Just An Ordinary Day

So it's a few days late but I had to think about how I was going to describe the 2nd Annual Arjun Majumdar Birthday Beer Mile. This is quickly growing into one of the premier events on the calendar, and one of the most competitive. Our top returner from last year was Arjun, who, with a 7:28, won the inaugural event. This year, that time would have placed him 6th and it was on a much harder course. Most people commented to me the weeks leading up to the event that they were training, and as usual OJ asked about the competition - what to expect, etc.

Quickly out of the gate, OJ leapt into the lead. A large pack chased, which included defending female champ Alyssa. Coming through the end of the first run, Cheese had taken over the lead but there was a massive pack behind him. After the 2nd lap, Cheese and OJ began to separate themselves, but the threesome of Arjun, Brennan and newcomer Jared was in hot pursuit. OJ drank his beers so amazingly quickly that it was hard for anyone to keep up, and if Cheese had been running just a little slower, things may have turned out differently.

But in the end, there came Cheese, galloping up the final stretch of alley to his first ever Beer Mile victory, in 6;29.85. He grabbed the Colombian flag from a spectator to celebrate his pride in his nation. OJ, in 2nd at 6:41, took his child from new mom Anna, and crossed the line with baby Kayla. It was like something out of an Ironman. 3rd through 5th was a close matchup, with Arjun getting the better of Brennan again (7:02 to 7:04, both BRs) and Jared wasn't far behind in 7:18.

Alyssa drank as fast as most of the guys, and took the event very seriously. She won handily in a new BR of 8:22, which, according to beermile.com, is the 23rd best time EVER. This is impressive as we were on a narrow, windy road course. Steve finished a little behind Alyssa, and then Meg, who ran and drank like a champion, was 2nd in 10:33.

After them came Brian, who incurred a penalty lap for a reversal of fortune, and the team of Boof/Michelle at 11:10. At 14:02 came Chrissie and Diane, and then Tank finished last in 14:24. But Tank was a champion because he finished it and didn't let his recent injury prevent him from coming out to have fun. And he still drank 4 beers and walked a mile faster than most people could do either of those things individually.

(See the video in the post below, editing thanks to Alyssa and videography by Zero; photo albums should be up soon)

Great job everyone!!

You can see the other results on the right hand side through the rest of the week, but some highlights included:

Julia Rudd notching the top half marathon time of the year so far, finishing 15th at the Indy Mini Marathon in 1:21:16

Matty Blaze Jablonski, finished 2nd at the Southern Track Classic in the mile in the spectacular time of 4:10.64

Ryan Schmidt running 16:31 for 9th at the Jamba Juice Banana Man Chase 5k

Claire Lears returning to racing at the Sunrise Over Africa Telegraph Horse Gulch 10k Trail Run

Tom Stewart snatching 2nd at the Step Up For St. Tim's 5k