I still can’t stop running or drinking beer.

Flickr photo by Christer Edvartsen

On Thursday I marked 500 consecutive days of drinking at least one beer and running at least one mile, usually much more of both.

I didn’t do anything too outlandish to mark the occasion. I biked to and from work, ran eight miles with my lunchtime running partners, sipped a Lakefront Baltic Porter bomber with dinner, then had a Kopp’s bacon cheeseburger and shake as a nightcap.

You know, typical Thursday.

I was just getting warmed up for the weekend. The next day I had my 1,000th beer on Untappd, a Golden Road Brewing Hefeweizen tallboy. Saturday I coached practice with my DetermiNation Milwaukee runners, then attended a surprise party for my friend and occasional running partner Reggie. I got him a 2011 Alaskan Smoked Porter, one of my favorite offerings of this past GABF.

To top it off, I ran a race this morning. It was a casual 1-mile fun walk/run from a small gym called Drench to a bar called the Red Rock Saloon, which was featured on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food.

I was that jerk who raced a fun run. I have not run a mile race since 2005, so I wanted to see what time I could get.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a closed course, so I had to slow down/pause at stop lights and dodge people on the sidewalk of Milwaukee’s busiest street. I also had to run another quarter mile past the finish line for a full mile.

Final time was 5 minutes, 1 second. But I did get some free drink tickets. Next time I’ll go for sub 5.

Bring on the next 500.