The Global Adventurer

“Anyone can drink beer, but it takes a runner to enjoy beer.” I modified beer cicerone and author Stephen Beaumont’s quote to reflect my impression of the success of the second Beer Lovers’ Marathon in Liège, Belgium on June 4, 2017.

We participated in the premiere edition of the race last year. I don’t drink, but the race made such a good impression on me that we were back for more this year. I couldn’t wait to see what outrageous costumes runners will be wearing this time. Almost a thousand other runners did not disappoint and really got into the spirit of the theme. It seemed like beings from down below, up above, and everybody in between were represented!

Richard and I proceeded to Place Saint Lambert in Liège to pick up my race bib after attending a noon meeting in Maastricht, The Netherlands on Saturday, June 3rd.

The plaza outside the race tent had two markets in progress. We browsed through the products at the LiegItalia market first.

Richard could not resist taking a sample of the salami e cioccolato al Viagra.

We proceeded to the Summer Beer Lovers’ Festival across the street.

Our hotel for the weekend was just down the street, conveniently close to the start and finish line. Pentahotel Liège is an ultrahip hotel that did not have a conventional check-in counter. The bartender doubled up as the front desk officer. Hotel parking was available for a fee.

Place Saint Lambert is a shopping and restaurant district. We walked about some more before having a quick dinner at one of the restaurants.

Breakfast was the first order of the day the next morning before heading out to the start line.

The race also had breads at the 2K point for others who skipped breakfast.

While other races had entertainment spots along the race route, this race had the runners as the entertainment. People were just excited and ran in packs, stopping to socialize and have a drink (or two, or three) of the 16 different Belgian beers along the way.

Chips, sausages, and apples were available to go along with the beers.

The course was generally flat, except for the Montagne de Bueren, a 374-step staircase in the middle of the city. We climbed some more steps to get to the viewing deck on top of the mountain.

What is really funny is that even if they had lots of different beers already, these runners still ran faster than me! About a quarter of the runners ignored the 6 hours 30 minutes time limit and just enjoyed the beer and the race.

My finisher’s medal and beer glass were waiting for me at the finish line. I cleaned up at the hotel and we were on the way home soon after.

Checked out The Cavern Club where The Beatles was discovered.

Running a race in a city where one of the greatest bands of all time was born should be in every Beatles fan’s bucket list. I am a  fan by osmosis so running the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon 2017 was a dream come true. My father was the lead singer of a sixties tribute band playing mostly Beatles songs. He is a businessman but he spent a lot of time listening or playing their music with a tight group of friends. They were all accomplished in different fields and bonded together by the Fab Four’s music.  Our house was filled during the weekends with Beatles music blasting from the stereo system.

Flying into Liverpool and discovering the city’s adoration for all things Beatles brought back childhood memories. We flew with Ryanair to Manchester at 5:00 AM on Saturday, May 27, 2017. The flight only took an hour and 25 minutes. The UK has border control so we were prepared for the immigration lines. There are direct flights to Liverpool but there was no route to and from Brussels.

From Manchester, we took the Northern train to Liverpool Lime Street Station. After a little over an hour, we switched to the local Merseyrail train to James Street station two stops away and walked a few minutes to our hotel.

It was too early to check into our hotel so we spent the time walking the city center.

We had brunch at one of the restaurants along Albert Dock before we leisurely made our way to Echo Arena to pick up our bib. The 5K race was already in progress. The ACC Liverpool was already rocking and rolling with runners and spectators. The finish line for all races was inside the Echo Arena. Security was very tight following measures taken after the Manchester arena bombing the previous weekend.

The RunFit Expo had many new products on offer and it is always exciting to see the latest and greatest in running gear.

We had fun dressed up in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band costumes for the pre-race photo.

Hotel Indigo Liverpool City Centre was ideally located in the center of the race action. The room was modern and colorful, and they provided us with complimentary red and white wine. I was pleasantly surprised that the enfant terrible of the British restaurant scene, Marco Pierre White, has a steakhouse bar and grill restaurant in the hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around some more before an early dinner at White’s restaurant inside the hotel.

The marathon was scheduled at 10:00 AM on Sunday but was delayed by 15 minutes. The half marathoners started an hour earlier. The mood was sober and there were armed policemen all over. We were encouraged to wear yellow ribbons to show our stand against the senseless tragedy the previous weekend.

I found some Filipinos running as a group.

The course charted through the whole city of Liverpool and its side streets. We passed by the Cavern Club and I saw Richard at mile 2 in front of the city hall.

He took a video of the tribute band playing at the balcony of the city hall.

He took photos of two of the cool cars parked in the city.

We also ran through the iconic Penny Lane. I just had to stop and get a selfie.

The Echo Arena was very busy. The finishers were relaxing and listening to the open air rock concert.

I met Richard at the Hilton Liverpool City Center and walked to the Lime Street Station to catch the direct train to Manchester airport. I changed while on the train and was halfway decent for our Ryanair return flight to Brussels at 6:05 PM.

I first found out about this marathon when I participated in the Nacht van West-Vlaanderen (Night of Flanders) 100K walk in 2015. I did the 50K walk last year so for this year, I decided to do the 42K run.

We drove 114 kilometers (about an hour on the Belgian freeway with the 120K speed limit) immediately after work on June 16, 2017. We arrived in Torhout with time to rest and get ready for the race at 8:00 PM.

The hub for all race distances was located in an industrial hall of this Dutch-speaking city east of Brussels (Industrielaan 2, 8820 Torhout). We waited for a few minutes before the bib pick-up started at 5:30 PM. There were very few athletes at this time. No doubt resting to make their personal bests (PBs)!

We made our way to Hotel Roodhof in Oostkamp, a 17-minute drive from the starting line. The converted dairy farm was built in 1888 and located in a quiet countryside. The room was basic but the employees were very nice.

I had time to slowly get ready and eat an omelet at the restaurant before it was time to go back. The hotel was near but we did not anticipate the traffic jam; the road was full of cars heading to the starting line. I started to worry that I will miss the gun start. I forgot that the 100K walk and the 42K run started at the same time! Richard let me off as close as he could and I made it to the race start with two minutes to spare!

The marathon and the half-marathon started at the same time. The first 21K was a loop followed by three smaller loops of 7K each. We were mostly on the trails and the residential area. I was stressed out from almost missing the race that I resolved to just enjoy the race and did not stop to take photos. The race had a time limit of 5 hours and 30 minutes.

It was past 1:00 AM when I crossed the finish line, tired but happy with another marathon medal. The finish line was in the city center in front of the church, just a few meters away from the industrial hall where I picked up my finisher’s shirt.

Details for next year’s race can be found here.