Secrets of the Sole Sisters: The Dish on the Donut Dash ... Plus: Recap on National Running Day and The Streak

Taking off for National Running Day.

Hey there everyone! We hope you all had a great National Running Day -- we sure did at the I RUN event at Fossil Park. A great group of runners turned out for what ended up being a 4.4 mile race/fun run/walk.

Pleased to report that your Sole Sisters did well on the day, with V taking 2nd in age group and M just steps behind, with a 31:35 and 31:40 respectively, finishing 15th and 16th overall.

The course was through Fossil Park, then Sylvan Prairie Park, two trails that we were unfamiliar with before the race. We'll be back! Both areas were nicely maintained, wide enough to accommodate a crowd, well-marked, and even had a few rises to make it challenging and keep it from being pancake-flat. Speaking of food ...

Here's the dish on the Donut Dash we have planned for National Donut Day! If you didn't know, National Donut Day falls on the first Friday of June, and this holiday dates to 1938. What is now known as Donut Day started as a fund-raiser to benefit the Salvation Army in Chicago. The fund-raiser aimed to both aid those in need during the Great Depression and honor the memory of the "Doughnut Dollies," who were female volunteers of the Salvation Army who traveled to France in 1918 to support U.S. soldiers stationed there. These "Lassies" were sent to France after a Salvation Army mission trip concluded that soldiers were in need of several amenities, such as writing supplies, stamps, and baked goods. About 250 such Salvation Army volunteers went to France and patriotically served pastries to U.S. doughboys on the front lines.

We too wish to honor that service and also just celebrate the fact that doughnuts are so darn good! So, we are holding our own Donut Dash to mark the holiday. Here's the skinny:
We're going to run a 5k, and every half mile, we have to eat one glazed doughnut. M suggested perhaps we have milk at each half-mile mark as well to wash it down, but that idea was quickly vetoed by me, as I am somewhat-lactose sensitive (ever try to drink a glass of milk before a run? Oh, no thank you). One of the neat things about National Donut Day is that many doughnut establishments give out free doughnuts to celebrate! Here's a list of places where you can score some free fritters: FREE DOUGHNUTS!!

Glazed doughnuts seem like the best choice for us, especially over heavy Bavarian cream-filled longjohns or sugary raspberry-filled jelly doughnuts. Even though we're running during this 5k, we're still going to come out on the bad end calorically speaking. A single glazed doughnut runs about 200 calories. If we successfully consume one every half mile, that's six over the course of the 5K. That puts us at 1,200 calories in doughnuts. I think I just developed a twitch as I typed that number. Our height and weight differences put M and I at different calories burned during a 5K, but you could average it out to about 325 or so calories for the 3 miles. Oh, dear. This is turning into less like a 5K and more like a competitive eating event. Perhaps I can persuade Joey "Jaws" Chestnut or Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas to come and make this a relay event so I only have to consume one sugary treat (which, on any other day, is the max doughnuts I ever eat. And that's maybe once every three months or so). Anyhow, we will definitely be testing our intestinal fortitude in every conceivable sense of the word.

We're also happy to report that the streak does live on! Day 11 and still going strong. I managed to just squeak out a mile and call it a rest day. This was my first streak day done on the treadmill, and I still don't like running on the treadmill. But, Sole Child Nick was watching "Identity Thief" so I got to watch it with him in the living room, while running.

And a Sole Sister shoutout to Allan Detrich, who continues to both streak AND knock down his mile time! In one week, he has whittled his mile time by an entire minute. Fan-freaking-tastic, Allan! Debbie in Delaware is still streaking AND cross training, Sara in Cincinnati is racking up her streaking time, and so is Jodi in Bowling Green. Who am I missing? Weigh in!

M got her streak day in with runner friend Tyler -- she clocked 2 miles in 21:42, with the second mile a scorcher at 6:58. Nice, sis!