The Beer Mile has come a long way from its days as a fringe event organized by college and high school runners in Canada.
Now there are world championships, and everyone from 44-year-old mothers of six to Olympians are trying out the race. But as you can imagine, the event is not for everyone. Take Lance Armstrong, the disgraced former cyclist, who could not get through one-fourth of the race.
Even without the seven Tour de France titles of which he was stripped for admitting that he used performance enhancing drugs, Armstrong is still an incredibly accomplished athlete. A former standout triathlete, Armstrong has completed the New York City Marathon twice in under three hours.
But the beer mile -- in which participants must drink one beer, run a lap on the quarter-mile track, and then repeat the sequence three times -- was too much for Armstrong. In fact, the 43-year-old dropped out after one lap.
"That was way different than I thought," Armstrong said after the race.
Because he's older than 40, Armstrong would be competing in the "super masters" group and would have to run the race in 5:51 to set a world record. By comparison, 44-year-old mother of six Chris Kimbrough recently set a women's world record of 6:28 in her first attempt.
The overall men's world record in the beer mile is 4:57.1, set by James Nielsen on April 27.
In case you think you've got what it takes to compete in this grueling event, the Flotrack Beer Mile World Championships will be held in Austin, Texas, next month.
Don't expect to see Armstrong in the field.
"One and done," he said after his failed attempt.