On your mark. Get set. Chug.
There was no pistol to fire off the race, but on Wednesday night at Cerebral Brewing’s West Highland location, an announcer with a megaphone kicked off an “unsanctioned” 4x400 — a one-mile relay where teams of four sprinted around the block.
But before they took off running, racers first had to down a pint of beer.
The tradition is known as a beer mile. Classic renditions of the race would require runners to run four laps around a track — stopping every quarter-mile to chug beer. But Cerebral’s race only required each runner to down one pint and run one lap.
“We wanted it to be more accessible to people,” said Carmen Graves, who founded Cerebral’s weekly running club. “So the relay portion of it was really important just to make sure no one's puking, everybody's having fun, and just really showcase the space.”
A total of 120 runners signed up for Cerebral’s inaugural beer mile relay. Groups of four paid $10 for entry and four pints of beer. Non-alcoholic beer was available for sober beer milers.
“Please finish all of your beer,” Graves said while refereeing the initial chugging. “We are watching you.”
Who wants to make cardio more punishing?
Running a mile, for some, is relatively easy. But adding chugging into the mix obviously makes the act a lot harder. To put it unscientifically, running around with a stomach full of beer creates a lot of uncomfortable sloshing.
People said they came out to the event because, incredibly enough, they found the prospect to be fun. It’s one of a long list of competitions that combine eating, drinking and running, from Denver’s Taco Bell 50K to Raleigh’s Krispy Kreme Challenge.
“We're going to drink beer anyway, so might as well do it and run. Or run and drink beer,” said Brandon Richardson, a member of the Denver Beer Runners club. “So the order is interchangeable.”
Some people were attracted to the challenge. Hunched over after finishing her lap, Jess Hollingshead said she’d consider doing a full beer mile, despite the pain she felt.
“Now I have the experience that I know how to get better from it,” Hollingshead said.
Samir Chabra said the beer mile isn’t even the worst running experience he’s had. Last year, he attempted to run the Taco Bell 50k — an ultramarathon where racers are required to run to nine different Denver Taco Bell locations and eat a menu item before continuing on the race.
“It's fun after, and I think you black out a little bit,” he said. “So afterwards you remember having more fun than you did.”
It got pretty competitive.
The event had three heats. The second race recorded the fastest time — in a neck-and-neck finish, the relay team “No Scrubs” recorded a time of 5:59.
For comparison, the world-record 4x400 relay was run in 2:54.29 by an American team in 1993. The fastest solo beer mile on record was run by Corey Bellemore in 2021, with a time of 4:28. This reporter ran a 5:00 mile in his final race in high school track. (Ed. note: But how fast now?)
Winners walked away from Cerebral with medals and a couple free beers.
Devin Arguinchona was part of the second-place team that finished right behind No Scrubs. While they were disappointed to barely miss out on winning the evening, he said they showed a lot of grit on the makeshift track on the narrow sidewalks and the alleyway around Cerebral.
He said half the battle was putting together a team that could compete on both fronts — an all-out sprint and an all-out chug.
“I think we found a good group,” he said after the race.
Graves had one piece of advice for next year’s competitors.
“There were some really fast runners out here that could run, but they couldn't chug,” she said. “So practice the chugging.”
