UPDATE (4/15/13): The story is now posted over at Today.com. Thanks to everyone who submitted their answers. It was great to get such a big response, but due to word count limitations, I wasn’t able to fit everyone into the piece, and then it was further cut down when Today asked that a nutritionist chime in on the pros and cons (mostly cons – nutritionists are buzzkills!) of drinking a beer post-marathon. Anyway, I think it turned out great and thanks again to all who took the time to participate!
UPDATE (4/10/13 @2pm): Thanks to all for the wonderful responses – we had a great turnout for this. The piece I’m writing has been bumped up to this week, so I’m afraid there’s no time left for any further submissions. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help out with this – I’ll post a link here when the piece is live.
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Attention long distance runners who love craft beer – I need your input for an article I’m writing for the Today Show’s website next week (my other writing gig).
The Boston Marathon is this weekend, and I just received a package from Samuel Adams containing “Boston 26.2 Brew,” their Gose-style beer brewed to celebrate the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.
Here’s the description from the brewery:
Boston 26.2 Brew offers a lighter body with a slightly lower alcohol level (4.5% ABV) than many of our other styles – it turned out to be the perfect compliment for the record heat we experienced in 2012! In terms of flavor, drinkers enjoy light cereal notes from malted and unmalted wheat, rounded out by a spicy, peppery character with a soft mineral quality from a touch of salt. The result is an unusual and delicate brew that is full of flavors to discover… and worth crossing the finish line for.
The beer will only be available along the race route and at marathon-related events, and I’m sure parched marathon runners will be able to get a pint or two after the race.
This got me to thinking about what other craft beers runners deem worthy of post-marathon imbibement, so I’m reaching out over the magical wires of the Internet and find out.
If you’re a long distance runner and brew lover, please take a minute and answer the following questions:
– When did you start running, and how did you get into it?
– What craft beer do you most enjoy after 26.2 miles (or 13.1) of pavement pounding, and why do you choose it?
– What does that first post-race sip taste like?
– Do you imbibe immediately after the race, or do you wait a bit or do other things like hydrate and load up on carbs or protein (or whatever you runner-types do)?
– What’s your greatest accomplishment as a runner?
– How do you balance out beer consumption and training?
– How often do you run races, and what kinds do you run?
– How would you like to be referred to in the piece?
– Where are you from?
– What do you do for a living
– Any fun additional beer and running tales to tell? Share those as well!
Please cut and paste the questions above into an email and send your answers at jim(dot)galligan(at)hotmail(dot)com, and I’ll pull quotes from some of the stories and include them in the article. Your answers can be as long or as short as you like – try to have fun with it.
I’m hoping to have all replies in by Friday 4/12 at 5pm.
Also, if this little plea for help goes largely unheeded , there’s a chance that I’ll scrap the article and write about breweries that are going green for Earth Day. You don’t want that to happen, do you?!
If not, be sure to pass this link around to your running friends, and thanks to all who play along – may the road rise to meet you (or not, if that would totally screw up your foot strike).
Please let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below, and I’ll answer ’em for you.
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Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
I sent this to my husband. He is the runner. I just drink beer while he runs.
If I had to chose one, I’d do the same. And if I had to run further than my car, I’d die.
Wish I had listened to my wife sooner, as I have a lot of input! But that is okay, I look forward to reading the article when its up! Very curious to see what other runners say.
Done and messaged.
woot!
Ok, I’ll work on this and get it to you soon.
Cool – thanks, Greg!
Done.
Got it – Thanks, Greg!
I’ll do this tomorrow morning when I’m in front on my computer. In the meantime, I’ll share on Facebook.
OKAY – so the article has been bumped up to this week, which means no more time for submissions. 😦
Thanks to all who shared for this – it’s going to be a cool piece!