What is a ‘shoey’? The ‘pretty gross’ running trend that can increase your odds of getting athlete’s foot

Cue the ew.

Running and celebratory drinking have a long and frothy history, yet the latest trend of marking milestones with a “shoey” is perhaps the yuckiest yet.

For the uninitiated, a shoey refers to the practice of pouring booze into a shoe and drinking it. To make things extra ick, a shoey is usually taken after a race or when a runner scores a personal record and, presumably, their sneakers are at their rankest.

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Pro-long-distance runner and two-time Olympian Desiree Linden is a shoey devotee and a brand loyalist.

“The first time I did a shoey was in 2016 after the Olympic Marathon in Rio,” she told Runners World. “At the Games, we race in the Team USA kit, which is not Brooks, but we’re allowed to compete in our individual sponsor’s shoes. I did the shoey as a little nod and thank you to the Brooks team when I couldn’t show the love with their logo on the jersey.”

Linden showed out for her second shoey in 2018 to commemorate her Boston Marathon victory.

Ashley Mateo, a UESCA- and RRCA-certified running coach in Denver, downed her first shoey at the 2021 Chicago Marathon. She recalled, “I was pretty grossed out at first, but it just felt like something that you did to celebrate this thing you just accomplished. So, I did my first one.”

Popularized by Australians — and by no means limited to the running community — the tradition of the shoey may have ties (or laces, if you will) to Middle America.

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According to Yahoo News, the shoey originated in a Chicago brothel in 1902. Prince Henry of Prussia was reportedly patronizing the establishment when one of the ladies lost her slipper while dancing. A brave member of his entourage filled the loose shoe with Champagne and drank it, thus a distasteful tradition was born.

Fast forward to World War I, when German soldiers would all drink from the same boot before battle, believing it would bring them good luck.

As of late, Australian Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo has taken the shoey global, repeatedly downing Champagne from his racing boot.

His take? “If the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. If it’s warm, you might get the sweat through it, but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious.”

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While deliciousness may be subjective, health experts agree that drinking out of a shoe is bad news.

“Drinking beer out of a running shoe, especially one that has just been used during a race, is not advisable from a hygiene perspective,” said Sarah Jamison, M.D., an emergency medicine physician in New York.

“Running shoes harbor sweat, bacteria, fungi and potentially even small particles of dirt or road debris. After a race, these contaminants can mix with the beer, increasing the risk of exposure to harmful pathogens.”

Among those harmful pathogens? Athlete’s foot. The inside of a shoe can harbor the fungus responsible for this infection, which can easily be spread to other parts of the body. Highly contagious, athlete’s foot is spread through contaminated items like clothing, sheets and sneakers. Thus, taking a shoey out of someone else’s dirty footwear seriously increases the likelihood of infection.