Krispy Kreme Challange West 2011

Run two miles.  Eat one dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  Then run two more miles.

All  week long I dreamt of doughnut's.  It had been over 18 months since I last had one.  On that ocasion we made grilled Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches,  by slicing the doughnut  down the center and grilling it on the frying pan before using it as a bun .  After eating a  Krispy Kreme bacon cheseburger plain a  Krispy Kreme bacon chesee burger with all fixings and a  Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich I wasn't full. There was room for one last sandwich! At some point long after midnight I decided to simplify things,  still using a grilled Krispy Kreme bun  I added six strips of mouth watering bacon and nothing else.
*  Hallelujah  *
It was one of the greatest things I had ever eaten.
(tangent time)

I don't really miss doughnuts all that much but I do miss bacon.  Now that I eat a vegan diet my relationship with bacon has gone astray.  Bacon represents some hot exgirlfriend that I am still in love with whom has gone on and married my best friend. Forbidding me from her succulent goodness ever again.
(to stray away from anything pertinent even farther)
The Mc'Rib Is kind of like a regrettable one night stand.  You wonder what the hell you were thinking.  The Mr Rib disappear's And then some some how, some day it's back?  Although you already no it's realty not gonna be that great the temptation still remains.

Back to reality.

 The Krispy Kreme franchise did not come to Los Angeles until long after I had given up having the munchies.  I have always been a glutton and I deffinetly have a sweet tooth.

 Surely a mere dozen doughnuts would be no problem right?.
It's just 2,400 Calories!
(That's not even half a days worth when training hard)

I would have to temporarily give up my laurels on eating a Vegan diet, but in the spirit of competition  I would make the sacrifice.
The cow pus lactated into the milk used in each doughnut probably wasn't more than a drop or two, Right?
:)

I found out about this event two years ago and was realy dissapointed to not able to participate in it.  Last year I completely forgot about it until pictures showed upon on facebook.  I did not want to miss out on the fun this year.  Lucky for me I was too lazy, poor, and banged up to run in the Javelina Jundred held on the same day.  Might as well head down to San Diego and eat some Doughnuts.  And If I wanted to go out and pace at Javelina that night I could drive out to AZ after the race.
(my car would be packed just in case)

Well if I'm heading down to San Diego I must stop by the Stone Brewery, and if I'm heading by the Stone Brewery I might as well play some Disc golf along the way. I decided to drive down south the Friday before the event and have a little fun.

Goat Hill Disc Golf course Oceanside CA

First stop Goathill, my buddy Jeff was supposed to meet their at 10 but he had over slept so I got an extra 90 minutes to practice my putting (losing whatever false sense of confidence I had brought with me). I did however nail this birdie putt on the 17th a 796' par 4.  I through a crushing 550' roller that left me with an easy thumber up shot and about 30 feet left to the basket.

I was running late and got to Stone about 2 hours after  I planned to arrive. The place was a zoo and they had about 30 people in line at their Store.

Plans of filling a growler of Old Guardian and schmoozing with the staff were out the window,  the sun was setting fast, this line was gonna take forever and I wanted to get another round of golf in..

I filled my trunk of with beer and headed down to  Kit Carson Park in Escondido.  I didn't have much time to spare and I ended up finishing my round in pitch darkness.

My friends  Shacky and Vannesa were both competing in the Krispy Kreme Challenge and offered to let couch surf at their house in San Diego. It was great to see Shacky again and I finally got to meet Vanessa whom had been an online friend for the past year.  After a few hands on Monopoly deal and a couple 22's of Arrogant Bastard. We all called it a night at a pretty early hour.

Shacky and Vanessa I had both signed up for the Doughnut Man Division.  Instead of running 4 miles and eating 1 dozen doughnuts.  They would have to run 6 miles and eat 2 dozen doughnuts.  I had thought about this option but seeing as only one person accomplished this feat last year.  I  wanted to go up against stiffer competition.  I was serious about this event and was there to win, if I could..

The weather forecast predicted rain the morning  of the race.  Some people may never think it rains in San Diego.  I however have been cursed and knew it was inevitable.  Of the last 20 trips I have made it down there it has probably rained 15 times.  I am cold blooded and also I sun worshiper I dig rain about once a year. These were not ideal conditions.
(Dilemma)
I wasn't sure what the terrain of the course would be like.  I had brought a couple pairs of Luna's with me and also my sketchers Go-Run's. If the rain was coming down during the race or if the course was saturated with puddles I would be sacrificing time by wearing sandals. If the course was rocky it may be uncomfortable for bare feet.  As for the sketchers although I had packed them with me the idea of wearing shoes seemed a bit extreme.

If it were raining I would go barefoot and tough it out.

Sure enough when I woke up the next morning  and the weather sucked.

Race Number on Barf Bag

I dig it!

The hole vibe of the race was pretty cool. It wasn't all about having stupid fun, it was also a toy drive for needy children, of which I brought a bag full.
 (toys not children)

Scouting the course before the race. I noticed that much of the terrain was flooded and there was also an area of thick mud.  Both would bode well for going barefoot.  However most of the course was was on asphalt with  countless rocks washed up upon it from the storm.  This could  be a problem?

Shacky and I

Minutes before the race was about to start.

Vanessa and Shacky 

Let's Race

Photo by Ana Valle

When we lined up the competition looked pretty damn fast.  I lined up next to a dude wearing a diaper  it turns out he was the defending champ I didn't want be starring as his soiled pampers the whole race. My plan was the same as usual take early lead run like Pat out of hell and deal with consequences later.

Photo by Ana Valle

I went out pretty fast.

Photo by Ana Valle

 Although the terrain was not ideal for barefoot running. I didn't feel a single rock.  

My pace was right where I wanted it to be  finishing my first mile in 5:17.  I was at about 90% max speed and diaper dude was right on my ass the whole way.  The laps were tracking a little bit short and I got into the doughnut coral in 9:30 about 5 seconds in front of second place and another 5 in front of third.

It was now a three person race between myself,  Diaper dude and some dude wearing a Tutu.  Running wise were all pretty close.  

It was anyone's race to win at this point.

It would most likely come down to who could finish their donuts first.

What did I get myself into?

I had looked forward to this section of the race thinking I would enjoy the first few doughnuts before hitting a wall.  My  plan was to flatten the doughnuts and stack them like pancakes.

When I got into the coral I sat my box down and started work on my first doughnut.  Maybe the first bite was enjoyable but that was about it.  The mindset I had gone in with was completely wrong.  This was work not play! Mind over matter I thought. It was  no  "cake walk",  This was a 

 "Doughnut Run!"

I ate my first 2 doughnuts way slower than expected, eating them one by one.   I looked over my shoulder at diaper dude and he was already on doughnut 4 and  then to the left of him tutu guy had been already finished 4 and had 4 more smashed and stacked in his hand.  

Why wasn't I stacking my doughnuts? I had to get my ass in gear.  My box still looked nearly full while Tutu guy's was nearly empty.  I immediately grabbed 4 doughnuts flattened them on top each other. (to make my box appear more empty).  About a minute later Tutu guy was done with his second stack (unbelievable!) he had his remaining four donuts in his hand and his box was empty.  I was barely half way done with doughnuts 5-8, this guy guy was in whole nother league! I grabbed my remaining 5 doughnuts flattened them down the best I could and the added the 4 half doughnuts still in my hand

 It was the size of a 4 by 4 from In and Out
Packing 1,400 calories of fat and sugar

My box was now the only other one that was empty but I was way behind.   I wasn't even halfway through my stack when the crowd erupted. Tutu guy was done and out on the course. (before some people even finished their first 2 miles).  The times on the official results say he finished his doughnuts in 4min 38 seconds but he may have been up to 30 seconds faster according to my clock.

If I could focus and just get these damn doughnuts down perhaps I could make up some time during the run.  I did the best I could.  Nobody else was close to finishing and maybe I could make a stellar comeback?  Once I got my mental game down the final few doughnuts were surprisingly easier than the first.

The dude working the coral exit turned out to be one of my Ultra running friends Tracey Moore after 6 minutes 45 seconds of eating I told him I was done and I was off and running.  I looked at my watch and had over 2 minutes to make up.  It was nice to be running again.  The rain was still falling but at the present time it wasn't that heavy.  Surprisingly the doughnuts didn't seem to affect my ability to run, I was flying at sub 5:30 pace and it wasn't taking much effort. I felt like I was making up ground but how much?. Eventually I caught sight of  Tutu guy,  he was well over 1/4 mile ahead of me and his legs were also spinning fast.

At that point I knew I had been beat.  I didn't slow down and charged through the rest of the race the best I could.  The final 300 yards I sprinted through at a sub 5 min pace to a second place finish 1 minute and 50 seconds behind the winner and 2 minutes and 45 seconds in front of the third place finishing diaper dude.

I had done my best and was proud of my efforts.  I can deffinetly can  improve and I plan I doing so for next years event.

Photo by Ana Valle

I was getting cold in my Sports Kilt, it was now time to change into some warm clothes grab my umbrella, my camera and watch the rest of this fiasco unfold.

At the finish I was greeted by my friend Steve Mills the Race Director for the San Diego 100 and also a pretty awesome runner in his own rights.  All the volunteers were real nice and supportive which made for a great morning.

Winner

Congratulations Tutu Guy!
His running was quite impressive but his ability to get those doughnuts down was absolutely amazing.

Diaper Dude also ran a great race. The dude is no slouch.
(I'm glad he was running behind me )

The woman's winner cruised in about 12 minute's later 

But it came at a cost

What a waste

Photo by Ana Valle

 While her competition was still reeling. She had recovered with a beautiful smile.
Congratulations
:)

How were my friends doing in the doughnut man division you ask?

Well when I walked up to Shacky and Vanessa while they were on their first dozen.  It had looked like Vanessa had thrown up in her doughnut box and was still eating out of it? I was a little grossed yet at the same time proud of her determination.  I didn't know what to say to someone who was eating their own vomit? I thought she may be emotional so I snuck away puzzled by the whole scene.

It turns out she had not thrown up (Alright) somehow she had come up with some ass backwards strategy of making doughnut goulash.  It didn't work! Both Shacky and Vanessa realized they they had bit off more than they could chew and dropped down into the single dozen event.

Shacky's finish

Vanessa's finish

The Doughnut coral looked more like a mud wrestling pit by the time we were done with it.
Sadly there were no girls in Bikini's to be found.
:(
(Except for in my imagination)
:)

Although the race was over for almost everyone a few elite athletes were still battling it out.

They say bird's of a feather flock together.

 In this case it was

Drunken Arrogant Bastards!

Congratulations Brian!  I'll be coming for you next year :)

Rhett and I

Also competing in the event was an old friend of mine from days playing professional disc golf. The ex President of the So Cal Disc Golf Association  Rhett Stroh. 

Good to see you buddy.

and then there was Iso Yucra.

 This is one tough dude! a few years ago he ran the Brazil 135  (through a rain rorrest) The Arrowhead 135 (through snow) and  Badwater (through the desert). He's areal nice humble guy and I though maybe if I take a picture with him some of that would rub off on me.

  The weather was cold but I had a bunch of clothes on except for my bare feet which were somewhat numb.  At one point I looked down and blood was oozing off of the side of my right foot. 

"Well that kind of sucks!" I thought.

The old adage "numb foot = dumb foot." was playing out to be true once again.  Lucky for me It wasn't a cut, rather apopped blood blister.  My feet felt fine  but I was in for some grief when they thawed out.

Eventually we went in the car the warm up.  As my feet thawed they were on sensory overload. I wanted to scream.  I tried to focus on Shacky's hula girl to distract me from the pain.

The race was now over for everybody but one man still remained Long after the title of doughnut man had been crowed this determined warrior dressed in a tuxedo shirt and top hat  became the third and final finisher of the elite division. 

By the time we were ready to leave

 I could barely walk without girting my teeth.  I new this pain was only temporary and in a day or two I'd be better. Heading out to Javelina to go pace seemed like a stupid idea.

We headed back to Shacky and Vanessa's place and although it was still well before noon that had changed into their pajama's less than 5 minutes after arriving.  It was the Perfect time to Enjoy a few Stone IPA's and get in a couple hands of Monopoly Deal.

Thank you guys for the Awesome hospitality!

:)

Although I did not win I am optimistic that myself and others from the event will make it into next years calendar.

I think I make a pretty sexy Miss April.

As for my feet.  They were fine.  The next day it was good to be back home on the sand.

The first few steps were a little rough but the next 10 miles wore a big grin.

Life is Good!

100 Mile Endurance Challenge

First off thank you  so much to everyone who helped donate to the 100 mile club It really can make a difference in a kids life.  Personally I suck at asking for donations and I am very thankful for your support.  I know there are a lot that are poor bastards like myself who would of like to have donated but could not afford it.  In that case You should  feel very guilty! LOL but you can totally redeem yourself  :)   All you got to is  go out and do somthing nice for a child to make up for it! (simple)  If you do this all guilt will dissappear but be warned such random acts of kindness can become habbit forming, also other's may see you being a good person and might decide to do something nice themselves.

Race day

Leading up to the race my body felt pretty good.  I had a cold which limited my running to about 40 miles the week of the race (a little more tapering than I would prefer) and was pretty optimistic about how the race would unfold. 

They wanted all runner's to arrive by 7 a.m. for an 8:30 a.m. start.  I live about an hour away from the starting line.  I set my alarm for 5 a.m. but was up at by 4 a.m.  I didn't  want to get up that early but I was too excited for the race to sleep.

Unlike most races having a crew was mandatory for this event.  (doh) Although I like helping others achieve thier goals  I'm not good at asking others for help.  I'm a pretty independent guy and I try not to be that needy.  I have a lot great friends whom offered support but come race day most them were nowhere to be found.  Ultimately I only really needed one person.


Once again it was my sister   stepped up to the plate  In support of my Lunacy.
I'm Really lucky to have such a supportive family, Thanks sis.

This event would be a little different. My projected pace of around 9 min mile should put in front of most of the other runners .  I was pretty sure most of the aid stations would not be ready for me.  I packed my sisters van with enough food and drink to get me too the finish line so that I could get by without any other support if need be.  
A couple other interesting things about this race were that all runners must carry a gps and a cell phone. I found the smallest phone I could and jammed it in the pocket of my handheld. 

Before the race Kara gave a nice speech thanking the runners for helping raise money for the 100 mile club.  A few rug rats from the club came out and told us how many miles they ran last year.  I think there was a six year old that ran over three hundred miles. We were all quite impressed..

"Thank you Kara for being such an awesome lady and for starting such an awesome organization,  non of this would be possible if wasn't for you. The seed's you have planted become a beautiful garden and I can't wait till that garden becomes a forest !!!!"

I you have never not yet clicked on any of my links for the 100 mile club please do so now.  It really is a remarkable organization.

Thank You.

It was an interesting mix of people at the starting line.  The event is called the 100 mile Endurance Challenge, Not race.  It was about getting to the finish line not about being the first to arrive (although that was my goal).  Most of the runners were of the older variety and I figured they would be comming in well over 24 hours. There were a couple people I felt that had a chance of breaking 20 if the stars aligned.  I ran into a young runner Thomas P. whom  I'd met at the Calico 50k earlier in the year he's a local dude who I've seen few times running around the South Bay.  I had a feeling he was gonna have a good day.  I thought I might have some company for the first half of the race but he had planned to go out a little slower.  Out of the 40 or so runners in the event I think 8 of them were wearing Hoka's and one dumb ass was even wearing Sandal's.

Off and running, Good bye everyone.

Within the first mile of the race I was on my own running down the streets of Corona. I think it was about 5 miles till we got out of the city and on to some bike paths.  At 8:30 in the morning the weather was beautiful and was stoked to finally be running

5minutes later.  Dumm de dumm de dum.

Along the way we had a police escort, the only problem was that I got too far in front of the other runners for him to trip the signals green for me and found myself  at the mercy of the Devil's red hand as I waited begrudgingly for the little white man to let me cross.

I started the race with a shirt.  What the hell was I thinking?
It was gone the first chance I had.

Who says running along the side of the freeway can't be beautiful?

13 miles in what a glorious day

Trudging along the body felt pretty good for the first 20 or so miles.  I was averaging about a 8:20 pace and not working very hard.  A few friends from the 100 mile Club were setting up turn signs for the course, I tried to out flank them a few times but they always were always one step ahead of me.
Having a car kind of helps but sneaking across bridges gave me a fighting chance.

Comming into the first aid station I saw some grass and decided frolic throughout as the Credits from Little house in prairie rolled on in my head.  Doot Doot Do Do Doot Do Do

The aid station didn't have much to eat and they only bottled water (which I try to never use.) I grabbed a few slices of apples weighed in and hit up my sisters van.  The day before I drained 6 coconuts into water bottles.  I drank them all by mile 50.   I decided to roll out my IT bands as a precautionary measure.  Instead of the usual 30 seconds at an aid station I was there for at least 3 minutes.

10 minutes after leaving my left foot began to bug me a little bit.  It was in the same place thatI felt pain the day before the Long Beach Marathon.  On that ocasion it did'nt play out to be a factor.  I was hoping it would be the same case today.  Am I becoming a hypochondriac I wondered? Am I getting smarter? Or have I become a wussy? It's a combo of the 3 but I'm not sure what the ratio is.  By mile 30 my body was at a level of fatigue I didn't expect till mile 50.  I didn't expect the race to be easy,  my immune system  was fighting busy fighting off my cold and now I was trying divert my energy to my legs.

 I got on the phone (which turned out to be a really nice thing to have) called up my sis and told her I wanted to switch sandals

My sister was doing an outstanding job as my crew.  Supposedly this was designated spot to meet up with crew, it seemed a little sketchy to me. I was becoming needy. Having a crew is making me soft.

I switched fresh pair of  Original Luna's
I normally race with traditional leather laces but if there is no need to go fast (sub 6 min miles) the elastic laces preform great.  I also dig the new ribbon system between the toes.

by the time we hit the beach in Costa Mesa the Marine Layer had covered the sky with fog.  The weather felt like it had dropped 20 degrees.  I was miserable.  The aid station on my the map of my GPS was not there and my it would be  few more teeth chattering miles before I got some clothes on my body.

About 10 miles later The haze had cleared up as I entered Sunset beach with a smile on my face.

Way too many pictures of me. There was nobody else around for my sister to photograph. I have provided  this kitten to relieve some of the strain my ugly mug has put on your eyes thus far.

Mile 50 Long Beach
I came into mile 50 in good spirits. There was a nice crowd of people at the aid station who gave me a very heart warming welcome.  My foot was really starting to bug me.  I could live with the pain but I really did not want to become injured. My pace at this point was still fairly decent and I came into the aid station between 8 and 8.5 hours

The first time I have ever sat dawn in chair during an Ultra.

I decided to tape up my feet something I usually reserve for when I plan on running fast. In hind sight perhaps I should have started the race this way.  (live and learn)

Within the next few miles things began to get ugly.  It was not a throbbing pain on every step but at least once every 2 minutes I would grimace or verbally express my pain  grunting  out some sort fake cursory suck as Farzle snaps!!
My pace was now twice as slow as it once was.  Running hurt bad but I could still walk without much pain. I shuffled along for few miles trying to strategize a game plan to get me to the finish.

As I meandered through the Long beach harbor I got a call from my Bank.  It seems someone had my debit card and was making charges in Maryland. It was kind of a surreal moment to be in a race conducting business on the phone but at least it distracted me from the my other problems

I then got a call from my Best friend Dan Westergaard.  He offered to pace me through the night when I got to San Pedro.  I told him that my prognostics were not good but I thought I could at least Death march it to the finish line.

By now it had been about two hours of mostly walking and I was still all by myself.  Where the hell is everyone?  I was bumbling down the bike path through a shady area of Long Beach towards Wilmington changing my mind on every other step whether I should continue or not.  My sister seemed very concerned about my predicament and at the same time I was worried about her sitting in a mini van in this crappy neighborhood.

I was at about mile 59 I thought  I could make it to the next aid station at 62 but each step was now very uncomfortable.

She found a well lit parking spot a truck stop at mile 60.
It was time to quit but I wanted to keep going.

I sat down in the stupid chair again put on some Inginji socks trying to fool to fool my body into thinking it would magically be okay. I was still in the lead but there was no way that was gonna last .

About 100 Steps later I would withdraw from the race.


Thank you to all the volunteers and congratulation's to all the fisher's.  My hat goes off to you.


Present Day


It's been a little over 2 weeks now since the race.  Although I was and still am pretty bummed I couldn't finish. I made the right decision to quit.  My foot does not feel broken yet is still far from being 100%.  I have some spring in my step but endurance wise I don't think I'll be pushing the envelope anytime soon.

Pushing the envelope! 
What the hell does that mean? 
You got to be pretty tough to push an envelope.  That's me tough guy extraordinaire.



I did manage to run a little over 50 miles the following week week with 30 of them comming in shoes (yes shoes first time in nearly 2 years) and another 60 last week  I got a good opportunity to try out Sketchers foray into the world of minimalist footwear (whatever that means) and hopefully I can help them evolve their product into something great. That being said there is ZERO chance I will giving up my Luna's anytime soon.  I think incorporating shoes is a good idea for the present time.

Where do I go from here?

In a perfect world My body would of held up and I would be heading to Arizona to run the Javalina  100 on Nov 12th and if that was sucessful cogs would be in motion towards a possible sparathalalon appearence in 2012.

Those aspirations I will have to put on hold for little bit.  As for now this Saturday I have a chance at ever lasting glory and an even better chance at throwing up.

Krispy Kreme Challenge West
Run 2 miles eat a dozen doughnuts run 2 miles.