Drinking and Running 2

Something I've never really understood about running is the strange partnership it has with beer. I mean, don't get me wrong, beer is really fuckin good, which is to say I enjoy it. But I look around running culture and it would seem to be a place where perhaps you wouldn't see alcohol be so prominent. Being as though running is taking care of the body, and for the most part alcohol damages the body.

Still, you'll even see polls on running websites where there may be a question, "What is your favorite carb?" And surely enough, one of the answers is "beer has carbs." Neat. This is not to even mention the several beer sponsored marathons and races across the country. And try to find a half marathon or marathon of any significance that doesn't have a beer tent at the end. (This leads to a whole different discussion about commercialism and intention that this republicatarian isn't ready to have. Yet.) Hell, for several years the Indianapolis Mini Marathon had a beer stop (as opposed to water or Gatorade) at mile 10! And then there are hundreds of Hash Harriers clubs around the world, a self described running and beer drinking club.

I bring this up mainly because I used to drink a metric ton a night. Not to the point where I did any real damage, except for mind boggling credit card debt, and the destruction of a few romantic relationships and less romantic friendships. Truth told, at this point, looking back, I am thankful that's the only damage.

When I moved to Connecticut, after 8 years in Indy it was a bit different. I knew nobody. I couldn't call several friends and to meet me at the bar and drink, or eat pub chips. And thus, if I was drinking it was alone. Not particularly a good combination. In order to avoid this situation I decided I needed to find more hobbies. So, initially I was the only gringo at the soccer pick up games around here. But, then I realized if I am gonna run with these cats, I needed to run, and then I ran. And then I realized I was enjoying the act of running. But like so many things, less so with a hangover. Who woulda thunk it.

And of course this brings roundaboutly to today. Three weeks from today is the Philadelphia Distance Run. My second half marathon. One in which I know I have less of a base than I had for Indy. But one I desperately want to beat my Indy time for. I told myself I wouldn't sign up if this wasn't a possibility and set myself a goal of a modest goal of a 100 mile August to be the cutoff whether I would sign up or not. I had 105 miles coming into today, including one tenner and one 12er. I'm signed up but not near where I wanna be

Today was supposed to be a longer run. 12 miles give or take. Yet, after a rough week last week, I found myself at 10pm last night at the bottom of a bottle of gin and the bottom of a stack of Nick Cave cd's. Not a good place to be. If gin is poison, Nick Cave surely is not the cure, even if I love him so. Today's 12er turned into a labored sixer with only mind numbing, leg deadining 7:25 splits. Not where I need to be. At all.

I know it's obvious, and anyone with half a brain knows it's obvious that the gin and sam adams (light!!) has had it's influence. So it's an exceptionally long post to get to that. However, and holy shit does it suck to admit, as much as I want to think that so much of running is mental, and so much can be controlled mentally, brothers gotta take care of his body. And still,I laugh from time to time at the diet sections in different running magazines, knowing that in my vegetarian lifestyle I am already careful of what I put into my body. And yes, I know for the elite runners of the world the diet is helpful. But I know for me, as a runner, to get where I need to be alcohol is still the biggest obstacle.