Notes
Krispy Kreme Challenge
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35:32 (5.41 miles) - total time
33:38 (5.05 miles) - projected time w/o wrong turn
5:21 / mile avg
6:09 donut eating / 6:33 time in eating zone
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It's been 7 years, but I finally made it back to this race! Solid performance but I think more importantly I learned a lot to equip me for success next year.
First half went fantastic and almost exactly according to plan. I planned to go out at 5:15 pace, which was aggressive but I knew the donut eating provides a long rest to the running. So don't think of it like a full 5 miler. And, the first half is all downhill. Surprised myself with a 5:07 first mile, but felt great and had good position. Even faster second mile, 5:01. Both of these were significantly downhill, over 50 ft per. Felt good going into the donuts.
However, during the run the cup I was carrying collided with my leg and was ejected from my grip. I was going way too fast to even think about recovering it. So no dunking would be possible for the eating. I think that alone cost me a minute in the eating. And I really didn't have much practice, so this was sort of a practice session on its own. I realized that I wasn't standing and getting my head back nearly enough. And more importantly my swallowing was way off par. Too much chewing and not enough swallowing. And once I finished eating, I wasted another 30 seconds looking for where the heck I was supposed to go for the checkpoint. All this is information I can use to be faster for next time. But a 6-minute eating split isn't bad considering my lack of practice and such a great length of time since I last competed.
The second half of this race was tougher than I remembered, stomach-wise. But still not bad. Felt it more in the first 1-2 minutes and had some burps. Had some donut stuck to the roof of my mouth til the end of the race, lol. Hills were real tough too. And I think I was a bit discouraged by having to run significantly longer than 5 miles. But, 5:30 average on the way back with all that, not bad. I definitely exceeded what I thought my fitness was, especially given the trash last month of training. So I'm at a good place to build from. And definitely have a lot more to improve.
Based on this year and where I want to be next year running-wise, here are my goals for Krispy Kreme 2025:
- A goal: 29:00 / 25:00 running split / 4:00 donut split
- B goal: 30:15 / 25:45 running split / 4:30 donut split
- C goal: 31:30 / 26:30 running split / 5:00 donut split
Let's see what these next 12 months bring.