Every fall, Tyranena Brewing Co puts on a fun half-marathon (and 1/6th marathon). There is no expo--packet pickup happens the morning of the race, and the process is fast and smooth. The t-shirt is a nice tech shirt, and every entry comes with a ticket for a lasagna dinner and two drink tickets for beer or a soda.

The course is hilly at first, but then flattens out some. Some of the course is on open roads, which isn't the most scenic, but the drivers are polite and it never felt unsafe. The rest of the course is on the glacier drumlin state trail (it's gravel that is pretty well flattened-out) and that part of the course was beautiful. All in all, it's a fun loop around Rock Lake.

My only complaint about the course was that there were not enough aid stations. There were 4 in total, all between miles 2 and 10. In the future, I'd absolutely bring my own liquids, because I felt dehydrated by the end.

The best well-known secret of the Beer Run is the Unofficial Beer Stop at Miles 4.7. A group of volunteers man a table of tiny dixie cups of beer (maybe 1-2oz, so definitely worth the sip) and keep runners up to date on the Badgers football score. Perhaps if I'd been trying to PR I wouldn't have stopped for a beer, but because I was just out there to have fun, I thoroughly enjoyed my sip of IPA.

All in all, Tyranena Brewing puts on a fun fall event. With the lasagna dinner, beer tent, brewery tours, and live music, it's really easy to make a full day out of it if you're up for it after you race. So I'd recommend bringing an extra set of clothing and settling in with a post-race beer.