Recently I decided to give non-alcoholic beer a shot, specifically O’Douls. I decided to pursue personal training, as in being a trainer (!!!!), which meant in my free time, I needed to be studying. The course was fast-paced, challenging, and required my full attention – I couldn’t be tired or unfocused. I love beer, but I couldn’t afford a buzz, even a slight one. Even though I ‘ve spent my entire adult life listening to people hate on the taste of n/a beer, I found I actually liked it! It’s crisp and refreshing, hits the spot the way kombucha just doesn’t, and I didn’t have to worry about a buzz. The more I delved into the pros of NA beer, I stumbled across a few articles on the web, discussing it’s marathon recovery benefits! WHAT? Definitely down with this new information! IT’S SCIENCE (and the polyphenols)! I’m always up for a beer after a run, so lately the fridge has been stocked with O’Douls, which as of now, is my preferred NA beer, and the easiest to find. (If you are interested here is a site rating the taste of a variety of beers. Now that I know there’s NA IPA, I gotta find some!)

Oftentimes marathon training and race days mean bowing out of social gatherings, which can feel lonely and antisocial. Maybe in my early 20s I could have gone out the night before and still showed up for a run in the morning, but not these days. I’m excited to have a new option when I go out, because I do like bar settings. In a glass, it still feels like, well…normal? Mike and I tested how it would feel the night before Long Beach Marathon, at the bar in our hotel. Going out is still a tough one (drinking or not) because of the whole “I gotta wake up at the crack of dawn to run or train”, but every now and then, it’s gonna happen.

The night out was romantic after a long day of running errands and getting ready for the race. Neither of us wanted to drink because of the race in the morning, so we each got a pint of O’Douls, and it really hit the spot! We got the ambiance of a night out, without the dehydration! Were we fooling ourselves consuming it would benefit our outcomes race day in morning? Possibly, but who cares!

I’m super stoked about discovering my taste for O’Douls, even though it’s been in front of my face this whole time. N/A beer, who knew? Scientists, Olympians, Europeans and now…us! A kombucha just doesn’t hit the spot after a run the way beer does, and it’s totally backed by science! WIN FOR THE BEER DRINKERS!