When You Want to Work Out and Drink: Sips & Sneakers

Posted by Lorin Drinkard / Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Have you ever walked through a shopping mall and thought, “Why not be drinking adult beverages while doing this?” Meet Washington Wine Academy (WWA), the brains behind making that notion a reality.

This past weekend, hundreds of racers geared up for their second annual 1K Wine race … er, Walk. The shops at Crystal City transformed into a multipurpose bar/lounge as gaggles of middle age couples and clusters of young Arlingtonians wearing their race number pinned to their jackets wove their way through the dimly lit wine tasting course.

The basic idea? Trade in paper tickets for wine samples as you make your way to the finish line, aka dance party (but more on that later).

Ten stations, 46 wines means there were so many sips and so much time to mix and mingle with other participants, chat up the WWA pourers about their favorite vino and experience Crystal City as a makeshift nightlife watering hole.

After warm greetings at the registration table, racers are handed a map with the layout of all ten tasting stations, plus directions to pick up their race shirt and tasting glass. (Does it sound like I’m recounting a description of an actual 5k running event? So eerily similar and yet … I didn’t ever break out into a sweat. Okay, maybe once – when I realized that all of my jacket layers, plus gloves, thick scarf and boots, were slowly toasting my body into a crisp, campfire marshmallow).

Although the folks provided a fine, color-coded map, finding the actual wine glass station did prove a bit tricky – and this was before reaching the alcohol. I followed a cheery volunteer’s prompting around a corner (that I wouldn’t have ever turned down) and voilà, there lay the desired beverage holders. With glass in hand, I set on my way.

“I love wine and I’m usually on the other end,” admits Laura Raynor, a friendly WWA volunteer pouring reds at Station Four. After I dropped my ticket in the bucket, she quickly poured  the allotted ticket’s worth, describing the origin of the grape and what to note in the flavor. I swirled and sniffed Man Vintners Pinotage 2010 from the Coastal Region in South Africa. “It’s a blend within a blend. The main grape is a hybrid.” Around me people were milling about – chatting about work, which wine they just had to try again, how their new friend from a previous station was cute.

Over 1,200 registered for the event, plus media and volunteers, bringing  the 1K tally to a whopping 1,400 Novinians.

Further along the way a group of young women huddle by a piano in the Synetic Theater, as one friend plunks away on the keys. The room is buzzing with activity with all the drink pouring and glass clinking going on. There’s no rush on this course. Plenty of people lingered around a particular wine they really enjoyed, or stopped to sit on  benches along the mall’s underground corridors.

“I feel synetic!” one racer shouts to this friends as they enter the theatre.

“You have no idea what means,” his drinking buddy said in response.

The really, really smart people at WAA strategically placed bread (and hummus!) stations along the way so racers could carb load and not have to stumble to the finish. Throw the promise of thumping finish line party, complete with sporadic dancing and more wine sampling, and you’re going to have to try to hold me back from reaching the end.

So how did this reporter finish? By giving away a fistful of remaining drink tickets, leaving with a souvenir glass, t-shirt, munching on complimentary pita bread as the taste of sweet, smokey grapes faded from my tongue.

The  fun’s not over though – this weekend, Jan. 21 and 22, will be another drinking, there’s-no-hurry race course. “It’s the same thing but with beer,” explains one of organizers for the 1K Beer Walk. In case of a potential Snowpocalypse sitch, the makeup date will be the following weekend (Jan. 28 and 29).

View all the event details and register for the upcoming shananigans over here.

 –Lorin Drinkard

Tags: 1K Beer Walk, 1k Wine Walk, Crystal City, happy hour, happy hour in Crystal City, happy hours, happy hours in Northern Virginia, Lorin Drinkard, Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Magazine, NoVA Happy Hours, nova mag, Sips and Sneakers, The Culture Gurus, The Game Plan, things to do, Things to do in Northern Virginia, wine