Forums >Racing>Drunk and going to run a marathon?
Oh roo roooo!
Well, I was volunteering at the shuttle bus loading site for the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee today. A younger couple came strolling over, appropriately dressed and w/their drop bags on their shoulders. The woman decided to pop into the porta potty before getting on the bus, so her friend waited for her. I chatted w/him a bit and thought he seemed a bit "off", but hey, I don't know the guy and people are weird before a marathon sometimes, so I didn't think too much of it.
Then the gal came out of the porta potty and was just SHRIEKING w/laughter at anything anyone said to her as she made her way back towards the bus. She wasn't staggering or anything but man, just whooping it up, and not in a manner I have seen in anyone who was not 3 sheets to the wind! They got on the bus and I turned to the volunteer next to me and said "wow, I would like to see a blood alcohol level on her!" and he agreed that she sure appeared to be drunk. The bus-volunteer organizer was there too and he also commented.
I am all in favor of drinking AFTER a marathon. It is therapeutic in so many ways. But I simply cannot get my head around going to the starting line of a marathon drunk--it seems like the worst idea EVER to me!
Has anyone else seen this sort of thing? For all I know, this may have become common practice with the "party" atmosphere surrounding so many runs nowadays, and I'm just completely uninformed about it, which is often the case for me in so many areas of life...
Well, I can't comment too much... I did have a PR in a half-marathon after drinking 3 beers the night before.. (Kind of alot for me). but not my usual routine. Usually I drink the beers After the race. (Like today! Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in VA :-)
But... Arriving at the race intoxicated and with the knowledge that alcohol dehydrates you... Seems either:
1) Pretty dang Dangerous, or
2) An almost guaranteed way to be really hating life at the very least by mile 18....
---I have seen some 'gettogethers' on the night before race where folks were out n town drinking hard alcohol into the early morning hours... I don't get it. It is kind of putting the cart before the horse. :-)
.
The Plan '15 → /// "Run Hard, Live Easy." ∞
I drank 500-600ml of Vodka until 3 in the morning for a 6:30am Grandmas 1/2M (Gary Bjorklank) ... It was a rough race - @ mile #10 it got a little better
Well, I was volunteering at the shuttle bus loading site for the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee today. A younger couple came strolling over, appropriately dressed and w/their drop bags on their shoulders. The woman decided to pop into the porta potty before getting on the bus, so her friend waited for her. I chatted w/him a bit and thought he seemed a bit "off", but hey, I don't know the guy and people are weird before a marathon sometimes, so I didn't think too much of it. Then the gal came out of the porta potty and was just SHRIEKING w/laughter at anything anyone said to her as she made her way back towards the bus. She wasn't staggering or anything but man, just whooping it up, and not in a manner I have seen in anyone who was not 3 sheets to the wind! They got on the bus and I turned to the volunteer next to me and said "wow, I would like to see a blood alcohol level on her!" and he agreed that she sure appeared to be drunk. The bus-volunteer organizer was there too and he also commented. I am all in favor of drinking AFTER a marathon. It is therapeutic in so many ways. But I simply cannot get my head around going to the starting line of a marathon drunk--it seems like the worst idea EVER to me! Has anyone else seen this sort of thing? For all I know, this may have become common practice with the "party" atmosphere surrounding so many runs nowadays, and I'm just completely uninformed about it, which is often the case for me in so many areas of life...
I am fuller bodied than Dopplebock
Feeling the growl again
A decade or so ago I set a course record and road 8K PR in a race where friends had to pour me in the car and I was dry-heaving on the starting line after a late night in a beer tent. But a marathon? No thanks.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Speaking of drinking and running, this video of the world record setting (unofficial) beer mile is inspiring:
http://youtu.be/iMiC4lwa9X8
Speaking of drinking and running, this video of the world record setting (unofficial) beer mile is inspiring: http://youtu.be/iMiC4lwa9X8
Yup, but hosting an annual beer mile I can attest that being drunk isn't even on your list of concerns during the event, unless you failed to plan for a DD in advance.
maybe they are just really excitable, happy people that are loving life. maybe not. sounds like it could be...or perhaps not. see my point?
In order to see the truth, sometimes you have to loose an eye.
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Utri/
delicate flower
Could have been my cousin. She is always loud and laughing and full of energy and not paying a lot of attention to what's going on around her. She runs marathons, too. But she doesn't drink and wasn't in Milwaukee this past weekend.
<3
This was one of the weirder things I've seen in a number of years of running and volunteering....sure wish I'd paid attention to the gal's number so I could have seen how (and IF!) she finished...
Yeah, who knows, maybe that is how she reacts to stress or something...but it certainly looked like alcohol!
And to those of you who posted the stories above--you are far better men than I shall ever be! Can't imagine it!
I have run a few marathons while inebriated. Once, in Madison, WI, I partied all night with a few friends and when we boarded the bus to go to the marathon start we reeked of alcohol. So much so that we apologized to the other's on the bus. ;-) We all finished the race in reasonably good condition. Another time was in Fort Lauderdale. We partied all night and ran the race drunk. My buddy took 3rd place, collapsed, and spent the next 10 hours in the hospital getting fluids and recovering from heat stroke. I negative split the race by 10mins and helped a girl BQ.
8:25-8:30 is right around my 'run a marathon drunk' pace...
be curious; not judgmental
Strict WTF adherent
The real challenge is finding a way to stay drunk throughout the race.
That doesn't sound too hard:
I had few to many craft brews the night before my last marathon. Spent the half hour before the start in the port-a-potty, drank a boat load of water and off I went. By mile 8 my headache went away, by mile 18 I almost felt human, by 26.2 I was ready for another. It was a first, a marathon where I felt better at the finish than the start.
by 26.2 I was ready for another.
Then I need to know what you were drinking, because by 26.2 I am always swearing I will NEVER run another.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
I have run a few marathons while inebriated. Once, in Madison, WI, I partied all night with a few friends and when we boarded the bus to go to the marathon start we reeked of alcohol.
The common theme I'm seeing is WI... (my home state and Lakefront was my first marathon)
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay