Sara Santiago is one of the baddest badass beer runners I know.
Yes, that’s her scar, after she had brain surgery and a titanium plate inserted into her skull. This was only four months after she appeared on this blog.
“Quite simply, I love delicious beer, and I love running, hiking, and having fun outdoors with my husband and our kids,” she said back in January.
Her goals: “I’m interested in finding the balance. I’m interested in drinking beer. (Related: Running is not optional.)”
Little did many of her friends know at the time she was dealing with a brain malformation that caused the bottom part of her cerebellum to grow out of her skull and into/onto her spinal cord. In other words, her brain was literally expanding out of her skull.
(Sara is also incredibly smart. Coincidence?)
For someone who relished being so active, she was having trouble with balance and it had become “hard to walk or hold my children.” I can’t even imagine what that would be like.
As a gesture of support before her surgery, friends of hers ran a heart, as outlined by their GPS. (I did too, though mine looked more like a liver than a heart.)
Then Sara had surgery and earned the hell out of that scar. She wasn’t completely better, but vowed “with gratitude in my heart and all of the beautiful people in my life, I will achieve 125% every day.” All was right with the world.
Now she has to go back in for more surgery. This time on her spinal cord. The date is less than two weeks away.
This time, friends ran a couple different course outlines for her, including a beer run. This is a beer mug (looks a little like Wisconsin, doesn’t it?) from fellow beer runner Mike Collins.

This made Sara very happy. She wrote on DailyMile: “I love beer (because it’s delicious). And they love me. And now I’m crying again. I am so blessed. These wonderful friends make my life awesome. I love them all so very much.”
I again ran a malformed route, this time one that somewhat resembled a bar of soap. So I hope my blog can more clearly convey what my GPS could not: We love you Sara, and we wish you the speediest of recoveries so you can get back to business. (aka running and beer.)
So everyone raise your glasses to one major badass. Cheers, Sara!
Later gators.