Krispy Kreme Challenge

Saturday saw one of those momentous events that challenges the very beliefs you hold about yourself and shows you what you really can achieve when you apply yourself to the task wholeheartedly: The 2nd Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge West! For those uninitiated to what the KKCW has to offer, here is the lowdown:

1. Run 2 miles
2. Eat 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts
3. Run 2 miles

As in true multisport fashion it is a single event. The time is taken from the gun up to the point you cross the finish line, split times are also measured allowing comparison of different race strategies. To further add to the challenge there had been no female finishers of the challenge the previous year. The leading lady had only managed 9 doughnuts. That was just throwing down the gauntlet….

This year there was a strong turnout from Team Running Skirts. Christy, Cindy, Brooke and myself were racing in the adult division, Maddy in the Under 18s and Pam was assisting with doughnut distribution. All wearing the same stylish uniform of course. The boys, Jamie and Dave, were there as well and ended up showing us girls how it was done, but alas they did not don the skirts.

How does one train for such an event? The 2 mile run was fine, I know I can run that far, although not very fast. The doughnuts were an unknown quantity. Being new to the US I had never actually sampled a Krispy Kreme and decided to keep it that way, just in case I didn’t like them. Having practiced eating large quantities of junk over Halloween weekend I decided to start my taper early and leave my sugar cravings in-tact for the big day. On race day morning I opted for a small breakfast hoping this would be the best compromise between having something in my stomach to off-set the doughnuts and not filling me up too much.

Lining up at the start and looking over my fellow challengers and team mates it was clear that I was at a distinct disadvantage in running ability. The strategy was therefore clear: slow and steady and hope I manage to polish off more doughnuts than the other girls.

On the first 2 mile stretch I predictably fell way behind. I was still maintaining my slow and steady approach and hoping to ensure than by not going out too fast I would be more able to eat as soon as I stopped. I was already several doughnuts down when I arrived in the doughnut corral. You could easily identify the returning veterans from the previous year – they brought coffee! I made do with water, but not too much lest it took up valuable doughnut space in my stomach. Soon after I arrived Christy announced that she was done, only 2 doughnuts in. Brooke and Cindy were still going strong. They were both using the strategy of stacking 3-6 doughnuts on top of each other, squashing them down and then eating the whole stack. I used a different approach of one doughnut at a time. Certainly my way didn’t allow for super-fast devouring, but I hoped it would allow me to keep a steady pace and survive to the end. It seemed to work, 4 doughnuts in I was still going strong whereas the other girls were slowing down. By 8 doughnuts they were struggling, Brooke was turning a slight shade of green and I started to get hopeful. But those girls are made of stronger stuff and they powered through. Brooke was the first to finish her doughnuts and head off for the 2nd run, soon followed by Cindy, I was just behind them.

Surprisingly the 2nd run was not too bad, I was actually doing some running and in no danger whatsoever of throwing up. I crossed the finish line as the 3rd woman to ever complete the Krispy Kreme Challenge West! Brooke took the honors and Team Running Skirts totally dominated the field (only one other woman had entered!). I did have a few moments later that day where I thought the doughnuts were going to strike their revenge on me but luckily it passed.

Here is to one of the craziest and funnest races I have done in a long time. I’ll give it a few weeks before I sample any more doughnuts though!

Corina

P.S. Check out the Krispy Kreme Challenge West Facebook page for loads of photos and videos of the event!