Crim 2010: The ups and downs of running five miles through Flint

Let me start off by saying that I love running. I love it. I can't get enough of it. I live for the adrenaline rush and feeling of accomplishment after I go for a run. Last year, I ran the Crim 5k and felt like I could have done the 8k. This year, I ran the Crim 8k and felt like I could do the 10-miler. It's a great experience and I highly recommend that everyone in the Flint area try it at least once; at bare minimum, do the 1-mile fun run.

I will tell you what, though, I did not expect the amount of hills in on the course. It seemed like all of Third-I mean, University Avenue was nothing but hills and broken glass.

And Bradley Avenue...oh goodness, I was freakin' dying every time I saw a hill. And there were a lot of hills.

But quite possibly some of the most questionable and outright bizarre thing that I saw was none other than members of a fraternity from Kettering that shall remain nameless giving out donuts to people while they were running.

Donuts. During a run.

Of all the foods, that has to be one of the worst I can imagine giving to someone who was in the process of running five miles. And what was worst of all is that people were actually stopping and grabbing a donut and resuming their run.

I'm a member of Greek life here on campus. I take some semblance of pride in my fraternity and whatnot, as well as at bare minimum giving the impression that we have some brains in our skulls. I'm not sure of the educational or intellectual requirements of said fraternity, but I do know this: you need more than a 19 on your ACT in order to get into a school as good as Kettering. And yet, here we have this group of people giving donuts to runners.

I can't think of a reason why you'd want to do that. Irony, I guess? I mean, we're willingly putting ourselves through some pretty high impact aerobic activity, why would you want a donut as you were running?

Or perhaps they were taunting us, doing the culinary equivalent of pointing and laughing at us while we were huffing and puffing as well as dreading the looming hills that lied ahead of us.

Either way, I ran right past them with a slightly worried look on my face, not to mention an ever-so-slightly judging glance at those who grabbed a Krispy Kreme and restarted their jog.

Lesson to be learned from this is that donuts probably aren't the best thing to give to runners. Now, stuff like water, Gatorade, a banana, an apple, or something along that nature would be a bit more appropriate.

And that's my view.