Welcome back to another installment of the Oregon Brewery Running Series Podcast. Inspiring Oregonians to Get Active, Have Fun, and Give Back. We host family-friendly, 5K fun runs that start and end at some of Oregon’s best breweries.
In today’s show, I reflect on our 2017 season, thank a bunch of people who made it happen and hear from a few of our participants. We’ll also give you a sneak peek into the 2018 season!
2017, By The Numbers
In 2017, we hosted 18, 5k fun runs, at 16 different breweries. We were at Portland Brewing twice (once for the Hoppy Earth Day Brewfest), and at two of the Hopworks locations (Powell and Vancouver).
In 2017, we had 2,061 participants, and based on our best guessitmation, nearly 1,300 different people ran at least one event, meaning, a whole bunch of you ran more than one. People like Kim C, Kim W, Mark (there are three of them, you know who you are), Robert, Chris, Bill, and Laura (to name a few), ran in 5 or more events, which is pretty impressive.
We also kept track of the number of pints of beer you all drank, or at least the ones we purchased. Between all participants, volunteers, partners and our musical guests, that number is, approximately, 2,466. You also ran 5,111 miles or 8225.4K. We raised just over $4,000 for the Oregon Brewshed Alliance, The Portland Parks Foundation, and Life Vest Inside.
Thank you for making our second season such a memorable one. The participants, you, are indeed an inspiration. Hearing some of your stories helped Drew and I realized the diverse backgrounds we all have. From those working in the medical profession to creative types, teachers, lawyers, insurance providers, entrepreneurs, active military personnel and so many more. We all share a deep love for running and beer.
But it’s not really about the beer and running for us. It’s about bringing people together as part of a community. Many of our participants ran their very first organized 5K this year, and we feel so honored they did so with us. Whether or not they run in a whole bunch more of our events, we hope that running and being active becomes a lifestyle for all of you. We also know that some of you are hardcore runners, doing other timed races in the area. We appreciate you too and love that you chose one of our events to take it easy for a day. We hope that bringing together these two different types of runners inspires everyone to stay active, have fun, and give back as we all discover and enjoy the intricacies of craft beer in this great state of ours.
After our last event of 2017 at Stickmen Brewing in Tualatin, Oregon on November 11, I walked around and interviewed some of our participants. I wanted to get a sense of why they decided to spend a Saturday morning with us. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
It’s laid back, low key, no pressure!
Running and beer…what else is there to say?
Easy way to get back into running after an injury.
Feel like family..like that it’s a small group of people.
It’s just really fun!
And a lot more. LISTEN NOW!
Lots of Thank Yous!
We need to give a huge thank you’s to all of our 2017 brewery partners. Make sure to visit them often! Thanks to: Portland Brewing, Rogue EastSide, BridgePort, StormBreaker, Portland Cider Co., Base Camp, Lompoc, The Commons, Ecliptic, Migration, Lucky Lab, Hopworks, Laurelwood, Ghost Runners, Baerlic, Stickmen.
Also thank you to our partners, who provided some great swag and samples at many of our events. That includes, Nossa Familia for offering free coffee at every run in 2017! Also, Happy Mountain Kombucha who provided their delicious Kombucha samples at nearly every event. Laughing Planet, one of our favorite places to eat, for their contributions and ongoing support. Make sure to visit them often for their rotating special. And also Kind Bars. They may be a national brand, but they have a great local presence and gave us, and you, so much over the year.
Other partners who came to events were,
- Picky Bars
- Ruby Jewell Ice Cream
- Trail Nuggets
- Spielman Bagels
- Sisters Fruit Co.
- Chedz Snacks
- Coco Donuts
- Almetta almond mousse
- FoPo Pretzels
Thank you to our musicians and bands,
-
- Bullets & Belles
- Phil Ajjarapu
- J & B on the Rocks (that’s Jason and Brad)
- Nathan Hedges
- Fir
Thanks to our amazingly talented photographers, Emily Perez, Wayne Dilly, JJ Grinvalds, Audrey Rotermund. Thank you to our amazing volunteers; we couldn’t do this without you. There are too many of you to name, but you know who you are.
If you’d like to volunteer for a run this coming year, please sign up here. You get free beer, a t-shirt, and entry to a future run.
About Us
The Oregon Brewery Running Series is about inspiring Oregonians to Get Active, Have Fun, and Give Back. We host family-friendly, 5K fun runs that start and end at some of Oregon’s best breweries. Register for our next run here!
Our theme music, the Oregon Song, is written and performed by James Hoffman.
