Insanity for a good cause

Started by bayonetbrant, February 04, 2012, 01:20:43 PM

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bayonetbrant

Today was the Krispy Kreme Challenge here in Raleigh

QuoteNearly 8,000 runners, joggers and walkers took to the streets of downtown Raleigh this morning to go 4.96 miles and, if they were determined, down a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts for charity.

It is not a task to be taken lightly.

Jonathan Hartsack is a paratrooper with the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, not a group of softies.

"I got the first six down in a minute. The last six are kicking my tail," Hartsack conceded as he chewed and swallowed his box of original glazed doughnuts near the Krispy Kreme store on North Person Street. "I tell my wife I'm doing this so I never eat another Krispy Kreme doughnut."

Hartsack was one of 7,700 men and women taking part in the 8th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge, a fundraiser for the North Carolina Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill and downtown tradition.

The route was expanded to nearly 5 miles, up from about 4 miles last year. Organizers altered the course through downtown Raleigh side streets for safety reasons, adding the extra mile.

The race began and ended at the N.C. State University Bell Tower on Hillsborough Street. The Krispy Kreme store was at the halfway point. It also was the point where the average speed of the event slowed considerably as many participants decided that walking the rest of the way was better than running and encountering the possible consequences.

North Person Street is a popular place for runners' supporters to cheer them on.

"You've never been cooler" said a placard that Judah Tounget held as he sat with brother Andrew in his stroller and waited for his dad, Rusty, to come by. Tounget was running with his friend Justin Bryan, whose wife said, "He started running for this."

Stacie Boyle from Washington, D.C., had run to the Krispy Kreme ahead of time, but only to take pictures of two friends who were competing this year. She ran in 2011. "I got so sick," she said.

The feeling was evident among a number of this year's participants. Several looked less than excited as they pushed through their dozens. "Gosh! Oooh!" one man said as he rounded a corner a block after the Krispy Kreme.

Costumes are part of the fun. One woman wore the skirt of a white, wedding-gown-style dress. Above was a T-shirt on which she'd written, "Doughnuts or Marriage? You Decide." She headed off from the eating area with a man in a Viking-style helmet.

At least two runners went by in business suits. A banana ran, as did several Batmen and at least one Robin. One young woman ran in flannel Eeyore pajamas.

Most of the race's official Challengers, who had to down a dozen to qualify as finishers and were expected to make the lop in less than an hour, were done. Most of them handed their empty boxes to volunteers.

Not all gave them up, however. "Souvenir! I'm taking it home with me!" one exclaimed as bystanders cheered.

Determination was evident among repeat runners. Marshall Thomasson said he was "trying" for 12 this year. In 2011, he only got down 10 1/2.

As the runners headed down West Peace Street near Capital Boulevard, Michele Maben of Raleigh held a sign saying, "Keep 'Em Down, Krazy kids." She ran in 2011 in the rain, she said, but had not had a chance to train for this year's race. She is thinking about 2013, though.

With the challengers were Casual Runners, who also get a dozen doughnuts but are not required to down them right away. They were the people doing the second half of the race with their green and white Krispy Kreme boxes unopened.

The money raised comes from entry fees: $20 for NCSU students and $27 for non-students. Last year, the race raised $122,000 for the hospital.

It all began in 2004, when a small group of NCSU students first challenged one another to complete a doughnut-eating race. The event has grown bigger every year since.

The stats: Participants were expected to eat a total of 92,400 doughnuts. That did not include the glazed treats that spectators were expected to consume, and the doughnut shop was doing a big business as the race was starting at N.C. State.

There are 2,400 calories and 144 grams of fat in each dozen.

Raleigh police closed roads along the route, including Hillsborough Street, during the challenge, which took about two hours from start to finish.

Read that again...
There are 2,400 calories and 144 grams of fat in each dozen.

Now, bookend that with a 2.5 miles running each way.

The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

bayonetbrant

the mandatory photos of crazy people in the race







This this is a lot of donuts?


This is a lot of donuts


putting the "nuts" in donuts

The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

bayonetbrant

And yes, I've run this before.  I was in the '08 race, back when it was a mere 3000 people.  It's over 8000 now.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Staggerwing

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

TheCommandTent

I've had a couple friends run this when they were in college, or actually there wasn't much running.  It was mostly puking.  I've never had a chance to run it but Im not sure I would want to as I would be afraid I would lose my love of Krispy Kremes.
"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."

Centurion40

Quote from: SCDJ on February 04, 2012, 08:16:11 PM
I've had a couple friends run this when they were in college, or actually there wasn't much running.  It was mostly puking.  I've never had a chance to run it but Im not sure I would want to as I would be afraid I would lose my love of Krispy Kremes.

THAT would be tragic!!!  Better to walk and eat.  A dozen Krispies is not something to be trifled with. Hmmm, Krispy Kreme Trifle....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifle

It's probably been done.  Aha, it has been.  Bread pudding too!

http://forums.vogue.com.au/showthread.php?t=2911
Any time is a good time for pie.

son_of_montfort

"Now it is no accident all these conservatives are using time travel to teach our kids. It is the best way to fight back against the liberal version of history, or as it is sometimes known... history."

- Stephen Colbert

"The purpose of religion is to answer the ultimate question, are we in control or is there some greater force pulling the strings? And if the courts rule that corporations have the same religious rights that we humans do, I think we'll have our answer."

- Stephen Colbert

TheCommandTent

I can't find the clip of it anywhere online but that reminds me of one my favorite quotes from the Simpsons

QuoteHomer Simpson: You can't win us back with mere donuts.
Montgomery Burns: Oh, but these donuts were made the old fashioned way. The dough sweetened with Cuban sugar from pre-Batista plantations, and fried in the tallow of three different animals, two of which are now extinct.
"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."