Hot Donuts Now!

Registration is now open for the 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge, which is easily one of the must-do running events in the Triangle. The 2010 race will be Febuary 6 at 8:30 a.m. Last year they broke through the 5,000 entrants mark -- at one point, when they were out of regular printed race bibs, they took old race bibs, turned them over and wrote new names and numbers on them. With plans to have 6,000 runners in 2010, the smart runner and donut-eater will register early. Like now!

I had a ball at the 2009 KKC and have run the ones in 2008 and 2007 as well.

2010 KKC registration.

RIP, Marathon Hat

Another farewell this week to my marathon hat, which didn't survive last weekend's trip to the Run to Victory half-marathon in Randleman.

When I ran my first marathon (Marine Corps in 2006), I realized that being out in the sun for five-plus hours on a sunny day would likely sunburn my fair skin, so I looked for a hat that could get sweaty and dirty without much loss and still have a brim big enough to shade most of my face. This old Lite All-Star Racing hat was the perfect solution, and it's been along for most sunny-day marathons I've done since then, in addition to a couple of rainy ones.

I've got plenty of old, destroyable hats that can vie to be the new Marathon Hat, so time to start looking for a successor. Godspeed, old friend.

RIP, Coach Bubba

Unfortunately, the Coach Bubba 4-miler and 20k run put on annually by Carolina Godiva running club in Durham will not return in 2010 because of problems getting the 20k course approved through the municipal process. Hopefully this great event will return in 2011. I really enjoyed running it in 2008.

That's a big setback for the local running scene and hopefully isn't a leading indicator for a more aggressive approach being taken by municipalities towards running events. And it's a shame that charitable beneficiaries like the Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, both of which were helped out by the Coach Bubba race, won't see any benefits from the event. And with the great reputation of both Carolina Godiva and Coach Bubba, the race was probably pulling in some out-of-town runners that benefited the local economy more than it was impacted by a few street closures and slow intersections during the event.

Hopefully municipalities and running event organizers can find a middle ground where these events can go on, whether it takes some more creativity with race course design or proactive leadership from the city. Many local leaders talk about fighting the loss of activity and decrease in overall health because of obesity, but it doesn't help to shut down outdoor exercise opportunities. Come back soon, Coach Bubba!

Return of RITNY

A few years ago I got started running in the annual Run In The New Year (RITNY) 5k at Lake Crabtree. The race was an event organized by the Cary YMCA and was usually run the second Saturday in January. I really enjoyed the parts of the race that ran through the Lake Crabtree trails, plus the t-shirts were very nice. (I have one saved for my next t-shirt quilt.) Unfortunately, low turnout and trouble getting enough volunteers brought about the end of the 5k, and it hasn't been run the last two or three years, but from 2004 to 2006 I was a regular participant. I know Steve ran it with me at least once, and maybe Kip did as well.

However, I didn't know that it was the second incarnation of the RITNY 5k. The race originally -- 2001 through 2003 for sure -- had been a midnight-on-January-1 race, so that at the stroke of the New Year, you could start running. Great idea for a race, and one that I was used to from New Year's Eve / New Year's Day races growing up. In fact, it was around for ten or eleven years as a stroke-of-midnight race. Then in 2004 it moved to the first Saturday of January, and in 2005 it moved again to the race date that I was familiar with.

And now, after a hiatus of a few years, the RITNY 5k is back as a midnight-on-January-1 race, this time using the new Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary as a focal point and using two laps around Cary Towne Center for the majority of its distance. The Miracle League, which gives kids with special needs the opportunity to play baseball, will be the primary beneficiary of the race, and the runners will go by the Triangle Miracle League field during the run. It's good to have one of these races return from the "RIP" stack, and the Cary mall should be a good venue since it will be well-lit at midnight and familiar to the runners. In fact, if you really want to get your 2010 off to a good running start, you could do the RITNY 5k at midnight, get a few hours of sleep, and then hit the NCRC's Resolution Run 5k later in the morning! That's a pretty good 10k worth of running for the first day of the year!

10 10-milers in 2010

OK, so my friend Chad, who's pretty good at coming up with unusual goals, mentioned this new idea he had for next year: running 10 10-mile races in 2010. "10 10s in '10," you might say. This was after we did the Raven Rock Rumble 10-mile trail run, and he pointed out that we already have access to some pretty good local 10-mile races that we've already done, like the Tarheel 10-miler, the American Tobacco Trail 10-miler, and the Rumble. So it's definitely something that's do-able, although we might have to get on the road and travel some to find a full slate of really good 10-milers. In fact, Runner's World did a story on six big 10-milers they recommended. Going through some of my race databases and calendars, this should be a good set of 2010 10-mile races to choose from (some 2010 race dates guessed):

01/09 - Little River Trail Run 10-miler (Hillsborough)
03/28 - Presidio 10-miler (San Francisco)
04/10 - Tarheel 10-miler (Chapel Hill)
04/11 - Cherry Blossom 10-mile run (DC)
04/24 - Mainstay Mountain Medley 10-miler (Henderson County, NC)
05/02 - Blue Cross Broad Street Run (Philly)
05/29 - Soldier Field 10 (Chicago)
05/29 - Sunset Stampede (Asheville)
06/10 - Army Birthday 10-mile run (Fort Bragg)
06/13 - Garden of the Gods 10-miler (Colorado)
06/19 - RC Cola / Moon Pie Festival 10-miler (Bell Buckle, TN)
06/19 - Baltimore 10-mile Run (Baltimore, MD)
08/28 - Crim 10-mile Festival Race (Flint, Michigan)
08/29 - Annapolis Ten-Mile Run (Annapolis, MD)
10/03 - Twin Cities 10-miler (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN)
10/16 - Medoc Trail 10-miler (Hollister, NC)
10/23 - American Tobacco Trail 10-miler (Apex, NC)
10/24 - Army Ten-Miler (DC)
11/13 - Spencer Mountain 10-miler (Gastonia, NC)
11/20 - Raven Rock Rumble 10-mile trail race (outside Lillington, NC)
12/05 - Reindeer Dash for Cash 10-miler (Greenville, NC)

And there are even more all over the country. Oh, this is definitely do-able.