Twinkie 5K

Race: Twinkie 5K
Race Date: Tuesday, April 1st, 2014
Distance: 5K
Time: 23:28 (7:34 mile/pace)

Equipment

• Twinkie costume!

The Twinkie 5K is a race presented by Ann Arbor Active Against ALS to raise funds for Lou Gehrig's Disease research. 100% of the profits for this race go towards finding a cure, which is great!

My costume is by the brand Rasta Imposta and bought off of Amazon for $20. The day was awfully windy and it worked pretty well as a wind breaker.

Trying on the Twinkie! I ironed this costume before the race. Have to keep up appearances.

Let's talk Twinkies.  Every runner has two chances during the run to eat a Twinkie. Once at the start when the horn goes off, and again at the mid-way point. Each Twinkie deducts a minute off your time; a good chunk of time for a 5K! Seeing as I was a Twinkie, eating a Twinkie seemed like cannibalism.  Although, the post-race grilled Twinkies sounded pretty good.

The race does not have timing mats but does keep tracking of a runner's finishing time and factors in the number of Twinkies a runner has ingested.

I'm amazed how fast people can stuff an entire Twinkie in their mouth. Although, I did see a few half-eaten Twinkies along the trail.  A woman mentioned her dog was cleaning up the trail from the mislaiden golden goodies. Perfect way to clean up the path.

The route goes around the beautiful Gallup Park twice. We were lucky to have it warmer than last year, but we did have to fight the wind at times. Made for an excellent challenge! Also the Gallup park trail has a wood chip bit that feels delightful on the feet.
 
I really enjoy the vibe of this race, and it's for a good cause to boot. Definitely worth doing if you get a chance!