The Tallahassee Marathon is the first Sunday in February. As a race, the Marathon in general goes back to the first modern Olympics in 1896. The Tallahassee Marathon in particular goes back to 1975, making it one of the oldest road races in town.But the sublime is often paired with the ridiculous, and Saturday of Marathon weekend in Tallahassee is the day of the Krispy Kreme Challenge.
It would be hard to imagine two events that are so different. The Marathon was proposed by French scholar Michel Bréal, inspired by the history of the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The Krispy Kreme Challenge was first run in 2004 by a few North Carolina State students; their source of inspiration is unclear but I suspect that fermented beverages were involved. The Marathon is a pure test of athleticism; 26 miles and 385 yards of straight running. The Krispy Kreme Challenge is a four-mile run with a stop midway to wolf down a dozen doughnuts; the "challenge" being to do it in under an hour. People carefully prepare for a Marathon, training for months. People run the Krispy Kreme Challenge on a dare.
But both events have become something that a lot of people want to do. Hundreds of thousands of people all around the world run Marathons each year. From a few loopy students in Raleigh, N.C. State's Krispy Kreme Challenge grown to an annual event with a cap of 5,500 participants. The Challenge is major fundraiser for North Carolina Children's Hospital and has caught the attention of Sports Illustrated and ESPN. And just as the Olympic Marathon was the first of many Marathon races, the Raleigh Krispy Kreme Challenge was just the first. The Student United Way of FSU started its own Krispy Kreme Challenge in 2010. Justin Harbor, who would probably rather be remembered for his accomplishments in Seminole track and cross country, won that inaugural event in 27:45. The Challenge returns to the FSU campus for a second year on February 5, starting at 1:00pm from the fountain in front of the Westcott Building.So while the first Sunday of this February belongs to Pheidippides, Spiridon Louis, and the other heroes of the Marathon, Saturday belongs to Homer Simpson, Tim Horton, and the patrons of fried pastry. I suppose that you could run both, counting the Krispy Kreme Challenge as a carbohydrate-loading session for the Tallahassee Marathon, but it wouldn't be the best idea. Marathoners should be warned, though, that the early part of their course overlaps the Krispy Kreme Challenge route. Watch where you step.
Links:
- Original publication of this piece in the 29 January 2011 Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110129/SPORTS/101290337/Tallahassee-Marathon-meets-Krispy-Kreme-Challenge - The ultimate combination of the Krispy Kreme Challenge and the Tallahassee Marathon
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/02/homer-price-challenge.html - Find more race, ridiculous as well as sublime, in the Tallahassee region
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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