 2010.

So, for training purposes I choose to run La Scorchita (25km). Since I still have yet to run a marathon, the crème de la crème El Scorcho is a little out of my reach. The course is set up as a 5km loop. So that is 5x5km or 10x5km depending on which race you competing in. Yes, running a 5km loop can be a daunting task and well… it was. Surprisingly, the course was laid out nicely. There were plenty of different transitions of gravel (my favorite), grass and concrete. The course is fairly flat with the exception of one little hill at your first of two water stops. Yes, I said two water stops. With it being a 5km loop, there is no need for more. Each water stop was about a mile and a half apart so staying hydrated would not be an issue. The one plus of the race is right before the first water stop you can grab yourself some cold water towels  (which was needed due to the high humidity).  Since we were running a loop, I made sure to bring my ipod (which I normally do not run with) just so I had something to keep me focused at the task at hand.  The task… just to complete the race.

Read More…

RDB has the honor and privilege of having an article in DRAFT Magazine – Beer Runner Blog, by Tim Cigelske! The article titled “Runners Drink Beer: The name says it all” is a small piece that highlights how RDB came about, what we’re about, and some tidbits on drinking beer and running.

We truly feel blessed to get some recognition on the 1 year anniversary of RDB. Check out the article here:

http://beerrunner.draftmag.com/2010/07/15/runners-drink-beer-the-name-says-it-all/

Don’t forget to become a fan of The Beer Runner on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/thebeerrunner

About the author:

Tim Cigelske is a freelance writer who writes for Draft Magazine, Budget Travel, Adventure Cyclist, AAA Living, Milwaukee Home and Fine Living, Wisconsin Trails, and anyone else that will hire him. He’s also the owner and founder of Teecycle.org, a t-shirt recycling site that takes your old shirts and re-sells them. Each shirt sold has $1 donated to the River Revitalization Foundation to restore urban trails and waterways.

As most of the new training plans for Lukes, Run On, and DRC kick off, it’s time to set your goals and pick a few races. We want to know – what are they, who are you training with, and what are you doing to achieve that goal?

Personally, I’m looking to do a 3:45 in Chicago – I’m putting in far too much effort and mileage not to achieve my goal. My last 6 marathons have lacked many things, mostly, miles. I’m confident I’ll break 4 (finally), but my end goal is 3:45. My plan is finally solid and I’m already exceeding my mileage per week that I previously peaked at. Just to make things interesting – I have decided not to cut my hair until I break 4, so you’ll be seeing a different Mel around the lake in the next few months.

Also looking to break 1:40 in the half – am confident I’ll be able to do that, but won’t be able to race a half marathon until the DRC Half.

Finally, looking to run a marathon and complete the pact that helped to found RDB – run the same marathon with Jerry Floyd and Kyle Hemmer, regardless if we all run together or just finish together. We made a pact to run San Antonio last year, and unfortunately due to injury, Kyle had to drop out last year. We haven’t decided all the details yet, but we plan on completing that a year later.

So, tell us about you!

So, I have been running in both the neutral Newton Performance Racer and Brooks Launch for several weeks. Both shoes have their own… well uniqueness. So what I am going to try to do is give my own review on two popular racers that we all have seen in races, training and social runs.

First off lets talk about price. There is a considerable price difference between the two racers. The Newton Performance Racer is $155 and the Brooks Launch is $90. I know, what if I actually like/love the Newton’s. Paying $155 for a pair can get pricey, but if they work and feel great, why not? Now the Brooks Launch, $90 is much more reasonable especially if I like/love them.

How do they feel:

Well the with the Newton Performance Racer coming in at an amazing 8.3oz you will not be complaining that this shoe slows you down. The Brooks Launch is another shoe you will not be complaining about coming in at 9.1oz. If your looking for a light trainer/racer, both shoes will fit the bill.

Running in the Newton Performance Racer will take some time to get use to because of how it simulates barefoot running. The shoe has more cushion from toe to heel rather the heel to toe as most running shoes. The reason is because of the “Actuator Lugs” (which are located at the midfoot) which feels like stepping on something cushioning which gives you a spring like feel (more on this later). The Brooks Launch is ready to go out of the box. Although with any shoe you should go through the “break in period”, I did not. I got a good 4 miles in the first day I tried them on. Now at first glance, I wasn’t convinced that this shoe was what I was looking for. The heel looked bulky and it just seemed to be a heavy shoe. Once the shoe was in my hands, I was amazed how light the shoe was. I immediately was excited because of the sticker price and the color (red/orange) just looked bad ass. The Brooks Launch felt great on my foot, almost a sock like feel.  The sole design is similar to the Newton in the sense that it is made for speed.  There is more padding in the midfoor then the heel which makes for a flatter position at foot strike.

Why is the flatter position important? Well, when you run faster you will push off from your midfoot/forefoot. Have you ever seen a fast runner strike with their heel first? No, because too much energy is lost with the heel to toe transition. Every fast runner runs in an aggressive position. Leaning forward at the hips and striking on the mid/forefoot. So, both shoes are designed for the forefoot runner in mind.

Now on slow runs both shoes are drastically different. I tend to become a little lazy when it comes to a slow/long run (8:30-9:00 min pace). I am not in the aggressive position as I mentioned above but more in a relaxed position which means I tend to heel strike. I have to make a sub-conscience effort to land on my forefoot but, that doesn’t always happen.  So with that being said, I tend to notice when using the Newton Performance Racer on these sort of runs my Achilles tendon is not happy.  Granted, when I pick up the pace (landing more on my fore/midfoot) the pain goes away. So, because of my laziness I do not use these shoes on slow/long runs. Now the Brooks Launch is another story. The shoe is more forgiving on these slow/long runs. I do not notice any Achilles issues only more tiredness since I wasted more energy with the heel to toe transition.

Real Test:

So I decided to try these shoes out on two different road races. The Newton’s I used on the Oklahoma City Half Marathon and the Brook Launch pacing the Heels and Hills Half Marathon.

The OKC half was going to be my first race back from knee surgery (just a scope) and I was looking forward to it. The Newton’s felt great through out the whole race. The “actuator lugs” that I spoke about earlier was not an issue, in fact I didn’t feel them through the entire race. I did PR (1:43:52) the race but I was left with some memories. Even though I didn’t feel the lugs through the race. My left foot had a blister in the midfoot area right where the lugs are located on the shoe. In addition, my second toe nail was bruised. Was it because of the shoe who knows, but toe nails are overrated anyway. So all in all, the shoe handled well.

The Heels and Hills half was something I committed to pace last year (2009) and I wasn’t going to miss it. The only problem was going to be which pace group was I going to be in. When all the times came out, I was selected to do the 2:20 group. Even though this was going to be approx 40 min slower then what I am capable of finishing this race in, I had no problem helping out the ladies of Heels and Hills. So, the Brooks Launch was the shoe of choice since I knew I had the potential of heel striking at this pace. The Launch held up better then I expected. Not only did I not experience any Achilles pain, the shoe had a lot of “spring” in it to get me through the end. The only discomfort I experienced where in my quads because that was a slow pace for me and I forgot to put glide on the thighs  since I was wearing a running skirt (that is another story).

Verdict:

I still plan on running in my Newton Performance Racer but maybe only for shorter tempo runs. They feel great and at $155, they might last me a little longer if I keep it under 10K distances. The Brooks Launch has proven not only to be a good trainer/racer but also very durable shoe that one can transition to if they are looking for a minimalist shoe. At $90, it won’t affect your pocket book if you do not love them. But I am sure, that will not be the case.

-Kyle

Runners are habitual creatures. We wake up at the same time every weekend. Perform the same routine. Eat the same things. Do the same stretching ritual or warmup. That being said, what’s your favorite running brand or brands?

This applies to shoes and apparel. For a lot of people, it’s one in the same brand. For everyone else, it’s usually a mix.

Personally – from a shoe perspective, it’s always been Brooks – specifically, the Adrenalines. I ran for a small period of time in Nike (LunarTrainer) and Vibram (FiveFingers) but the Brooks has never done me wrong, and it’s the only shoe I can consistently run in without injury.

From a clothing perspective – this has always been a mix of Brooks and Nike. Nike tended to be a cheap option due to the Nike outlet up the street from me. Brooks is also what I wore when I first started running, and have many of my RDB shirts as well that are Brooks. I’m now also a Brooks iD runner, so I will proudly wear Brooks at races from hereon out as part of my duties.

Despite that, I have a few favorite shirts that are neither Nike nor Brooks – specifically, my TDF 09 (Asics) and Too Hot to Handle 09 (NB).

Tell us what you like wearing!

Facebook and the internet is a funny thing. It brings about a certain anonymity  between it’s users.

We at Runners Drink Beer fancy ourselves as a community. We’re not a bunch of random, anonymous users – the majority of us have met in some shape, form, or fashion. We’re friends in real life. We’re running buddies. We’re beer drinking buddies.

We’d like to expand our “About” section to include the profiles of all of our members. We stand at a paltry 4 profiles up right now. We’d like to profile some of our other members. Tell us who you are. Tell us how you found RDB. Tell us why you run, or why you drink, or both. Tell us a unique story. We just want to be to feature some new members every week.

How will you submit your profile? Leave a comment on Facebook, or here on the website with your story. If it’s a long profile, which we actually prefer, shoot an email to melvinchu@gmail.com along with a picture – we’ll post it up. We want to get to know you.

- Melvin & Kyle

This question is one that I always get. I could be walking from my desk and someone will ask me this question and I just tell them “it’s a way for me to challenge myself”. They never seem to understand that answer. So if I tell them that I have been running since middle school and that it was a way to escape the everyday. They say, “your just going to injure yourself”, LOL.

Well today, I was reading a blog about “Why do you Run?” and it got me thinking about all of our RDB friends and family. Some run to get faster, some run for the exhilaration and some just run to help other runners. So RDB wants to know, WHY DO YOU RUN?