Beer Run

This afternoon StB and I volunteered at the Tyranena Brewery's 5th annual Beer Run. We had previously volunteered at their beer bike ride last month and had a good time (even if it was freezing cold, cloudy and windy out). We had such a good time we decided to do it again. It also never hurts that there is good beer there to drink.

The day was cold but sunny and calm winds. Much better than last time. As we walked in, I ran into some Team Challenge friends. They were out there cheering on a couple other people.

Our duty, this time, was in the recovery tent. It is where runners come after they finish to get water, snacks, heat blankets and their much coveted medal. We had cookie table detail. Keep the cookies well stocked and organized. Not too terribly difficult. Also much more fun than taking ticket for the food line like we did last time.

The first runners came in. They cranked out the 1/2 marathon in about 1 hour 14 minutes. An awesome time. Tried to give them some cookies but there were more interested in the fruit and peanut butter sammiches.

A few more runners started coming in here and there. The people who ran the 1/6 barrel (4.37 miles) were now also coming in. Then the rush hit. We had a good time laughing and cheering the runners as they came past us. StB kept trying to push the orange pumpkin frosting cookies. He kept comparing them to the McRib. Saying that they were only around for a limited time and when they were gone, they were gone until next year. He got some laughs out of people and more than a few strange looks.

The runners kept us busy for the better part of the next 2 hours. By about 3 it was dying down so I moved over to the area where they were collecting the timing chips. We had to fold them back up and attached them to the boards that they came on. Not a difficult job with but there were just alot of them. 1500 to be exact. Like the saying goes "Many hands make for light work" That was true here. Some people were folding them up and others were putting them back on the boards. The task was quickly completed.

I was excited to see one of my dailymile and Twitter friends, Augie complete his first 1/2 marathon. It was nice to finally get to meet him.

I was also super happy to see one of my Team Challenge teammates, Courtney (you read about her story here). She completed the 1/6 barrel run. She said that she was saving her 1/2 marathon for Vegas next month.

By this time there was not much left to do except pack things up. We found Stacey (who did a kick ass job of running the event today) and asked what should be done with the food. Got that quickly put away and went to enjoy ourselves. Ate a bit and drank a bit. Got a good laugh out of the people who brought a couple of blow up New Glarus Brewery cows.

We sat in on part of the brewery tour. I loved the tour guy. He was cracking jokes and having a good time. The one question I wanted to ask but didn't was who was always responsible for the labeling mistakes that they always seem to be having. Almost every other newsletter has a note about how someone messed up and labels a batch of bottle wrong.

Things were now winding down, so we headed for home.

It was a great day and knowing that you got to help put on a great event made the day even better.