{"id":21539,"date":"2018-02-03T15:50:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T20:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=21539"},"modified":"2018-02-03T15:50:41","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T20:50:41","slug":"the-14th-annual-krispy-kreme-challenge-filling-a-virtual-donut-hole-in-my-soul-and-soles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=21539","title":{"rendered":"The 14th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge – Filling A Virtual Donut Hole in My Soul (and Soles)"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years now, possibly as many as 13 years, I\u2019ve wanted to do the original Krispy Kreme Challenge<\/a> in my adopted state of North Carolina (my alma mater is UNC Chapel Hill — go heels!).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, yes.\u00a0 It\u2019s originated and sponsored and run by cross town rival NC State, but amongst the charitable beneficiaries is the North Carolina Children\u2019s Hospital and so doing it for the children seems an acceptable excuse for crossing into Raleigh from Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The race is a 5 mile loop starting at the NC State campus, heading out to the local Krispy Kreme donuttery and then back to the campus.\u00a0 The challenge is that at the midpoint, at the Krispy Kreme drive through window, one is to consume a dozen \u201chot, fresh now\u201d glazed doughnuts.\u00a0 Scientists say that a dozen donuts detour adds 2400 calories to your food intake.\u00a0 A five mile run burns\u2026 what\u2026 600 calories maybe?\u00a0 In addition, remember, the dozen donuts are eaten *in the middle of the race.*\u00a0 Your time includes the Takeru Kobiyashi\/Joey Chestnut\/Sonya Thomas<\/a> style Eating Contest requirement of downing the donuts.\u00a0 Yes, yes\u2026 there\u2019s a \u201clight\u201d version of the race wherein you skip the donuts or donate the donuts to charity\u2026 or spectators\u2026 but that means you\u2019re ineligible for fabulous prizes and donut hall of famery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I don\u2019t know if my stomach could, well, stomach the dozen donuts.\u00a0 I\u2019m an old man and even in my youth I think I might have balked at such a sugar rush.\u00a0 And the idea of lumbering 2.5 miles back to NC State\u2019s campus with a full belly of pastry confectionary<\/span>\u2026 it doesn\u2019t sound particularly \u201cfun.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet it sounds “FUN”<\/strong><\/em> in all capitals, the letters in bold and italics and maybe even in quotes.<\/p>\n

Year after year I eye the dates and try and make them work in my schedule.\u00a0 And year after year I fail to rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n

So this year, the 14th<\/sup> year of donut debauchery, I finally decided I would at least contribute to the cause and participate \u201cvirtually.\u201d\u00a0 I may not have scarfed down a dozen donuts but I\u2019ve been stuffing my face pretty egregiously these past few weeks and tipping the scale up, up, up so while I may not be 100% Krispy Kreme worthy, my spirit is willing.\u00a0 My heart\u2019s in the right place\u2026 and unlike the participants this morning in NC, my arteries aren\u2019t closing up and clogging up as I type this.\u00a0 So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes.\u00a0 I\u2019ve cheated at the Challenge.\u00a0 But only in a virtual way.\u00a0 And perhaps next year, for the 15th<\/sup> Annual K2C event, I\u2019ll make a run to Raleigh and back again.<\/p>\n

As for my virtual attempt this morning, I clocked a 5 miler at\u2026 and because I have been overindulging in all manner of foodstuffs decided to do a 10 miler and found my split time to be\u2026 well\u2026 meh.\u00a0 And this is all WITHOUT the dozen donuts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This may not have been the smartest \u201ctaper\u201d for my marathon tomorrow but it was also not the dumbest.<\/p>\n

Donut ask me what the dumbest taper might be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

By the way, the first ever Krispy Kreme Champ was an NC State sophomore by the name of Ben Gaddy<\/a>; he did the race in a stomach churning, jaw dropping 34 minutes and 27 seconds.\u00a0 This year’s champ was 30-year-old Nick Oltman in 30:21:08<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years now, possibly as many as 13 years, I\u2019ve wanted to do the original Krispy Kreme Challenge in my adopted state of North Carolina (my alma mater is UNC Chapel Hill — go heels!). Yes, yes.\u00a0 It\u2019s originated and sponsored and run by cross town rival NC State, but amongst the charitable beneficiaries is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}