Four Laps, Four Beers, Foregoing Sanity
Sometimes, running brings out the best kind of chaos. For my close-knit running crew, that chaos took the form of a beer mile—a crazed blend of endurance, camaraderie, and wild antics.
No, I didn’t participate (someone had to stay sober to document the madness). Instead, I stood back with my camera in hand, ready to capture the hilarity that comes from mixing running shoes with beer cans. What followed was a night of unexpected laughter, questionable pacing strategies, and an unforgettable sense of community.
Beer + Running = Chaos
This wasn’t a formal race or a perfectly planned event. We gathered on a chilly evening in a quiet neighborhood with no frills—just a shared love of running and a mutual agreement that chugging beer would make for great stories.
The rules were simple but absurd: drink a beer, run a quarter-mile, and repeat until you’ve downed four beers and completed a mile. From the first chug to the final lap, the strategies were as varied as the runners themselves. Some crushed their cans with dramatic flair and sprinted off as if medals were on the line. Others struggled to finish their drinks, let alone their laps, while the rest of us cheered, laughed, and documented the shenanigans from the sidelines.
Where It All Began
As the event unfolded, I couldn’t help but wonder who first thought combining running and beer was a good idea. The beer mile’s origin story is as scrappy and spontaneous as the event itself.
It all started in the early 1980s on a track in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. A group of seven friends—avid runners in their late teens and early 20s—decided to spice up their usual training routine by sneaking beers onto the track for a post-practice competition. The event was just a spur-of-the-moment challenge.
The rules were made up on the spot: drink a beer, run a lap, repeat. The track’s quarter-mile structure provided the perfect setup, and they quickly realized how entertaining (and difficult) it was to blend drinking with athletic endurance. What started as a joke soon became a tradition, spreading among their friends and inspiring similar antics in other running circles.
For years, the beer mile remained an underground phenomenon, shared only through word-of-mouth among runners and college students. It wasn’t until the internet age that the event gained broader recognition. The first official beer mile website launched in the mid-1990s, providing standardized rules and a platform to log world records. From there, the beer mile exploded into a global phenomenon, complete with elite races, sponsorships, and world championships.
Despite its evolution, the beer mile’s rebellious, low-key roots remain at its heart—a simple idea that thrives on shared absurdity.
The Joy of Shared Absurdity
As I clicked away on my camera, capturing every beer crack, stumble, and triumphant finish, I couldn’t help but admire the spirit of the evening. It wasn’t about serious competition; it was about showing up, having fun, and sharing a few laughs with people who make life better.
The night felt like a nod to those original beer mile pioneers—friends gathering for something ridiculous, yet strangely meaningful. Just as they turned an ordinary run into something legendary, we were creating our own stories to laugh about for years to come.
After the race, we gathered for food and conversation, swapping stories of the night and reveling in the shared lunacy. From the rookie chuggers to the surprisingly swift finishers, everyone had a role to play in the tomfoolery, and everyone walked away with a story to tell.
Here’s to the moments that remind us life doesn’t always need to be serious—the events that bring us together, the traditions that keep us laughing, and the people who make it all worthwhile. One beer, one lap, one unforgettable memory at a time.
