Running with Mikkeller Running Club in Berlin and Copenhagen

A few Fridays ago we took a long flight to Berlin to start our vacation. Upon landing early Saturday morning, we got to the hotel and then headed to meet up with the Berlin Chapter of MRC. We met at the famous Alexanderplatz square- with the iconic TV tower and clock.



We ran a few miles with the group through a park which contained a huge hill- it was amazing.



We chatted the entire time during the run as if we had been friends for a long time- I mean we kinda were. We had been stalking each other's Instagram for a while before actually meeting in real life. We ended the run at Bierlieb bottle shop and met Richard, the brewer of Berliner Berg beer who sponsored our run. His pale ale and Irish stout hit the spot post run. It was a great way to kick off our vacation. Thank you Theresa and Daniel for being amazing hosts!


On Monday we flew to Copenhagen. Tuesday evening was the 2nd Mikkeller Beer Run 5k. I was the defending champ from last year's run- but had no intention of pushing too hard since I had just ran a marathon a few weeks prior and hadn't run much in between.



We got our game faces on, all ready to run.


There was a 10k happening at the same time as the 5k- they were going to do 2 laps of the course, and I was thankful I only had to do one.



Pre race, they announced that I was running the race again as the defending champ- which made me smile. Soon the gun went off and I found myself right behind Mikkel and Søren dropping 6:20 pace like NBD. Ruh roh. After 800m, I backed off on the pace like a sensible smart person. I was having a blast running through the streets of Copenhagen. I stopped at the 4km "aid station" which was fully stocked only with beer. My mouth was so dry and the beer was much needed at that moment in time. After 50 seconds, I picked up the pace and continued on to the finish.



I came in 4th woman overall and had a blast during this race. I think I PR'd at having fun during a 5k.



Post race we rehydrated with beer and enjoyed hanging with friends.



We got to see friends we made last year as well as meet some awesome folks who we had been following online for quite some time.


Despite not "racing" this race, I feel I gave a solid effort- 5k pain face as proof.


We also got to run with the MRC Copenhagen crowd again on Saturday for a special edition of their monthly runs.


It was awesome getting to meet so many people from MRC chapters all over the world.



It's wonderful to be able to have running and drinking buddies in 100 cities around the world now. We are all about the #mrcTourism


MRC Prague, Chicago, Liverpool and London.


Running with people in a new place is a great experience- you see places you wouldn't normally visit and get to connect with some amazing people.


Thank you Mikkeller Running Club for for all the amazing memories from this trip.

Can't wait to return next year.

Skål! Cheers!

This is How We Spectate. #ChiMarathon

Early Sunday morning we left our place to get some coffee before heading to mile 23.5 to spectate the Chicago Marathon.

Michigan Ave was completely empty and devoid of spectators and runners- this was the final stretch. Around mile 26. 

We took the EL down to 35th ave to hang out near the Goose Island bus to spectate. This area isn't too crowded and is a prime spot to take photos.


After seeing some  wheelchair athletes fly by, we saw the men's leaders. It is incredible how they make 4:xx pace look so effortless and easy.
A little while later we saw the women's leaders.
And then saw complete bad ass Deena Kastor on her way to a 7th place finish in 2:27 and 10th place Sara Hall who had a huge PR to finish in 2:31!
Eric  who had already volunteered in the morning came out to join our little cheer station. We had a lot of fun cowbelling and cheering and taking photos of our friends who were running this year. Huge congrats to everyone who ran this year!
After seeing many of our friends run by, we decided to to get an IPA from the Goose Island bus to take with us on our walk back home. Instead of taking the EL back to our place we decided to walk along Michigan ave- there was no shortage of spectators with fun signs to read.
On our way back up Michigan ave, we stopped by Motor Row brewing to rehydrate. Spectating is hard work! We continued watching the runners from the bar on their 2nd level.
We eventually made our way back up to our condo and I cheered for runners while handing out pretzel rods. We brought the Whistle Pig downstairs in time to cheer for one of our Mikkeller Running Club runners who was completing his first marathon. At mile 26 we congratulated him and all took a small shot of whiskey with him to celebrate.
This is how we spectate.


-Xaarlin

Copenhagen Days 3-5, aka Copenhagen Beer Celebration AKA we drank some of the best beers in the world, and also went for a run in the middle of beer drinking.

Friday morning we took a cab to Sparta Hallen- the venue for Copenhagen Beer Celebration. There was a long line out front to get in, so we went across the street to Mc Donalds to get a quick bite before consuming too many beers to count. Although I did count and keep track with the untappd app.

A delicious egg, bacon and cheese bagel at Mc D's

After breakfast we walked back over the the venue and started 2 days and 4 sessions of sampling some truly fantastic beers.

We hammed it up at a Mikkeller photo cutout.
We had looked at the tap list for what was being served at each session, so we had some sort of game plan- but then I would walk by a brewery and go all "SQUIRREL" and have to sample their beer too. Each brewery brought 8 kegs of beer for CBC, and would serve 2 of them at each session and once they were out, they were out for that session.

While it was sold out, the space never felt super crowded. Many of the people got their beer and sat on a bench while dissecting the flavors. We weren't so fancy with printouts of the beers to track and try. We just used our app to keep track.

This beer celebration is like a "who's who" of beers- and I'm sure is one of the top industry events to go to for networking and expanding distro. We saw people from the Chicago area at CBC- like Drew the brewer from 18th Street in Gary, IN who was pouring his beers at the festival. We also saw one of the owners from the bar in our building. It was so cool to meet new faces and say HI and congratulations to the ones we knew who got invited to CBC.

Us and Drew, from 18th Street

We also met the guys of  "Way Beer" who are out of Brasil. I really loved their beers which had fruits and woods incorporated into them that are found in Brasil. They are really forward thinking with using different ingredients and their creativity shows with some really delicious beer.

Us and Way Beer brewery Alessandro.

We also saw James of Brew Dogs. It was so awesome to meet him in person- we watch all the Brew Dog episodes on Esquire TV, as well as enjoy their beers immensely. He was super nice and we got to chat with him for a few minutes.

Us and James!

Bud was invited after their crappy Superbowl ad, but was a no show.


We had the "pink tickets" which got us into each of the 4 sessions. We wouldn't travel all the way to Copenhagen to only experience one session...

On Saturday morning, we decided to relax with the beer drinking by not having too many, and only going for "lighter" style beers because it was the First Saturday of the month, which meant Mikkeller Running Club!

We joked an hour into the session on Saturday that we only had a fraction of what we had sampled at the same time of the Friday session.

It was so cool to run with another MRC Chapter!

MRC Copenhagen breaks into groups based on pace and then runs together for 75+% of the run with folks having the option to break off to not run as far.
I ran with the 5:00/km group and did 8km. I was dying!  Maybe it was drinking a pint or 2 of beer beforehand, but I felt so sluggish and heavy. The people in our group were super nice though.

We ran in the park around the stadium where CBC was being held- it was such a gorgeous day. 

Some photos from Theis Mortensen and Kasper Borg

Our group running across the bridge
photos from Theis Mortensen and Kasper Borg

Having fun post run!

 photos from Theis Mortensen and Kasper Borg

The 5:00/km group finishers.

 photos from Theis Mortensen and Kasper Borg

Pre run

 photos from Theis Mortensen and Kasper Borg

Maybe one day the Chicago Chapter will be this big?!?

We got to meet the creator of Mikkeller beer and the running club, Mikkel!
Our free beer for the run came from "Firestarter" which is a cool fire truck with taps on board. It is the ultimate party bus!

We went back to the hotel to freshen up post run and then headed back for the final session of CBC.

The first beer we had at this session was the much anticipated Hunahpu Stout from Cigar City brewing. It was a delicious imperial stout with notes of cinnamon and chocolate. LOVE.
We also got to take a photo with the legend of hot dogs- John, from John's hot dog deli. We first ate one of his hot dogs at Northdown during the battle of the hotdogs last year. For CBC John was selling dogs with all sorts of delicious toppings- beer mustard, beer reduced onions, heaven. He was our go to lunch 2 days.

After sampling loads and loads of delicious beers, CBC was over. We were hungry so we walked a while to get to a highly rated Indian restaurant we found on 4sq.
We had to have a Carlsberg in Copenhagen!

We shared some naan, Saag Chicken and butter chicken. I cant even describe how this hit the spot so hard after drinking so many beers!

Post dinner we walked back to the hotel and saw a nice sunset over the train tracks.

Sunday morning was the  Mikkeller Beer run. Post run, we walked over to where the most iconic spot of Copenhagen was- Nyhavn.

These buildings are so colorful and beautiful.

Sunday afternoon we walked around Kongens Have- another beautiful park.
I really loved the statutes in Copenhagen- some were super serious, and others were more whimsical like these on the side of a building.
3am Monday morning we woke up to start the journey back home. We had an early 6:50am flight to Paris and then our flight back to Chicago. Unfortunately we realized at the CPH airport that we would miss our flight from Paris- Chicago because the time had been changed to an earlier one. Luckily L travels a bunch and has super extra status with the airline and they were able to book us on a flight connecting in NYC. We made it home a few hours later than anticipated, but were happy.
I can;t say enough nice things about Copenhagen. The city was so clean and beautiful and the people were also incredibly friendly. We made so many new friends there it was awesome! While I was sad to leave, I know that we will be back again someday- hopefully for next year's CBC!
Cheers!