All for a good cause.

Last Sunday was Left Hand Brewing Company's 15th anniversary.  For those of you who have not visited us since our move back to Colorado, this is our neighborhood tasting room.  It features around eight types of beer, some of which rotate seasonally; water or Izze for the bug; and free pretzels.  The bug LOVES Left Hand, largely because of the pretzels.  They have take-home growlers which can be refilled at a slight discount, so it is not only very good beer but very reasonably priced.  And they are also a major sponsor of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival...so you can see the multiple family connection points.

Anyway, last weekend they sponsored a marathon, of sorts, and a charity fundraising event.  Matt ran the marathon, which consisted of drinking 26.2 ounces of beer before, during, and after a 5K.  The proof, as taken by our friend and volunteer photographer/ fellow beer drinker Niall:

Exhibit A: The pre-race 9-ounce beer, at the starting line prior to the run.

Exhibit B: The second 9-ounce beer, with a slightly less enthusiastic and slightly more sweaty runner mid-race.

Exhibit C: Matt, mid-run, nearing the finish line.

While I can't document the moment of his historic finish, he mentioned finishing in under 20 minutes, which kept him in the top quartile overall. If you know anything about local footraces in the Boulder area, you know this is where the Kenyans train for the Olympics, so EVER finishing in the top quarter of any footrace in the county is quite a feather in one's cap.

After his accomplishment, he kicked back to listen to some local bands for a few hours before swapping out with me so I could work the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's charity booth.  Left Hand invited all the local charities to which it donates to sponsor a booth at the event.  Everyone who came in got a bottle cap that they could use to vote for their favorite charity, and the charity with the most bottle caps at the end of the day got the biggest cut of the proceeds.  Unsurprisingly, the Humane Society was the day's big winner (darn cute puppies!), but CSF did walk away with quite a few bottle caps and some charity cash as well. We gave away t-shirts and mugs, and emailed people digital photos of themselves in Renaissance costume.  This of course required us to display at least a token garment or two ourselves:

It's amazing how fast people let you cut in the beer line when you're carrying a sword. I'll have to remember that if they host any large events in the future.