I'd heard rumors, I think first from my brother-in-law Adrian, that there was a traithalon-type team relay race in Durham that involved eating a bunch of local food and then running, biking, swimming... And of course my first thought was: AWESOME! I've always been a secret fan of competitive eating. And a not so secret fan of local food, running, and big team events in general.
So I googled on over to The Doughman site. I didn't think I'd be able to get a team together on short notice (Plus my sister-in-law was being wooed by another team. Boo! I'd need her mad running skills!), so I decided to volunteer this year and make it next year's goal to participate as a racer. I also volunteered Jonathan, which brought about much woe and strife. But I mean, it's a fun experience, free food at the "We hEArT Durham" banquet that evening, a free t-shirt, and to top it all off quality time with the wife. What's not to love?*
Last night was the first pre-race volunteer activity: making the marshmallow and pasta leis. I showed up at the house to which I was directed and found myself in a sea of Duke grad students who all knew one another. Lucky for me they were all very kind, chill people because we spent the next few hours assembling 230-ish leis for all of the Doughman participants. This is the second year of the Doughman, and I learned that the idea last year was to make the leis entirely of marshmallows. However, it was taking forever and using far too many mallows, so they improvised with some penne pasta that someone had in their cupboard. This year we went with 8 marshmallows and 18 pieces of penne, strung onto fishing line. It was sticky, but fun.
They'll spray-paint sets of leis gold, silver, and bronze for the teams that place.
Saturday is race day, were the 50-odd Doughman teams will line up bright and early at Blu Seafood where their first doughperson will chow down before running to a pool, performing an "aquatic activity" and tagging the next doughperson. Number 2 will bike to Four Square, eat, and bike to Nosh to tag the next doughperson. Number 3 will chow down at nosh and then run to Dain's to tag number 4, who will eat the portable defribillator (1/4 lb. local beef patty loaded with cheese, local meat chili, bacon, 1/4 hot dog and coleslaw on a fresh, locally baked bun) before running to Daisy Cakes where all doughpeople will eat cupcakes before running to the finish line together.
Puking is strictly discouraged with time penalties, and spitting food out receives an even greater time penalty.
The Biggest Loser's Ed and Heba (who might be considering opening a restaurant in Durham sometime soon?) are rumored to be starting the race (by banging pots and pans), and the Travel Channel's show Man v. Food will be there with a team in the race as well.
I'm excited!
*Jonathan doesn't yet know that we're on "Starting Line" duty, which means we'll be rolling in to Durham by 6:30 AM on Saturday. Ooops. :)
So I googled on over to The Doughman site. I didn't think I'd be able to get a team together on short notice (Plus my sister-in-law was being wooed by another team. Boo! I'd need her mad running skills!), so I decided to volunteer this year and make it next year's goal to participate as a racer. I also volunteered Jonathan, which brought about much woe and strife. But I mean, it's a fun experience, free food at the "We hEArT Durham" banquet that evening, a free t-shirt, and to top it all off quality time with the wife. What's not to love?*
Last night was the first pre-race volunteer activity: making the marshmallow and pasta leis. I showed up at the house to which I was directed and found myself in a sea of Duke grad students who all knew one another. Lucky for me they were all very kind, chill people because we spent the next few hours assembling 230-ish leis for all of the Doughman participants. This is the second year of the Doughman, and I learned that the idea last year was to make the leis entirely of marshmallows. However, it was taking forever and using far too many mallows, so they improvised with some penne pasta that someone had in their cupboard. This year we went with 8 marshmallows and 18 pieces of penne, strung onto fishing line. It was sticky, but fun.
They'll spray-paint sets of leis gold, silver, and bronze for the teams that place.
Saturday is race day, were the 50-odd Doughman teams will line up bright and early at Blu Seafood where their first doughperson will chow down before running to a pool, performing an "aquatic activity" and tagging the next doughperson. Number 2 will bike to Four Square, eat, and bike to Nosh to tag the next doughperson. Number 3 will chow down at nosh and then run to Dain's to tag number 4, who will eat the portable defribillator (1/4 lb. local beef patty loaded with cheese, local meat chili, bacon, 1/4 hot dog and coleslaw on a fresh, locally baked bun) before running to Daisy Cakes where all doughpeople will eat cupcakes before running to the finish line together.
Puking is strictly discouraged with time penalties, and spitting food out receives an even greater time penalty.
The Biggest Loser's Ed and Heba (who might be considering opening a restaurant in Durham sometime soon?) are rumored to be starting the race (by banging pots and pans), and the Travel Channel's show Man v. Food will be there with a team in the race as well.
I'm excited!
*Jonathan doesn't yet know that we're on "Starting Line" duty, which means we'll be rolling in to Durham by 6:30 AM on Saturday. Ooops. :)
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