The Krispy Kreme Dash

This past weekend, I went to Myrtle Beach with my brother Andrew and Kenny to compete in the 1st Annual Krispy Kreme Dash. I had always wanted to do one of these races and this was a good excuse to hang out with Drew. We spent the beautiful weekend hanging out in MB which is actually really nice out of season. Especially with temperatures in the 80's. And being out of season, some restaurants automatically gave a 10% discount off menu prices.

Back to the race. This race, officially called the Carolina Forest Rotary Krispy Kreme Dash, was modeled after the more famous one in Raleigh. It raised funds for the local Rotary Club and started/ended right behind a Krispy Kreme store. Kenny had never been to a Krispy Kreme before so prior to the race we went inside to see the whole donut(or I guess they spell it doughnut) making process. The aroma definitely made having a few appealing.

Danny before the race

12 however? I wasn't so sure about that. But only had about 9 minutes to think about it as the race started off steady but not too fast. We hit the first mile in exactly 6:00 and the guy next to me picked it up and only I kept up with him. We went got to the donuts(the halfway point) in slightly under 9 and went to work on the donuts.

A fellow Harbison Trail runner had suggested squishing down four donuts at a time to expedite the eating process. Heeding this advice, I got myself to a nice lead quickly consuming those first 800 or so calories. The next 4 definitely took a little longer. About halfway through them, I started having some serious self-doubt.

Danny at his low-point

Luckily for me, Andrew and Kenny were there to cajole me into eating through the pain.

I got through those and dove right into the last 4. More runners were now in transition and I was beginning to get concerned that someone might catch me during this time so I redoubled my efforts, finishing them off, rinsing off my hands and taking off.

I ran scared. So much so that I actually  ran a negative split for the second half of the 5k. I finished in first both for the race and for eating my donuts the fastest.

ADDENDUM: I just got results of the race back and I only won the eating contest by 2 seconds!!!! Wow that was tight!

1	Danny Ferreira	26:07	26:07	Lap1 9:38	Donut Time - 6:57	Lap2 - 9:33
2	Jimmy Papai	28:07	28:07	Lap1 9:52	Donut Time - 8:01	Lap2 - 10:16
3	Daniel Brass	29:28	29:28	Lap1 10:42	Donut Time - 6:59	Lap2 - 11:48

What did I get? More donuts! In fact a total of 14 dozen more. One a month for a year was the prize for fastest donut eater and 2 more dozen for fastest race(as well as a gift certificate to the local running shoe store, Black Dog Running). Definitely worth the time.

And it paid itself back even more because when we went out later for lunch, I was still full so only ate half of Kenny's sandwich instead of paying for another meal:)

All in all, it was a very fun weekend and I would definitely do this race again next year.


Until next time,

Danny