Watch: Runner crushes 13 beers during sub-two hour half marathon
While major sportswear companies are focused on breaking the two hour barrier for the marathon, one Notre Dame senior took it upon himself to break the two hour barrier for the half marathon—except with 13 beers along the way.
Emmet Farnan took the concept of the beer mile, where a runner drinks a beer for every lap on a 400-meter track for a mile, and applied it to the half marathon by shotgunning one beer for every mile. According to BeerMile.com, there is record of a Ghent Beer Half Marathon that was run last December with the winning time of 1:34:25 but no YouTube video could be found and there were two participants. There's a "beer half marathon world record" video that shows a runner completing 13 miles with 13 beers in 1:28 but it doesn't look like an official race.
Farnan, a former high school runner from Long Island, purchased the bib off a fellow student just days before the race and then decided to recruit his friends to help him drink his way through the half marathon. Farnan completed his half marathon in 1:43:42.
There's several factors that wouldn't comply with official beer mile regulations. Shotgunning is technically not allowed in a beer mile. He also spits out some of the foam in parts of the video and in the beer mile, puking can lead to a disqualification or extra lap run. The beer of choice in this half marathon appears to be Coors Light, which also wouldn't meet the minimum 5.0% ABV.
Nonetheless, it's a remarkable accomplishment—so cheers to that.
