A World Champion's Guide to Running the Beer Mile by Lewis Kent

Author:Lewis Kent
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510735569
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

At the meeting, a major topic of discussion was if squeezing the can was allowed. Butler decided it was illegal, as it accelerated the flow of beer and that went against rule seven: “Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner.” The funniest question needing clarification was one regarding at what point you were allowed to throw up. Someone asked, “If it happens after I have officially crossed the line, I know I’m good. But what if I’m in my final steps and it lands beyond the finish line, am I good?” The room broke out in laughter. It was a ridiculous question but had to be clarified now in case that scenario actually did occur. The consensus was that your chest had to cross the line and the clock stop before you could throw up at all. The final thing I remember from the meeting was that Corey Gallagher tried to get Butler to strip James Nielsen of the world record. He brought up a few good arguments, the strongest being that Nielsen drank his second beer in just under four seconds, which is literally impossible unless you tamper with the can. “If you can show me a video of anyone in the world drinking a can in four seconds—it doesn’t even have to be James Nielsen—I’ll shut up.” Even with Gallagher’s solid argument and consensus in the room that the 4:57 was sketchy, Butler couldn’t go back on his decision to ratify the world record from earlier that year.

Mid-meeting, I texted Greg, who was back in Ontario, and we decided even if the customized beer was good, the cans would be too much of a change after all the bottle chugs, so I stuck with what worked. I handed in my twelve-pack of Bud Light Platinums on the way out of the athlete meeting. Aware that the last minute venue change caused a footwear problem, FloTrack shuttled a group of us that had only brought spikes to the local running store to pick up some racing flats. Luckily, they had the exact same pair of flats I trained in back home. At least they would be a familiar fit. We got back to the hotel with a few hours to spare before heading to the race course.

I lay down in my bed to relax and thought for a moment how crazy all this was. New shoes, new beer, and a new venue. So many things could go wrong, or it could all go according to plan. Despite the intensity of the day, I somehow fell asleep knowing the gun would be off in a matter of hours and tens of thousands of people would tune in live to see the crowning of the first ever beer mile world champion.

Chris woke me up at 4:30 p.m., knowing we had to be in the lobby for the 5 p.m. shuttle over to the Circuit of the Americas. Everyone was making small talk as we boarded the mini-bus over to the course.

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