On Saturday morning, the City of Raleigh was treated to an amazingly strange sight. At around 8:30 a.m. on a cold February morning, thousands of people flooded Hillsborough Street in full sprint. Among them were superheroes, turtles, dinosaurs, Marios, Luigis, Marios and Luigis riding dinosaurs, knights, Pokemon and several anthropomorphic bananas. Most had one simple goal, to reach the Person Street Krispy Kreme a mere 2.5 miles away, eat a dozen sweet, glazed doughnuts and return.
Before the race began, contestants gathered under the NC State Memorial Belltower. The crowd was buzzing with nervous energy as racers stretched, danced and shook from pre-race jitters, or just from the cold. Before the race could begin, however, Krispy Kreme Challenge officials reminded everyone why they were here by announcing the impressive figure of $190,000 raised for UNC Children’s Hospital from this year’s race.
Contestants pushed, shoved and crammed their way to the start line, but all in good-natured fun. Five more minutes and it was time to run. Runners poured into the streets, the sidewalks, the median over the roundabout. Yes, it was quite a sight to see and certainly a change of pace from normal morning traffic.
This reporter was very pleased with his own performance in the first half of the race. Maybe it was the excitement of the race, the desire to keep warm or the patriotic sight of a runner carrying a 3-by-5 flag on a pole by himself, but the first two miles went by in just over 20 minutes.
Once on Person Street, challengers were given the white and green polka dot doughnut boxes, which they ran with for 100 yards before reaching the Krispy Kreme parking lot. Only 20 minutes into the race, the arguably hardest part of the challenge was showing its effects. Racers stood, squatted and sat around friends or alone as they tackled the challenge at sugar-coated hand.
At the sugar crash site, racers grabbed cups of water as fast as they could be poured, either to drink it or dunk their doughnuts to make them go down easier. Throughout the crowd could be found challengers at various stages of their task. Statements like “I’ve got two left,” “I’m only halfway done,” and “how are you already finished?” were often heard, along with many expletives and some laughter.
This is most certainly the section of the race where my goal of finishing in under an hour was trounced by my inability to simply eat doughnuts, something I had never had a problem with before. Around doughnut six, hands sticky and shaking, I really regretted drinking two cups of water. At doughnut nine, I regretted eating doughnuts one through eight. By doughnut 11, I just wished I’d stayed at home. And by doughnut 12, 56 minutes into my gastric journey, I vowed to never eat another doughnut.
Against biting winds and churning stomachs, contestants proceeded down Peace Street. Those who had finished their doughnuts triumphantly showed the empty boxes to race officials before leaving. Then began the second leg of the race, a race up Peace and St. Marys Streets.
With full stomachs, a lot of strain and possibly some upchucked sweets, racers made their way back to the Belltower, victorious. While the Krispy Kreme Challenge may not be pleasant moment-to-moment, the sense of community, the good cause and the bragging rights make it an NC State tradition you don’t want to miss.
