The Philadelphia Eagles buried the Dallas Cowboys 41-14 on 109-degree turf at Texas Stadium.
The Eagles trainer handed his players a strange drink before kickoff, and athletes have sworn by it ever since.
McDonald's is now bottling that same secret weapon and handing it out free in Chicago.
The Eagles Trainer Who Brought Pickle Juice to the Sideline
It was September 3, 2000, opening day, and a thermometer on the artificial turf in Irving hit 109 degrees at kickoff.
Rick Burkholder, the Eagles athletic trainer, had an idea most coaches would have laughed out of the locker room.
He told his players to drink pickle juice before the game, convinced the salty stuff would hold off cramps where water couldn't.
Andy Reid, coming off a 5-11 season in his first year as head coach, opened with a surprise onside kick.
Dallas wilted while Philadelphia kept coming.
Duce Staley punched in a one-yard touchdown with eight seconds left in the first quarter, and the rout was on.
On the next Dallas drive, Hugh Douglas and James Darling sacked Troy Aikman and knocked him out of the game.
The Cowboys had to send in Randall Cunningham – the former Eagles quarterback – to finish the beating.
Final score: Eagles 41, Cowboys 14.
The game went down in NFL lore as the Pickle Juice Game.
Burkholder later followed Reid to Kansas City, where his training room has patched up Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Yes, that Travis Kelce.
McDonald's Pickle Boost Hits Chicago Marathon Weekend
McDonald's took the brine from its pickles – the tangy slices that ride on every cheeseburger – and poured it into two-ounce bottles.
The company calls it Pickle Boost and bills it as "salty, athlete-ready brine."
It's free, and it's aimed squarely at the Chicago Marathon crowd, with the race set for Sunday, October 11.
McDonald's says the bottles are for "runners, spectators, and pickle lovers."
So Grandpa doesn't need a race bib to get his.
The giveaway opens Friday, October 9, on the Lakefront Trail at 2401 N. Lake Shore Drive from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central, timed for pre-race shakeout runs.
On race day, five Chicago McDonald's restaurants take over from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The stops are 2635 N. Clark, 1563 N. Wells, 600 N. Clark, 203 N. LaSalle and 207 E. 35th Street.
Each customer gets two bottles, and once they're gone, they're gone.
Picture tens of thousands of marathoners lining up at the Golden Arches for a shot of pickle juice.
That's not a joke anymore – it's a marketing plan.
The 2010 Cramp Study That Backed Up the Eagles Trainer
Science caught up with Burkholder a decade later.
Researchers in 2010 timed how long cramps lasted after a dose of pickle juice and clocked roughly 90 seconds.
Cramps cleared 45 percent faster than when the subjects took nothing.
A 2014 study then tested the old salt theory, measuring electrolytes in the blood after a dose, and found no change.
The leading explanation now is a reflex.
When the sour brine hits the back of the throat, it may send a signal that calms the cramping muscle before the juice ever reaches the stomach.
Some researchers still say they can't find any benefit at all.
The doses that worked in those studies ran two to three ounces.
McDonald's two-ounce bottle lands right in that range.
One warning for the grandparents cheering from the sidewalk.
Pickle brine is packed with salt, so anyone with high blood pressure should go easy on it.
The good news is it won't dry you out – the research shows it rehydrates about as well as water.
A Burger Chain Borrowed a Trick From an NFL Sideline
McDonald's figured out what Burkholder knew at Texas Stadium.
The juice at the bottom of a pickle jar has value.
Most families pour it down the sink once the last spear is gone.
Now the biggest burger chain on earth is slapping a label on it and handing it to athletes about to run 26.2 miles.
No new recipe and no celebrity endorsement deal.
Just the brine that has been riding along with McDonald's pickles for generations, finally given a name.
The race starts and finishes in Grant Park, and those runners will be starving by the time they cross the line.
Guess where a lot of them are headed next.
That's how you win a marathon weekend without running a single step.
Rick Burkholder should be getting royalties.
Sources:
- Jonathan Maze, "McDonald's has something special for Chicago marathon runners: pickle juice," Nation's Restaurant News, October 5, 2026.
- Ben Coley, "McDonald's Bottles Its Pickle Brine for Chicago Marathon Weekend," QSR Magazine, October 5, 2026.
- Cris Tolomia, "McDonald's giving away free pickle brine drinks at Chicago Marathon," Quartz, October 5, 2026.
- Adrian White, "Pickle Juice for Cramps: Efficacy, Use, Risks, and More," Healthline, September 13, 2019.
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