Tim Cigelske is THE Beer Runner.  (I, in contrast am content merely being A beer runner.) Tim writes the Beer Runner Blog for Draft Magazine, exploring the intersection between loving craft beer and living an active healthy lifestyle. For the year leading up to his 30th birthday, Tim decided to do something epic – run at least one mile and drink one beer for 365 days straight. 

Eight months in, Tim’s streak is going well and he’s had some interesting observations.  Not surprisingly, he’s never felt more fit. What’s surprised him has been his ability to remain injury free through the 1000+ miles and 360 beers of the first eight months.  In his latest blog post, “What craft beer can teach runners about injury prevention”, Tim talks about his experience and gives some advice for those considering starting their own streaks.  Your own streak need not be a daily event, but adopting a regular routine of activity is a streak well worth accomplishing.  Tim’s advice certainly applies as much to an epic quest as it does to a new commitment to regular physical activity: build slowly, diversify, and relax.

I’m not considering doing a daily run streak. I need and enjoy my rest days at the moment. For that matter, I’m not considering a daily beer streak either, though it wouldn’t take much effort for me to step up and accomplish that.

I do have three specific running goals for this year. 1. Run my first marathon at the Missoula Marathon, July 10,  in under four hours; 2. run another 1/2 marathon in a new personal best time; and 3. join Run Wild Missoula’s 1200 Club, having run 1200 miles during the calendar year.

I’m getting less and less confident in my first goal.  Not the running part, but the time goal.  I’ve put in all the work during our Run Wild Missoula training group and am trusting the training.  Yet, I’m realizing a sub-4 time is an ambitious goal for my first marathon.  My confidence was shaken this past Sunday when I bonked at mile 17 of a 20 mile training run.  Being the warmest day of the year had something to do with that. There’s time to figure out what went wrong, but a 4:10 goal is more realistic. I won’t feel like I failed if I don’t make my time goal, but there’s a little bit of magic associated with a sub-four hour time I’d like to embrace.

My second goal should not be a problem for two reasons.  In training for the marathon, thirteen miles suddenly feels like an “easy” distance.  Since I’ve only run one half marathon, my first and only race to date, I feel confident in being able to better that time. Now, I just need to sign up and keep up the training following the Missoula Marathon.

My third goal feels attainable as well.  Running 1200 miles in a year equates to an average of 100 miles per month (whoa! math skills!), or 23 miles per week.  As of today, I’m at 664 miles for the year, well ahead of schedule. I’m using this goal as a motivator to keep up the hard work and for the parade thrown for those who complete the task. (Wait. There’s no parade?)

I have beer related goals as well, though they’re more general in nature.  My primary goal is to continue to grow and expand Growler Fills. We’ll have some cool t-shirts available once our supplier decides to get them done. If you’ve got some thoughts of what you’d like to see at Growler Fills, I’d love to hear them. If you’d like to start your own streak in running, beer, or both, I’d be happy to lend encouragement, advice, or a cold one.