Hey all,
Part of my stump speech for when people ask me about Guam is that though the social life is not the same as it would be in a big city, I love it because so many of my social activities are also athletic activities. This weekend epitomized that sentiment.
Last Sunday early evening, the Guam Running Club organized a beach beer mile on the beach down the hill from where I live. The event is for charity, but I learned that it's not just a Guam event. These beer miles take place all over. The rules are simple: each participant needs four 12oz beers. According to the rules, the beer has to be over 5% alcohol, so no sissy Michelob Ultra nonsense among this crowd. First, you have to drink one beer until it's finished, tip the can/bottle over your head to ensure you've completed it, then run 400m. Repeat times four and you've done a beer mile. If you throw up at any time, you have to do a penalty lap (though not a penalty beer). We had a crowded beach, so the organizers made a "beer drinking area" cordoned off by 4 trashcans. After the first beer, the group ran left, around a bottleneck of another trashcan, then back to the "beer drinking area." 25% done. No problem. Next beer down, and we ran to the right, out 200m and back 200m to the four trashcans. Halfway done.
We had too many people (probably 100-150) for all of us to run at the same time, so the organizers split us into a fast and slow heat. I figured I'm a decent runner and have had plenty of experience exercising and drinking at the same time with all the ultimate frisbee tournaments I've gone to. I also thought I had a secret weapon in my choice of beer. Roommate James and I found Hite Ice Point 5.5% at a local rundown mart when we were out one night. We were looking for what was then our current cheap crappy beer, Boxer Lite, but they were out of that, and the Hite Ice Point 5.5% was $11.95 for 24 cans with a free Hite pint glass thrown in (Hite, pronounced Hee-tay, is Korean, and we now have 4 complementary glasses). Anyway, to continue this secret beer weapon aside, most beers with the word "ice" in them taste like frozen awful. Skunky is how they're brewed. The Ice Point was surprisingly different though. It wasn't good by any means, it tasted instead like beer flavored water. Watery beer above 5% = perfect beer mile beer.
So I was in the fast heat. Three beers, three laps on the soft sand and I was three-fourths of the way done and definitely in the top third of the fast heat. Then I hit the wall. The beer wall. I got into the drinking area, grabbed my last Hite Ice Point, opened it, and just stared at it for a while. I took a small sip and a heavy breath. This is a dumb idea. Why would anyone want to do this? Fat guy next to me finished his last beer and lumbered off for his last lap, hammering home the idea that foot speed has nothing to do with success at a beer mile. First runners finished, another sip, 11.5oz to go. Buddy Kyle comes in from his third lap, opens his beer next to me, and is having similar problems. But he's gutsier than I am (so to speak). He tries to drink more than he can. He almost pukes but shoves whatever comes up back into his mouth. I admire him and pity him at the same time. I go towards the ocean and drink and let some pour down my front. There's a kid next to me puking out his Root Beer. I drink some more, and spit some out (it's not that well-regulated of an event). I'm looking at my watch. Stupid idea. Contemplating the overall volume of my stomach and concluding it's about 38.5oz. Finally, slowly, after drinking and cheating while looking like drinking, seeing so many people I was ahead of at the 1200m mark already done, I go on my last jog. I turn in my card that requires me to write my name, age, and beer I drank. I can't sit down for another 20 min while Kyle and I watch the slow heat and friend Ann Marie. If I sit, I puke. Ann Marie does her true 48oz but also pukes. We all celebrate by standing in one place sipping on water for a long period of time.
Eventually, everyone is done, and I learn some secrets to success for the beer mile. 1) don't hang out on the beach all day drinking and BBQing (okay, I already knew this one). 2) shake your beer up an hour or so before the race. This helps release the carbonation right away (ability to burp and run is also key). 3) you do better with room temp beer. Colder beer takes longer to drink. I still think the Hite Ice Point was helpful, but I'm clearly more of a runner than a drinker.
This Sunday activity was after a full Saturday of running. There was a 48.6mi, 10 person relay that I was up for on Saturday morning at 2:57am. With 9 of my closest friends and roommate James as our support car driver, our group ran the southern perimeter of Guam in just over 6hrs, starting at 4:15am (and finished 3rd out of approximately 35 mixed teams). The only snag of the day came a little after 1/3 of the way through when we forgot to pick up teammate Dave at the end of his leg. We didn't remember him until a leg and a half later. When Dave showed up alive to two checkpoints later, having hitched a ride with another team, we were all so happy to see him alive, and we had our inside joke for the rest of the day (week, maybe month). With everything ironed out, our team really flew in the second half as we celebrated a beautiful view of the southern coast of Guam in the morning heat. All in a normal weekend on Guam.
Fun Guam fact of the day: Fruit bats are considered a delicacy on Guam, and consequently are over-hunted to the point where there's hardly any. Okay, that's not fun, just a little sad.
-more to come-
Part of my stump speech for when people ask me about Guam is that though the social life is not the same as it would be in a big city, I love it because so many of my social activities are also athletic activities. This weekend epitomized that sentiment.
Last Sunday early evening, the Guam Running Club organized a beach beer mile on the beach down the hill from where I live. The event is for charity, but I learned that it's not just a Guam event. These beer miles take place all over. The rules are simple: each participant needs four 12oz beers. According to the rules, the beer has to be over 5% alcohol, so no sissy Michelob Ultra nonsense among this crowd. First, you have to drink one beer until it's finished, tip the can/bottle over your head to ensure you've completed it, then run 400m. Repeat times four and you've done a beer mile. If you throw up at any time, you have to do a penalty lap (though not a penalty beer). We had a crowded beach, so the organizers made a "beer drinking area" cordoned off by 4 trashcans. After the first beer, the group ran left, around a bottleneck of another trashcan, then back to the "beer drinking area." 25% done. No problem. Next beer down, and we ran to the right, out 200m and back 200m to the four trashcans. Halfway done.
We had too many people (probably 100-150) for all of us to run at the same time, so the organizers split us into a fast and slow heat. I figured I'm a decent runner and have had plenty of experience exercising and drinking at the same time with all the ultimate frisbee tournaments I've gone to. I also thought I had a secret weapon in my choice of beer. Roommate James and I found Hite Ice Point 5.5% at a local rundown mart when we were out one night. We were looking for what was then our current cheap crappy beer, Boxer Lite, but they were out of that, and the Hite Ice Point 5.5% was $11.95 for 24 cans with a free Hite pint glass thrown in (Hite, pronounced Hee-tay, is Korean, and we now have 4 complementary glasses). Anyway, to continue this secret beer weapon aside, most beers with the word "ice" in them taste like frozen awful. Skunky is how they're brewed. The Ice Point was surprisingly different though. It wasn't good by any means, it tasted instead like beer flavored water. Watery beer above 5% = perfect beer mile beer.
So I was in the fast heat. Three beers, three laps on the soft sand and I was three-fourths of the way done and definitely in the top third of the fast heat. Then I hit the wall. The beer wall. I got into the drinking area, grabbed my last Hite Ice Point, opened it, and just stared at it for a while. I took a small sip and a heavy breath. This is a dumb idea. Why would anyone want to do this? Fat guy next to me finished his last beer and lumbered off for his last lap, hammering home the idea that foot speed has nothing to do with success at a beer mile. First runners finished, another sip, 11.5oz to go. Buddy Kyle comes in from his third lap, opens his beer next to me, and is having similar problems. But he's gutsier than I am (so to speak). He tries to drink more than he can. He almost pukes but shoves whatever comes up back into his mouth. I admire him and pity him at the same time. I go towards the ocean and drink and let some pour down my front. There's a kid next to me puking out his Root Beer. I drink some more, and spit some out (it's not that well-regulated of an event). I'm looking at my watch. Stupid idea. Contemplating the overall volume of my stomach and concluding it's about 38.5oz. Finally, slowly, after drinking and cheating while looking like drinking, seeing so many people I was ahead of at the 1200m mark already done, I go on my last jog. I turn in my card that requires me to write my name, age, and beer I drank. I can't sit down for another 20 min while Kyle and I watch the slow heat and friend Ann Marie. If I sit, I puke. Ann Marie does her true 48oz but also pukes. We all celebrate by standing in one place sipping on water for a long period of time.
Eventually, everyone is done, and I learn some secrets to success for the beer mile. 1) don't hang out on the beach all day drinking and BBQing (okay, I already knew this one). 2) shake your beer up an hour or so before the race. This helps release the carbonation right away (ability to burp and run is also key). 3) you do better with room temp beer. Colder beer takes longer to drink. I still think the Hite Ice Point was helpful, but I'm clearly more of a runner than a drinker.
This Sunday activity was after a full Saturday of running. There was a 48.6mi, 10 person relay that I was up for on Saturday morning at 2:57am. With 9 of my closest friends and roommate James as our support car driver, our group ran the southern perimeter of Guam in just over 6hrs, starting at 4:15am (and finished 3rd out of approximately 35 mixed teams). The only snag of the day came a little after 1/3 of the way through when we forgot to pick up teammate Dave at the end of his leg. We didn't remember him until a leg and a half later. When Dave showed up alive to two checkpoints later, having hitched a ride with another team, we were all so happy to see him alive, and we had our inside joke for the rest of the day (week, maybe month). With everything ironed out, our team really flew in the second half as we celebrated a beautiful view of the southern coast of Guam in the morning heat. All in a normal weekend on Guam.
Fun Guam fact of the day: Fruit bats are considered a delicacy on Guam, and consequently are over-hunted to the point where there's hardly any. Okay, that's not fun, just a little sad.
