Saturday I got to fulfill a life long dream of eating donuts and running. I’m not going to lie, it was hard and awesome and awful and amazing all at the same time. Oh, and I found my calling…
Since this race was two hours away it was a very early morning as Hugo, Megan, and I carpooled to the race start. Hugo was running the “Challenge” which was a stand alone 5K first and then the donut run 5K afterward. Megan, Karen and I opted for just the donut 5K. We met Karen at the race start as she opted to stay overnight.
Yes, we all drove two hours for a 5K. Because, donuts.
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| Pre Run with our Donut Race Shirts |
The stand alone 5K started at 8 AM and Hugo was off while Megan, Karen, and I chit chatted. I opted for a mile warm up run. I had zero leg pain so I was stoked about that! It was getting warm out, but being a little bit north of where we live was nice. It seemed oddly cool to us when we got there, but that definitely changed as the sun climbed higher in the sky.
As the 5K runners came in I noted their times and wondered who amongst the speediest was going to run the donut race as well. I admit my competitive side was taking over as I sized up other runners and discussed strategy with Megan and Karen. Hugo returned from the 5K where he placed 3rd in his age group. Woohoo!
The donut 5K consisted of running 1.5 miles to the donut aid station, eating SIX Dunkin’ Donuts glazed donuts, and then running 1.5 (ish) miles back to the finish line. There was also a relay option of splitting the donuts in half but we all wanted the six donut glory.
We lined up for the donut race later than the race start time but it wasn’t a big deal. We started our run at 9:05 AM. My strategy was to haul ass the first 1.5 miles and see how the donut eating went and then decide on pacing for the final 1.5 back to the finish line.
There was one woman who just had that “fast” look in the start corral and as we took off I went out way too fast and noticed my watch said 6:34 pace. Oops. I dialed it back and ran the first mile at a 7:09 pace. And I ran the half mile at a 7:47. I hit lap as I got to the donuts. The “fast” looking lady, sprinted ahead and got to the donuts first. There was a woman just after her who got to the donuts second. This put me in contention for third, with Karen right on my heels.
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| The first donut. |
As I was handed my box of donuts I was sweating in my eyes and my heart rate was pretty high. I ate the first one without any problem and it was tasty. After the first one, I got strategic and began squishing them flat in between my hands. I had glaze and sweat all over me and then all over my shirt as I wiped my hands off in between eating and squishing.
Karen and I picked a spot next to each other and then Hugo came in and began eating his six donuts. Megan joined not long after and started hers. Sadly, we have no photographic evidence of Megan eating her donuts. Which, she’s probably ok with considering how crazy the rest of us look. Ha!
After donut number four, I was struggling. Karen was on donut three and she was also struggling. I believe Hugo was having the best day of his life. Donuts five and six were ROUGH.
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| I’m totally grossed out at this point & Karen is contemplating her final two. Hugo is enjoying his immensely. |
I saw the woman who was in second place take off as I was on donut five I believe. I kept an eye on the woman who was first to the donuts as I squished my last two together. It appeared she was suffering. I took this as my opportunity to drink more water and try to pep talk Karen (and myself) so that we could keep eating and head to the finish line. Karen cheered me on and said, “Beth I want you to get 2nd!” That was enough incentive to choke down donuts five and six (as a squished together single donut) and gulp some water and head off.
Surprisingly enough, running after eating six donuts was not that bad. I was hot more than anything. I ran that last 1.5 miles scared as I thought for sure the super fast woman was going to catch me at any moment. I stupidly stopped my watch as I started the second run portion and realized I did that after running for a bit. I restarted it and tried to hang on.
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| Heading toward the finish. |
I never looked behind me and as soon as I saw the finish line I knew I was good for second place. My overall time was 32 minutes and change. (The official results aren’t up because they had some issues with timing.) My Garmin moving time shows 23:21 and I’d guess I ran for an additional 30 seconds without my watch started. So, it basically took me around nine or 10 minutes to eat six donuts. That seems slow to me but I swear I could not have eaten any faster.
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| Karen & I post race. |
Karen, Hugo, and Megan all came in shortly after and we all agreed that running post eating was not as bad as the actual eating itself. They had super cute sparkly medals and we waited for Hugo’s age group award. They were only giving awards for the top donut run finishers and the challenge winners so I was surprised when they called my name as the overall donut race winner. I clearly did not win overall, but the woman who did had won the challenge so they bumped me to first place overall donut run winner. Score!
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| My mug “award” |
I’m saying I placed 2nd because I know I didn’t actually “win” the whole race. But, I will for sure be back next year to try it again. Apparently, I can podium when food is involved.
P.S. Leg is still good to go. I may make it Grandma’s Marathon yet…
Fantastic! Congrats on a big win like that. and I totally agreed, after doing the krispy kreme challenge that eating was harder than running afterwards. and I had to eat 12 KK's.
I am super impressed at your ability to eat 6 donuts midway through a run and then finish AND PLACE 2nd! A couple years ago at Gasparilla, some nice people were giving out donuts at the turn around.I ate half of one, it was delicious, but once I started running it did not agree with me. I can't imagine as many as you ate and I love me some donuts. As always, YOU ROCK!
This is beyond awesome! I am totally doing this with you next time. Love all the pics and your shirts. And GREAT time considering the eating. I think I would have puked on the way back. LOL! xo