To be an official Krispy Kreme Challenger you must: Run 2 miles, eat a dozen donuts, run back. In and hour. Do not Puke.
Runner’s World had an article in the Feb 2011 issue on this race and most of the online commentswere along the lines of “what a horrible idea,” “That doesn’t sound like fun,” “I suck at life,” blah blah blah…
I’m glad the party poopers stayed far away…because this race was OSOM! It has a reputation for awesome costumes. Think Bay to Breakers except donuts instead of booze and no naked people.
What they dont tell you is there’s 3 different registration options:
I’m a pansy so I opted to be a Casual Runner and since I love running in costume, I dressed up as a cop (apparently the donut loving cop isn’t a huge stereotype anymore. People didnt find the humor in it – esp the cops I said thanks to along the course).
Between Challengers and Casual Runners the 7,500 slots filled up in early January and ended up raising $100,000 for UNC Children’s Hospital. Costumes, Great Cause, Running….Who could ask for anything more?
We all forgot to ask for a dry morning! Race day was around 35 and it was pouring rain. Not cute donut-like sprinkles. Cats and dogs rain! I thought about staying in bed but I wanted to wear my outfit. I’m such a girl.
I parked and sat in my car, hoping the rain would subside. I didn’t so about 20 minutes to gun time I headed out. At first I didnt see many costumes and I started to get upset at all these boring people. Of course, I was wearing a trashbag over my outfit and they were probably wondering why the weirdo girl was running with a cop hat.
The corrals were packed and I squeezed smack in the middle. It was actually pretty warm in there with all those bodies. Slowly, I started seeing more costumes and I felt better about humanity. My plan was to run for fun…it was a cutback week anyway and it was a guaranteed donut run PR.
Super crowded start – You can see Forrest at the end.
Finally the gun went off, and we started flying down the street. Another thing they dont really advertise is that the first half of the race is downhill. While it’s not much of an elevation gain, 2 miles of uphill after donut time is a cruel joke. Mile 1 – 9:01
As the crowd spread I saw more and more costumes. Luigi passed me but I never saw Mario. I saw Forrest Gump and sadly, my first though was “Why would a guy run in khakis?” I felt really dumb for missing that one. It was still raining, but I was warming up and started to slowly rip off my trash bag. Mile 2 – 9:09.
Once the Garmin hit 2 miles I could smell the sugar. I knew we were about a quarter mile away from the KK store so I dont know why they keep saying it’s a 4 mile run. Everyone came to a dead stop upon reaching the KK waiting to be handed their donuts.
Being donut exempt, I walked along the outside and through the parking lot taking pics. Every water station I approached was out of water, which must have sucked for the people eating. Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
I got my box of donuts, figuring I’d eat a couple. But one bite confirmed they were hard, stale, and nasty…so I tossed it in the dumpster along with my trash bag poncho. Unfortunately I also managed to lose a glove 
Turning out of the KK parking lot, Challengers had to show their empty boxes and pass a scanner for their split. This is when it got interesting. I saw a lot of people running out with their mouths still full of donuts and really hoped they wouldnt puke in front of me. Luckily they didnt. Highlight of the race: Some kids stood on the sidewalk with a box of donuts offering runners one more. I laughed about that for the rest of the weekend. I didn’t stop the Garmin while I took pics and videos of the parking lot so Mile 3 includes the break – 11:34.
A man in an orange convict jump suit came up behind me, asked me to be easy on him because he really likes donuts so I chased him about half a mile. The run/walkers still going towards the KK found this amusing and cheered me on, which was motivating going up hill. Mile 4 – 9:34.
Despite the cold, rainy morning, there were a ton of spectators and the crowd really helped. I was feelin the incline (again, I need more hill repeats) but I kept hearing “go lady cop!” more and more as I got towards the finish. Then I heard my first and last name but I was so used to people cheering for me it didnt register until it was too late to see. Last .6 – 5:07.
There was still no water to be seen at the finish. Maybe I didn’t go down far enough because I wanted to go back to see who called my name. I found my friend Morgan, who was waiting for her husband to finish. I stayed there for about 10 minutes, until I felt like I was getting hypothermia. I’m really glad I did because that’s how I saw the best consumes.
My favorite was watching these guys cross the finish. They Bangled Pumped with their canes up in the air like an X (I wish my hands weren’t frozen so I could get a pic). Luckily the local news photographer is a little more on the ball.
Of course my “Precision” Timing chip failed to give me a chip time. Luckily I didnt care about the time for this race, I just wonder why these things never scan me at the start. The company refuses to answer my emails (I sent 1 to the race director and 1 to the timing company after the Turkey Trot) so I have no idea if it’s my issue or theirs. They have me finishing in 50:34, with gun time equal to chip time. Garmin says 44:26. It must have been on auto pause because it def didnt take me 6 min to cross the start. However, I know it took me longer than 0 seconds. Boooo!
Despite the timing issue I’d def do this race again next year. Who’s in?
Jenster's Adventures 