Sugar Run

Two miles with a dozen donuts in between

I am perpetually running through the sugar.

The Krispy Kreme Challenge was created at North Carolina State University in December 2004. The idea was to run from the NC State Memorial Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme donut shop in downtown Raleigh. There, runners would consume 12 donuts before turning around and running back to the Bell Tower, approximately five miles total. It became a rite of passage at NC State, something that needed to be done before one graduated, as this is something that is too foolish for postgraduates to attempt, something that once we are older, we know better — we know the limits of our bodies. We know how to move within them, what can be sustained.

My grandfather, the long-distance runner, had a sweet tooth. Coffee with heaps of sugar: the white granules sticking to the wet spoon. Palmiers as large as the leaves of their name. My first trip to Barcelona was when I was nine years old. I was amazed at how the meals worked there: the large lunches, the late dinners. In the morning, pastries. Ham you would eat with a fork and knife, a slice of soft cheese — all things familiar yet slightly skewed. Hot chocolate poured…