I Will Run for Wine

I saw on Facebook that a friend was interested in a beer run type event. After looking at the event, I discovered that not only was there a FREE beer run in April but a FREE wine run in March that started near the apartment. It turns out that Pacesetters of the Fox Cities offers monthly Fun Runs throughout the Fox Cities for Free. From what I can tell there is a theme, wine, soup, beer. There are 3 mile and 6 mile routes. You can run or walk. 

Even though I could find anyone that wanted to do this with me, I decided to do it anyways. I drove over to Red and Wine. I figured I'd go for a 3 mile walk, enjoy a glass of wine, and be back home before the hubby gets home from basketball. It was a great plan. I signed in, grabbed a map, and started out. I realize now that I could have waited until 6 for the official start but it was crowded inside and I rather get this done.

I started out on my walk trying to follow the directions by street lights. I left my glasses in the car. After about a mile, I looked at the directions and realized I didn't grab the 3 mile route, I took the 6 mile route. At first I figured it might be a misprint. However the more I read the directions, I realized I really did take the 6 mile route. I REALLY didn't want to go for a 6 mile walk. Once I realized my mistake, I figured I would just head back to Red and Wine. I cut the route short and when all was said and done I still walked almost 5 miles. 

The route maps... see it was easy to mix the up when you're blind

I thought about skipping the wine since I got back so late but since others were finishing at the same time, I figured I earned my glass of wine. After navigating through the crowd, I made my way to the back room and poured myself a glass of a decent Moscato. I found a place to drink my glass and went home.

I will try to do more of these Fun Runs in the future but will definitely make sure I take the 3 mile route. After looking at the website, I learned there are Saturday morning walks too. Hmmm something else to check out. I may even join the Pacesetters one day.  But first I need to get some reflective gear.

#735 Do a Beer Run

When I was first creating my original bucket list, I heard an ad on the radio advertising an upcoming beer run in Milwaukee. I didn't drink beer at the time nor did I have any ambition to run a race and still really don't drink beer but I thought that a Beer Run might be fun. On the list it went.

Fast-Forward 10-15 years and I have done a handful of races by now. Someone posts something on Facebook about a beer run in Milwaukee last year. That gets me thinking about actually doing one. I looked into the event that was upcoming up and realized that it was too expensive and didn't fit in the schedule but I kept it in mind for this year. When Danielle and I were planning our races for the year, we counted on a doing the Kohler Beer Run in October.

Apparently Kohler didn't get the memo to keep the beer run in October and moved the Beer Run (and the Festival of Beers) to the end of May. Okay all that meant was 5 races in 15 weeks. Danielle, Andrea (who actually informed me of the event), and I signed up.

The Beer run would have been awesome if it was 65 and sunny. It was 50 and raining. By the time we finished the 3.1 miles course, we were soaked but didn't care because they gave us free beer.

At a typical beer run, you get a 3 oz beer at every mile or so. I figured I could do 3 3oz beers. Either Kohler and Shock Top took pity on us in the pouring rain or Kohler just does everything better. We got a full bottle of beer (12 ounces) at each mile. That's 36 ounces of beer by the time we finished the race. And you had to finish the beer before the leaving the area. I can't chug a beer. I tried. I failed.

Beer #1 -- Lemon Shandy. I tend to like Lemon Shandy beers or beer and lemonade but this one I was not a fan of. I drank about half of and poured the rest out. Yes, I wasted perfectly good beer.

Beer #2 -- Belgian White and this was good. I had drank my entire cup of beer in the pouring rain.

Beer #3 -- Not quite sure. It might have been another Belgian but I wasn't impressed. I gave it to Danielle.

So I did not have 36 ounces of beer. I probably had more like 20 if I was guessing on the high side. Despite the weather, we had a blast. My official time was 48:49. Not bad at all.

The best part would have been being able to dance to Sex and Beer after the race but we were wet, tired, and had to get back to Appleton. There's always next year.

Who knows maybe we will still do another Beer Run in October.