I've been home brewing for over a year now, and I am constantly in search of new beer styles from which I can draw inspiration. I travel to different local beer merchants, talk to the shop keepers about styles they like, and go home to drink the spoils of my shopping. The life of a beer enthusiast is tough, right? Typically I don't like to drink before I exercise for obvious reasons, like dehydration, feeling bloated, beer farts . . . you know what I'm talking about. But for some reason on Tuesday I thought it was a good idea.

Official Pizza of the 2FNs Crew

After work on Tuesday I was in the mood for some Pizza. Ellie and I have been trying to cut back on eating out, so last time we went grocery shopping we picked up one of those frozen pizzas. Wegmans has really good, "Italian Classics" frozen pizzas, so when we are feeling lazy, that is a go-to solution. Tuesday was just one of those nights. We cracked open a beer each, put the pizza in the oven, and were good to go. Ellie found a fantastic beer at our local pub that we've been enjoying at home ever since. It is Syracuse Pale Ale by Middle Ages Brewing Company.

This made for a perfect evening, really. Except for one little detail: Wednesday morning is a Weigh-In day. Who am I to sit around and have pizza and beer the night before I have to hop on the scale for the whole blogosphere to see . . . or at least my mom and siblings. Ellie and I decided it would be best to take Audrey on a longer walk to burn off some of what we ate, but afterward, I still felt that wasn't enough. So I slapped on my Vibrams and prepared myself for what was going to be a super uncomfortable, full-belly run.

On my way out the door, something happened. I decided that I wanted to see how fast I could do a single mile. I figured that I was never going to get the full distance of a 5k in before my stomach revolted, so I wanted to at least sweat a little. I set up my android app to keep me informed about my time and estimated finish time of one mile, and I headed off down the street as quickly as possible. Honestly, I was moving at what I felt was a really good clip. At the end of the first mile, I was looking at my phone and it said, "7 minutes and 7 seconds." Holy crap. I was feeling good, too, so I kept pushing toward my next mile. I thought I pulled up to recover a little bit, but at the end of mile two, I realized I was at 13 minutes 55 seconds.  I finished the second mile in 6:48. That was by far the fastest mile I have ever run. At this point I was getting pretty winded, so I pulled up a little bit to recover for about one-fourth of a mile . . . and then I realized something: if I push as hard as I can, with everything I had left, I will shatter my best 5k time.

I pushed and finished the last mile in 7:39. Overall, I finished 5.1 kilometers (I actually ran a little over!) in 22 minutes and 30 seconds. I destroyed my previous record and felt amazing. I was elated. I ran up the stairs . . . okay, fine, I staggered up the stairs to see Ellie and I think she will agree, I was buzzing with energy.

Still, Tuesday evening doesn't quite add up to me. I ate pizza and drank beer before running and still ran strong. I think it had something to do with my incredibly rested legs from not running much over the past couple of weeks, but I also think for some reason I felt like I needed to prove to myself that I can throw it down and that being lazy in March didn't set me back too much.

All said and done, Tuesday night just made me want it more, to get out and do more and to break that 200-pound barrier.