NatNews

Every once in a while, individuals come across opportunities that they know in their heart of hearts they cannot pass up. For some people, including local Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex residents, such an opportunity occurred over the weekend at the ninth annual Beer Mile World Classic, which was held in Chicago this year.

Dallas-area resident and avid runner Ivan Alonzo, who has proven his speed with a personal record in the 5K of 16 minutes and 40 seconds and a PR in the marathon of 2 hours and 47 minutes, learned of the Beer Mile World Classic from his friend (and NatNews IT director) Josh Odegard and knew he needed to venture to Chicago to put his running and chugging abilities to the test.

“As a competitor, I wanted to run with the best of the best,” he said, “and I wanted to see where I stack up against the best.”

Where he stacks up proved to be right where he was meant to be—running a 6:07 beer mile in the Men’s Open Championship Division. Prior to his race, though, were a number of heats in the Beer Mile Open Division that did not require any specific entry times to qualify. Among those competitors was Camden Law, a teenager from Colorado, who won his heat with a time of 6:54. Law was with his family on the way to his freshman orientation at the University of Michigan and decided it was a smart idea to participate in the event (with non-alcoholic beer, of course).

“It’s always been something I thought was really cool,” he said. “It’s always seemed funny to me, and we were out here, so why not?”

Dallas resident Dan Sullivan, who attended the event as a spectator and not a participant, can tell you why not. In fact, after witnessing such a spectacle, he said he has no desire to compete in any beer miles in the future.

“Let’s be honest, my days of chugging beers are so far in the past,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to risk waking up the next morning feeling like I survived a train wreck.”

However, after hearing about the Beer Mile World Classic from members of the White Rock Running Co-op, he couldn’t help but make the trip to Chicago to be a part of it in some capacity and even somehow managed to score a free entry as a “media member.”

“I became curious if the event was more of a ‘frat party’ excuse to run or a race that drew committed and competitive runners,” he said. “It was definitely more of the latter. Although I hadn’t seen so much projectile vomit since my college days, it was entertaining watching runners try for their best times while chugging beers every quarter mile.”

Michigan resident Aaron McLemore, who competed in the Legends & Elites Division and has a personal record of 5:40 in the beer mile, said he has been running beer miles since the summer of 2020 and appreciates being surrounded by individuals who make such events unlike any other.

“What’s unique is the level of energy from the people here,” he said. “When you’re at most races, some people are there as part of fundraiser groups, or they’re there with their families, but here, it’s just a big party atmosphere.”

While Alonzo also enjoyed the environment and being in a situation in which he said he was getting the most out of himself, he also was motivated by the mere fact that he had made a financial investment and traveled from Dallas to Chicago solely for this particular race.

“I reminded myself that I paid a lot of money to come here, so there was no backing out,” he said. “Once I walked up to the starting line, I was committed. There was no DNF happening.”

The smell of rain is called petrichor and is a result of raindrops falling on clay or dusty soils and then trapping small air bubbles on the surface, which raise upward and burst out of the droplets, producing pockets of scent into the air that are then carried by the wind.

The dating scene can be frustrating and a complicated, particularly when trying to determine the status of a potential relationship. While one individual who is trying to find his or her special someone might go on multiple dates with one person while also continuing to date other people, someone else might choose to date only one person at a time to try to determine if he or she is the right one.

Dallas-area resident Ashley Hill said she opts not to date multiple people at once. Instead, she prefers to focus on one man at a time and see where it goes.

“If it doesn’t work out, then that’s OK, and I will be open to going on dates with someone else,” she said.

Dallas resident Alexis Derrow, on the other hand, said she dates multiple people at the same time if she happens to meet multiple men who strike her fancy at once.

“I tend to go in waves,” she said. “There’s a big rush of activity and interest, and then you need to meet people and sort of evaluate. I wouldn’t go on more than two or three dates with multiple people, but it also depends on what you mean by ‘dating.’”

Similarly, Dallas resident Bob Heine sees benefits to getting to know multiple people when dating, as long as nothing is serious yet with a potential love interest.

“Meeting someone special is all about opportunity and timing,” he said. “You never know when you’ll meet that special someone, so why close yourself off to that possibility because you’ve been on a date or two with someone else? It should take multiple dates to determine whether you’ll get serious. Once you both agree to be exclusive, or you decide that on your own, then I would stop dating others.”

For Derrow, deciding whether or not things should become exclusive has much to do with how physical things are between her and a man.

“My dates are pretty G-rated—dinner, drinks, art, walks,” she said. “If it moves to PG or PG-13, at that point, we should just be dating each other.”

A Dallas-area resident who wishes to remain anonymous said whether or not he dates more than one woman at once is contingent upon the person and the situation.

“If I have only been on one or two dates with someone, then I will consider a first date with someone else,” he said. “But if we make it to a second or third date and beyond, or if we have great chemistry on Date 1, then I will not date anyone else.”

He also said that once he and a woman he’s been seeing reach a point at which they have been on three or four dates, he would not be comfortable with her dating other guys, either. After all, he is looking for more than merely a friendship or something casual.

“If she feels the need to date someone else at that point, then we either have different long-term goals, or I am not the right person for her—both of which are fine,” he said. “But I am not dating someone just to have occasional companionship.”

Of key importance, though, is making sure that both parties in a relationship of any kind are on the same page. Hill knows that although she may not go out with other people, a guy she’s dating may be seeing other women before becoming exclusive with her.

“I think it’s always healthy to have the mindset that you aren’t tied to one person before there is a talk of commitment,” she said. “Even if I don’t like to date multiple guys at once, it’s also good to realize that the other person may not be doing the same, and until both parties have agreed that it’s exclusive, it’s not.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

NatNews staff members and dear readers recently traveled to Chicago for the Beer Mile World Classic

Monday, July 3: Sensory-Sensitive Fourth of July Celebration at The Sound; Addison Kaboom Town
Tuesday, July 4: Fair Park Fourth; Block Party at the Park at Old City Park
Wednesday, July 5: National Graham Crackers Day; Blink-182 at the American Airlines Center
Friday, July 7: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) releases; The Home Edit Summer of Fun Tour at the Eisemann Center
Saturday, July 8: WRRC Saturday run at Taco Joint