81-year-old Beer Mile runner says she would have run faster with scotch

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- An 81-year-old Texas woman who finished a Beer Mile race in only 20 minutes said she "would have run a lot faster" if they had given her scotch instead of beer.

Elvira "Vera" Montes of El Paso completed the 2015 FloTrack Beer Mile World Championships in Austin Dec. 1 with a time of 20:24:62, besting her daughter, Renee Reynolds, 47, who finished with a time of 21:15:67.

"I'm not a big beer drinker," Montes told the El Paso Times. "I like beer when the weather is real hot and there's nothing else to drink. I'm really a scotch drinker, Chivas if it's available. If it was scotch we were drinking instead of beer, I would have run a lot faster."

Participants in the Beer Mile are required to chug a 12-ounce bottle of beer every quarter mile -- so Montes downed four beers during her run.

Montes, the oldest participant in this year's run, said the event was easier than last year, which marked her first Beer Run.

"It was easier because the beer was better," she said laughing. "It was cold and it was bottled beer this time. I don't remember what it was, but it was good."

Montes said she took her daughter to Hooters for chicken wings and scotch after the race.

"I don't have any secrets, I just wanted to prove to my daughter that I could run and drink beer," Montes told Runner's World.