Drink 3 _____, Get a PR

There's a strange phenomenon in the air.

It goes something like this:

Drink three alcoholic drinks.
Get less sleep than you normally would.
Run a PR the next morning.

It all started by accident. It was the day before the Fort 2 Base Run. I had babysat my godson during the day.  Afterwards, his parents and I went out to lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant. As with any great Mexican restaurant, there were margaritas.

That evening, I went to bed later than planned. I'd be up at 4am to pick up friends and then head to Great Lakes Naval Station for the race.

I remember thinking on the car ride there - What am I thinking running this race? I'm on five hours of sleep and had drinks yesterday. The outcome of the race, as I'd blogged about back in September, was great.

In that 12.5 mile race, I had beat my PR for an 8K and 10K distances and set a PR for a 12.5 mile. Then again, that's an unusual distance as it was in Nautical Miles. I had held a 9:39 pace.

Without much thought, I found myself in the same situation, the night before the Hot Chocolate 15K. I babysat my godson and had a few drinks with his parents when they got home, then went to bed later than planned.

Hot Chocolate 2011 was a PR. 9:41 pace.

Now I'm noticing a pattern. At brunch, I mention this to Brian and Sara. Brian, who'd also set a PR that day, had a few drinks the night before as well. Sara agreed we may be on to something.

Brian and I were now part of the test group of the experiment. We'd need to run another race to gather more data, of course.

The next weekend was The Chicago Perfect 10 Miler. Again using the tried and true three drinks. Another PR. 9:40 pace.

The following weekend was the beginning of turkey trot season. Brian and I checked in with each other the night before - not to figure out race logistics, but to make sure we were both having drinks.

The next day we completed the lincolnwood turkey trot 10k. A PR for us both. 9:13 pace.

Now two and a half weeks later, Brian and Sara have continued with the study. Last weekend, Sara set a half marathon PR in New Mexico and Brian in Vegas. Congrats guys!

Fluke? I think not.