The Doughman 2011
We did it!
Yesterday, the 11foot8 team @Overheight When Flashing@ participated in the Doughman – “the world’s premier Team Relay Quadrathlon” – and we finished in a very satifying 8th place (out of 75 teams).
The race has 5 legs. Each leg starts with an eating challenge before the athlete goes on to run or bike. Upon return, the next teammate is tagged and he/she eats and then races on. This is how we divided up the legs:
leg 1 – corn dog + 1.9 mile run + water activity ……. Gordon Keeler
leg 2 – veggie tamale + 8-mile bike race ……………….Craig Young
leg 3 – vegan “meatballs” and squash + 2-mile run .. Jurgen Henn
leg 4 – two (not one!) lambie Joes + 2.3-mile run ….. Bill Copeland
leg 5 dessert + team sprint
…… Jurgen …….. locopop
…… Bill ………….. chocolate dream w/peanut butter
…… Craig ……….. cupcake
…… Gordon …… bread pudding
The start is staggered based on how much money the team managed to raise for the two local non-profits that benefit from this event – SEEDS and SeeSaw studio. Three teams raised $1500 or more and they got a 6-Minute head start. Next were a bunch of teams that raised at least $500 with a 2-Min. head start. Then teams that raised $250 or more with a 1-Min. head start (we raised $340, so we were in that group) and finally teams that did not manage even $250 started last.
Overall we had a great time. We had had some serious thunderstorms on friday, so we were a bit worried what the weather would be like. It turned out to be a nice morning, if a bit muggy. All of us had at least scouted out our courses, so we were not among those participants who were wandering around lost in downtown Durham. In fact, I had run my course twice before the race, and Gordon even three times.
For me, the food was not difficult. I managed to minimize the chewing – I slurped down the spaghetti squash and bit the “meat”balls in half and swallowed the halves. The run was intense, but fun. I did not have to think about it too much and I had trained for that distance for almost three months. I knew the route and so I just had to watch my pace and watch my step. After a mile, the “meat”balls started putting up a bit of a fight. I had been trying to hold off a competitor from passing me, but I had to slow down a bit so I would not throw up … and he passed me. Still … I ended up beating my best 2-mile time yet by 10 seconds – despite the traffic lights. And I did not even run sloppy. I had worried that I might neglect good running technique and get sore feet. But no – no problems at all. I pushed hard and gave it all and I finished my run on empty.
And I know that Gordon, Craig and Bill did the same. We put up a good fight and did well. The desserts were intense, too. I got wicked brain freeze from that locopop and Gordon almost choked on that damn bread pudding. But we made it! Yeah!