Boards Beer Mile 2015, June 13th

menoscemo wrote: »

TRR when checking the race footage, make sure to put down the time when you ambled over the mile line, not your time when you crossed the 1600m line

Meno... let. it. go. :P

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Is there any race in Ireland were you don't have a fcuking complaint! If it's not GPS distances, it's the race start or finish line. Poor bunny_girl and her team of finishers were wondering who the prick at the finish was. I knew it had to be you!

don't worry, we knew who it was

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

2 although I don't know if Ron's attempt could be considered a start considering he puked his guts out on his second lap having skipped the first. Giving spider man a bad name

Yeh a mate of mine who doesn't do much running showed up in a mission to beat me. He got a quarter way through his 4th beer, was hating the Moosehead, saw me head off on my last lap, so called it quits. It's like giving up on a marathon with 3 miles to go.

Interesting to see you can compare how runners did on the same beer as you at beermile.com.

According to their times I have ran the fastest ever Brooklyn Summer Ale Beer Mile!!

davedanon wrote: »

I must be a shoo-in for the Grand Master category. So where's my trophy then, eh? Eh?

Sounds like you were either playing chess or a member of a dubious lodge :rolleyes:

Report as promised:

Boards Beer Mile 2015 (8:27)

This would be my second Beer Mile. Last year was a bit of a shock to the system, having never experienced anything remotely similar and running on tired legs from a 19 mile LSR that morning. I knew I was way better prepared this year.


Pre-Race

My goal since crossing the finish line in 11:30 last year was to improve to at least a sub 10 this year (Why is this not on the round numbers thread btw?)
I put in two really solid training sessions though, so that by the time the race rolled around I was very confident of a sub 9 and hopeful of even better. I warmed up for the event with a few beers on Friday night, followed by a pacing gig at the St Anne's parkrun on Saturday morning. The preparation was almost parallel to an elite Olympian. I'd have no excuses.


The Race

I lined up at the start waiting for annapr and the timing crew to give us the go ahead. Having spent the previous twenty minutes laughing, joking and participating in general banter on the infield, the start line was eerily quiet. The pre-race nerves were kicking in. Novices & veterans alike frozen solid from fear of failure. Chivito even dropped his bottle on the ground, his hand muscles paralysed from the pressure of his own expectation after two afternoon pbs and a solid block of training. Then we got a '3-2-1-Go!' and the silence was broken with the sound of 25 beers being cracked open simultaneously. The 2015 National Championship was under way.


Beer 1: 0:25 I've just knocked back a beer in 25 seconds and I'm not even in the top 20. Wtf? However I didn't panic. This is a mile, not a 400m or even a 200m as recent early leaders have discovered to their demise. I knew I'd be overtaking many by the end and stuck to my original strategy.

Run 1: 1:29 I remember passing meno (as he has mentioned), but not a lot else. I was totally focused on burping and expelling as much gas as possible before the lap was over. I was probably a bit too conservative and possibly could have gone a little faster, but was always reminding myself of how fine the line is between too slow and a pukefest.

Beer 2: 0:38 Slower than the first, but that was to be expected. I made a lot of places in this transition as the beer 200m/400m specialists started to struggle. This is where the marathon training and specific beer mile sessions start to kick in. I was happy to see it had been all worthwhile. Meno still got away ahead of me though.

Run 2: 1:24 A little quicker than the first lap and passed meno once again. The field was starting to sort itself out now and positions wouldn't change an awful lot around me from here on in. I knew I'd be battling meno all the way to the line just like last year.

Beer 3: 0:46 Slightly slower again, but far better than last year where I was taking double the time at this stage. Meno away in front of me again. Myself and KU were having a similar battle, with me getting away in front and him overtaking me on the lap.

Run 3: 1:33 Disappointed with this lap. I lost focus halfway down the back straight and got engaged in a full blown conversation with meno as we watched the epic finish on the other side. Maybe if I'd kicked on here instead I'd have beat him.

Beer 4: 0:51 Inevitably this was the slowest transition of the night. Anyone who has done a beer mile will understand that's going to be the case. Happy enough with it. I remember it well and couldn't have got it down any quicker. Meno on the other hand took an insurmountable fifteen second lead on me here. I was sure I saw beer/froth spewing out of the bottle as he tossed it aside and raised a Hawkeye style challenge as a result. The umpire (Dubgal72) waved my objections away. As I moved away in vain pursuit, I noticed KU was still drinking his last beer. I couldn't believe it. This time last year himself & Dogslysmile were about to lap me!

Run 4: 1:14 I had almost managed to expel any gas and bloatedness by the time I hit the first bend, so knew I could put the hammer down as a result. Meno was a long way ahead at this stage though and I knew it was very unlikely I would catch him. I could feel myself gaining all the time, but in the straight I just ran out of ground. He took a sneaky look over his shoulder before he celebrated just to make sure
I ran all the way through the finish and was given 8th position with a time of 8:27. I've lost seven seconds in there somewhere, but I don't know where as I've watched the video a few times now and that's the best I can come up with :P


Verdict

Very happy with the result, as sub 9 was the goal going in and I was considerably better than that. Disgusted Little bit disappointed I didn't beat meno though. Delighted to finish ahead of some top athletes, especially KU who lapped me last year. I think we have to recognise that anyone (KU, Chivito, Timaay) who ran a race in lecheile earlier that afternoon seriously underperformed though, so it's a bit of a hollow victory. Those races obviously took a lot out of the lads. Some top performances by a fair few debutants with plenty of sub 10's which is really impressive. Finally a big thanks to TRR for organising such a wonderful event and an even bigger shout out to the volunteers and spectators who attended on the night (pity you had to put up with meno's moaning! ). It was hugely appreciated by all taking part. I know a few names, but not all and I don't want to leave anyone out.

Until next year.......

menoscemo wrote: »

Surely a DQ for not doing her penalty lap?

Jaysus you lads are turning into pernickety barstewards... She took 35 minutes and the video is only 3 minutes long (3:30, before you picky feckers point it out). It's edited... She may or may not have done a penalty lap.. But... Does it really matter?!

yeah, really, after watching that video, definitely planning to do it next year.....

There are a couple of comments I want to make after watching the video but this place is a bit 'conservative' and I'm projecting a new-man of the 21st century thing these days.

Shame really.

Itziger wrote: »

There are a couple of comments I want to make after watching the video but this place is a bit 'conservative' and I'm projecting a new-man of the 21st century thing these days.

Shame really.

You can't just tease us like that !

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

This is great. Ironically, she ran a faster beer mile than any Irish female in the country this year... <and me>

35 minutes? The alcohol would be kicking in by then too.

My own race was a slow slog. I seriously underestimated the challenge. It wasn't helped by sharing the bus out with a very confident Kevin E who assured me that sub 10 would be comfortable. IIRC he accurately predicted a sub 6 for himself and he also predicted that the winner would be one of the jumping the gun lads. The lack of training didn't help me much either. For the novice, forget the running, it's all about downing the beers.

I knew I was in trouble by the end of lap 1. Couldn't get the gas up, and wasted too much time belching while stopped & drinking. Came home a very disappointing second last in 12:15... not even fast enough to finish inside the official beer mile video. Now I know how it feels when precision timing cut the late-finishing participants out of their FB videos. :pac:

Good night afterwards and thanks again to officials, stewards, race director and promoters. It's a great event that will only get bigger, it's great craic, and everyone should try it.