Review: Krispy Kreme Challenge 2018

Those who complete the Krispy Kreme Challenge, have ran 2.5 miles, consumed 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then ran 2.5 miles more, all inside 1 hour! Oh, and on quite possibly the coldest day of the year in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Well, I tried to eat all 12 doughnuts last year and that was not enjoyable at all. This year I had no intentions of completing the challenge, but just to run and enjoy the atmosphere.

The plan was for the whole family to run it this time — only Nathan and I ran it last year. I was going to push our youngest, Xander, in the stroller and then we’d dump all our unfinished doughnuts underneath the stroller to take home.

Unfortunately my wife Liz was unable to run as she has a stress fracture (she is also a runner). So, we pulled in Vinod from our running club and Liz and Xander stayed at home in the warmth.

Did I mention it was cold already? It was 20freaking°F. Yes, that’s my son Noah in a t-shirt. He did want to wear shorts, but decided to wear long pants after some convincing. At times I could tell he wished he’d listened to his daddy and wore a long sleeve top.

The race is organized by students from NC State University and runs through the city of Raleigh for 5 miles, passing Krispy Kreme Doughnuts about half-way. The money raised from the race goes to UNC Children’s Hospital – a very worthy cause.

As well as prizes for top challenger finishers, there are prizes for the best costumes. While I’ve never dressed up in a costume to run, this is definitely one of the elements of this race I like the most. The majority of people are just there to have fun and that’s awesome.

Like last year, the starting line was pretty bunged. It took 3-4 minutes just to get through the starting gate after the race had started. There are pacing groups, but you have to be pretty determined to wade into them. With almost 2000 runners squeezed into a short section of street it would not be an easy task.

My two oldest kids, Nathan and Noah shot off on their own. They have easily covered distances of 5-6 miles in the past. Last year Nathan even managed to eat all 12 doughnuts and complete the challenge.

I ran with my daughter Katie, and Vinod, our running club buddy. I don’t think Katie had ever ran longer than 3 miles before, so this was a big achievement for her. The fact there was doughnuts involved really helped to motivate her. 😉

At the half way point we collected our doughnuts and stopped for a couple of minutes to eat. I only ate 3, and Katie ate 4. There were loads of people around trying to cram all their doughnuts down their throats. It was great to see some spectators with signs like, “donut give up”, or “donut stop believing”.

I do wish there were some porta potties around, as I kind of needed to go. I’m pretty sure I remember some last year.

It was time to run to the finish now — carrying the doughnut boxes in our arms. Some people had thought ahead and brought a bag to carry them. Doh! Should have thought of that.

We made to the finish, just around the 1 hour mark. I’m so proud of Katie for finishing and doing so well. There were a few puddles of puke to avoid on the way back. Thankfully we all managed to keep the contents of our stomachs intact.

The kids do not “love” running yet, but I’m hoping one day they do. I hope they find that out sooner than I did — at 40 years old. I’m so glad they agreed to run this year with me. Maybe next year we’ll attempt (again) to have everyone in the family run it.