The Great Beerd Run

My amazing friend Portia told me about this great 5k in Traverse City Michigan, The Great Beerd Run. This was a truly inspired fun run/walk.  Here in Michigan we are very proud of our breweries. We are becoming beer snobs and creating new amazing brews everyday. This race was all about beer and beards (No shave November).

Portia had the genius idea of dressing like lumberjacks.   We picked out matching flannels with suspenders. I swear she's a genius sometimes.

The race packet was fun. It contained the bib, some beer coasters, advertisements for breweries in Traverse City, and a knitted beanie with a beard attached.  The race was held at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa on their golf course. It had massive hills. It felt like we were going backwards as we ran them, but I'm getting ahead of myself.


This is the first year of this race. No one else thought of dressing up, there was a lot of really crafty homemade beards, but no one dressed up. We stuck out a little bit.  There were a lot of participants there and considering the 25F, snow, and some of the ice on the golf course, many people were very excited about the race and the beer at the end. It took us 34 minutes to finish, the race was not timed, but we timed ourselves anyway. The beer stations slow you down, but it's more about the experience than the time it takes to finish.

After the race we had a ticket for a free beer.  I tried the Key Lime from Shorts Brewing company. It was delicious.

Upon crossing the finish line we got a really cool bottle opener souvenir. The newspaper was also waiting there and they took our picture. We ended up on the front page.

It was a lot of fun. I hope they do it again next year.