Five shots, five beers, plus a glass of Prosecco – what sounds like a lively evening was the refreshment of a long-distance runner at the famous New York City Marathon. Instead of a fast time, the young American wanted a special experience.
The American Justine Huang probably took the expression “running like a drunk” a little too seriously. At the famous New York Marathon on November 3rd, the 26-year-old crossed the finish line completely drunk. “As an ambitious person, I have the mindset to run as fast as I can. But forcing myself to slow down and spend time with viewers and supportive friends made this experience so much better than I thought it would be,” Huang said. The slightly different race would have reminded her how much she enjoyed running.
Huang first came up with the idea for the “party marathon” spontaneously. She didn’t expect to get a spot in both the marathon in Chicago on October 13 and the mega event in New York three weeks later. This is difficult for both events due to the large number of registrations. Huang solved this problem with the resolution “Chicago at speed and New York at speed.”
“I wanted to give everything in Chicago to achieve my target time, I was totally focused on that,” said Huang. As a result, she barely noticed anything from the spectators and was unable to interact with her friends along the route. That should change in New York. “I wanted to eat and drink everything I saw and what the viewers brought with them. That was my plan for the race. But I didn’t expect there to be so much food and drinks there. The first guy gave me a shot of Hennessy (a cognac, the editor.), I think,” recalls Huang: “After that I was really, really on fire.”
Beer, prosecco and schnapps
At the next stop, three spectators bought her a beer before Huang drank a liqueur with friends on the side of the track. In the end, according to Huang, it was about “four or five shots and maybe four or five pints.” There was also a glass of Prosecco, as seen in the TikTok videos Huang posted of her special marathon experience. Several of them went viral and were viewed millions of times. So the story finally broke two weeks after the run.
However, experts strongly warn against consuming alcohol during high levels of exertion such as a marathon. As an experienced athlete who runs between 50 and 90 kilometers a week, Huang was at least aware of the risk of dehydration from alcohol.
“So I stopped at every water station along the route and always drank two cups of water and two cups of Gatorade. I had to go to the toilet at least six times during the race. Plus, the drinks were spread over five or six hours. So I didn’t pour the alcohol on myself within 30 minutes,” Huang says.
Her stomach handled the run “surprisingly well,” said Huang. After 5:36 hours the party marathon was over. In Chicago she covered the 42.195 kilometers in 4:14 hours.
“I met so many cool people. Running with my best friend and seeing our friends who spent the whole day finding different places around the city to cheer us on makes me so happy. I have no regrets,” Huang reflected at the end.
