2018 Krispy Kreme Challenge

Here is a brief recap of my 4th Krispy Kreme Challenge.

As usual, we arrived on Friday, the day before the race. The day is filled with travel, then eating and drinking in Raleigh. This year we had a couple addictions to our crew. Fellow Turtle Ralph Lufkin came down and convinced his friend Jason Gilmore to travel in from Washington DC. Also, a fellow Toll Gate alum, who had run the race a few times prior to us came down as well.

We ate and drank in a responsible manner (well I did). This made race day morning an easy wake-up and I felt ready to roll. This was by far the coldest year of the race with the starting temp around 23 degrees. No big deal for a normal road race…but at Krispy Kreme it meant for frozen water cups at the donut eating area and very frozen/numb/burning hands for the run back.

The race went out per usual, with the herds of college kids going out like it is a 100 meter dash. I went through the mile in 5:27 and felt good. I was running with the multi time KKC winner Nick Oltman for a minute or so before pulling away, if I could only figure out his donut eating secret, I could be a contender for the W.

After he mile I passed a few more people and then one more around 2 miles to end up in 7th place heading into the eating area.

Same ole, same ole in there. It’s a wet, sugary dough dilled experience. I could see Ralph and Mark whom came in after me eating away. Ralph finished about 10 seconds before me and I took off after him and passed him before leaving the zone, he said I made a lot of grunting noises and I was off to the races.

New for me this year was that I had someone around the same speed leave the eating area at the same time as me. We had an elbow to elbow race all the way back. He would put a few steps away from me and then me from him. With just over a mile to go, we passed one of his friends and it gave him a boost. I think it was too much of a boost for his body to handle though; I passed him shortly after and was able to open up a 4 second lead from there til the finish.

 

I have had a goal since my first KKC to finish in the top 10 and have been pretty close in my previous three attempts. I wasn’t sure what place I finished when crossing the finish line and had to wait a bit to find out as I ran back to the hotel quickly to tend to my frozen literally frosty hands. After I took care of that issue, I ran back to the finish line and met up with everyone and headed to the result tent and got my print out………..drum roll please……9th place!! I was pretty excited. I also ran 4 seconds faster than the previous year, keeping my streak of running faster every year alive!

 

2015 – 19th 37:17
2016 – 13th 35:13
2017 – 18th 34:45
2018 – 9th 34:41 <---official time

The rest of the trip was great as usual, lots of great breweries and food was had. The most amazing part about the 2018 edition, other than getting 9th place was that we had no flight issues. We made it to Raleigh and back to Warwick without issue.

Next year, I WILL be in better running shape and I might….figure out how to eat faster, probably not though!

Post Baystate

What to do now?  The Grand Prix Series was kinda The Thing this year!  It was also kinda a bust…well the whole year was.  The good thing now though, I am pretty motivated and getting to 100% healthy!

The week after Baystate I took very easy.  Most of this had to do with getting ready for the 6 Hour which was held on 10/28.  It was the first time in a new location, so I felt like I need to use every moment that week to get ready.  I only ran on Tuesday.  A super easy 3 miles.  I also ran a loop at the 6 hour, plus ran while setting up the course.

The next week, 10/29 to 11/4.  I was hoping to get a good transition week going.

10/29- 3 miles upbeat.  I just needed to get something in.  657-627-555

10/30- 6 miles pretty easy

10/31- 8.1 mile at TNT.  A small Halloween crowd, made for a shorter run.

11/1- 4.1 miles easy

11/2- Super hard trail run...but overall it was a lot of fun.  About 6.5 miles

11/3- 6 Miles with Bob Corsi, felt super tired

11/4- Around 8 miles at Big River with a group of 6.

41.7 or so miles for the week.

I am already feeling better this week.  I hope it continues

I plan on running the Lil Rhody Runaround on 11/19.  It will probably be pretty slow, but hopefully a “fun” race.

After that I foolishly? signed up for a cyclocross race!  This is funny on a couple levels.  

#1:  The reason it came about is Warren Angell tagged me in a post looking for a teammate on a relay team at the event.  It is a 20 minute race.  While one teammate is riding, the other has to eat a donut…and so on.  I have a donut reputation, so I guess I am the man for the job?  Our team name is Kreme Filled Squirrel Nuts.  The name of the race is Secret Squirrel CX and there are donuts, so I thought that name worked awesome.

I also signed up for the novice race, since I will be there anyway!

#2 funny thing.  I don’t own a bike!  I need to figure this small detail out by 11/25.  EEK!

After that I will make the trip out to Newport for the Annual Almost 10k.  I have run it way too many times, so why stop now?

Krispy Kreme Challenge #3

I first did the Krispy Kreme Challenge in 2015.  Shortly after finishing that race I said I would never run it again.  This year I went back for my 3rd go at it.

The race is pretty awesome and horrible at the same time, as you would expect when running 5 miles and eating a dozen donuts.  The city of Raleigh is probably what keeps us coming back.  Some great breweries and restaurants and of course a bar/arcade.  If the area was shit, I certainly wouldn't make the trip down to NC time and time again...especially when the travel there seems to be cursed.

The first year, as documented in that first link I posted above, was a shit show.  Last year our flight down got canceled.  And....this year it started the same way, with a delay that seemed to grow every time I looked at my phone!  After about 5 hours in the Logan Airport, we were finally en route to NC.

We arrived a bit later than originally scheduled...which meant a modified eating and drinking plan.  I believe in the long run this worked to my advantage.  I definitely felt less full and less hungover the morning of the race this year.  I was ready to roll on race morning.  I felt that I was in as good of running shape as last year...it was just a matter of downing the donuts as fast as I could.  In general, I am a pretty solid eater.  I eat a massive amount of food, but in this race, it is a different story.  If I could eat within a minute of the race winner, I would BE THE WINNER!  Instead, I have yet to accomplish my ultimate goal of top 10.

The first year, I finished 19th in a time of 37:17.  I looked at 2015 as the getting my feet wet year.  It was overwhelming to say the least, sitting on the ground with all those donuts in front of me.

In 2016, I knew what to expect.  I had a better understanding of the race and the confidence that goes with that.  I ran faster, finishing in 35:13 for 13th place.  I could taste the sugary sweetness that is 10th place.  I just needed to either be in better running shape, or figure out how to eat faster.

Going into the 2017 event, I was not in better running shape and I certainly did nothing to attempt to figure out how to eat faster.  I just figured, try harder to eat faster.  Seemed reasonable.

So, the race started.  As usual, the massive amount of college students went out like it was a 50 meter dash.  I started on the 2nd row and found myself with at least 100 people in front of me a 1/4 mile into the race.  I was through the mile in 5:25 and there had to still be 30+ runners ahead of me easily. I was happy with the pace and used the down hill after the mile to bring my pace down a bit.  After that I passed a dozen or so more runners in the last mile of the first half of the race and entered the hall of donuts.  I grabbed my box from a volunteer and kept running hard to an area next to the furthest table to get on the ground and eat away.  I hit a split when I stopped running, I grabbed multiple cups of water and I ripped donuts apart shoving some in my mouth and putting some in the water to soak to make easier to eat.  It was a chilly 27 degrees at the start, so the mix of water and donuts made for some cold hands.  I felt like I was eating well and looked at my watch as last year's winner, whom I beat in the run again, took off, finishing his donuts in around 3 minutes.  I don't know how he does it.  It boggles my mind.  I need to learn his ways.  But, back to the task at hand.  I was sitting around the people that I was running with and we all seemed to be in a similar amount of donut pain.  Some people left and we ate on.  Finally, 8 minutes after starting, I shoved the remaining buggy bits of donut into my mouth and ran towards the exit of the transition area.  I through down my empty box and started tracking down the casual runner and the faster eater whom I could easily out run.  I hit the first mile on the way back in 5:27. I believe that is my fastest post donut mile.  I felt great.  But shortly after that the uphill would begin.  Most of the way back was uphill, with distinct hill, called St Mary's Hill on Strava.  My pace slowed a bit, but I was still passing people.  You make the last turn of the race onto Hillsborough St with just under a mile to go.  It is a straight road and you can see runners ahead.  You can't tell if they are in the challenger or casual division until you get close, so you just hunt them all down as if they were the same.  I was able to pass 6 on that finally stretch, I believe 3 were in my division.  I ran out of real estate to get one more. I crossed the line in a new PR of 34:45.  Breaking the 35 minute barrier.  The winner finished in just over 30 mins.  He beat me by the difference in eating.  Between him and the 2nd place finisher, they have taken the first 2 spots in the last 5 races.

After the race I went and checked out the results to find out I finished in 18th place.  That was a bit disappointing.  But, I was happy to run faster...I guess I will have to wait until next year to try to sneak into that coveted top 10!

2014. It happened

A very late and down and dirty year in review.

My year started with (3) main goals...

Run my best 50 miler ever at Pineland Farms 50 Miler, finish my first 100 miler...as fast as possible and run an even faster 50 miler at the JFK 50 Miler in November to end the year.

How did this all shake out?

Well, Pineland went great.  I ran over a 20 minute PR and was able to kick hard to break 6:30, finishing 6:29:57 and grabbing 2nd place in the process.  It was a great feeling to put together a great race in I think my 5th? 50 miler.

Vermont 100 miler.  Well....I started the race and had horrible quad pain really early in the race.  I was barley moving at 30 miles and finally called it a day at around 58 miles, instead of crawling in the next 40 miles...I went to the Harpoon Brewery for lunch and a refreshment.  Maybe I am not cut out for the real long stuff?

Post BR Trail Race.

After VT 100, I got back at it pretty quickly, wanting to run a decent marathon on the tough Adirondack Marathon course in preparation for JFK.  After Adirondack, I felt pretty burnt out.  The year of pretty consistent training and longer racing had gotten to me.  I decided to pull out of JFK and rest up for a month or so and get refreshed.

So, I finished the year 1 out of 3 for my bigger goals.  But, that doesn't mean other races didn't happen.

Some highlights for me in 2014 were...

Mike Galoob and I at SS Nationals

Winning the relay portion of the National Snowshoe Championship with Mike Galoob and Steve Dowsett.  Handing off to Mike after winning my lead off leg was quite the rush.

Winning my 2nd South County 4th Season Trail Race Series

Surprising myself by running under 16:50 at the Gaspee Days 5k 2 weeks after my 50 miler.

There were some not so great moments as well...mainly losing the Grog & Dog Jog by literally a bite.  We were going for our 7th title in a row...it was a hard loss to swallow ;)

On the Race directing side...The RTB Trail Race and the RI 6 Hour had their best turnouts yet and then there was The Quahog Mile "failure" everyone loved it...but it just didn't work out!

Eating like a Hillbilly at the Grog.

Hillbilly Turtles

2015 is an open year for me.  I am not sure what I will be aiming for.  I did start the new TNT Hard Shell Race Series for Turtles, so I will run at least six of those races. I will remain focused on running the best I can in the trail series...with the longer races coming up, I am a bit more comfortable.

In February, along with my buddy Mark Howard, we will get to run a race that has been on our radar for over three years, the Krispy Kreme Challenge!  It should be awesome.

Beer and coffee with volunteer extraordinaire M. Howard post Quahog Mile 

Dave Principe and I will run the COX Marathon at the beginning of May.  I haven't put much focus specifically on a marathon in a while, so I am hoping for a good showing there.

After May, who knows!  There are so many great races and I would love to do them all....