Got an email from my kid's high school for an upcoming fund raiser; the First Annual Dine and Dash. According to the flyer:

"It will involve a full day of family fun and activities to help raise funds for our charter schools. Dine and Dash consists of four-member teams who compete in running activities. At the end of each lap, the team receives a ticket."

OK, that sounds cool - I bet I could talk DH and two sons into doing this for a good cause. We're all in pretty good shape, I bet we could kick some serious butt! But then I read on ....

"In between laps, participants run to food stations and eat as fast as they can and then continue to compete in the race. There will be awards and lots of entertainment!"

What the ... what is this, a combo 5K and eating contest??!! Eat, run and ... puke? (Sorry to be graphic, but that's my visual). I will try to get more information first, but this "stuff your face" part just ruins it, IMO. I'm totally up for an athletic competition, but the rest - give me a break! What are they THINKING??

Hey, I can't reply to your post about the high school event.

So, I just wanted to ask you--is there any way you can complain to the school about this? State your concerns? That really does sound like a dumb, dumb, event.

Jay

I agree with Jayell- I was going to say heck I'd call and be like seriously is the eating DURING the run necessary?

I sent an email to the organizer, asking about the eating part and expressing some of my concerns. I did get some clarification -- apparently there are 4 team members and 4 relay legs, each of which include a requirement to eat at a food station prior to the "leg". Each team member only has to eat once, which isn't as bad as it sounds at first. I still don't know what and how much, though. If it's one mini-cupcake, well, OK. If it's a bacon-cheeseburger, well, that's barf city as far as I'm concerned.

The event is loosely based on the "Doughman" race in Durham. I checked out the web site. THEY are required to wolf down things like a big sandwich wrap (WITH chips) or a huge plate of cheese fries - and then either bike, run, or raft across a pool. Apparently one of the big rules is not puking, thereby incurring a 30 minute penalty.

I'm sure they are thinking that this is just good, clean family fun. But in my view, the idea of stuffing food in your face as a required precursor to running some relay leg is just, well, kind of nasty. And just ... odd. A lot will depend on exactly what they define the food stations to be.

I guess we'll see .... more info will come later, I'm sure.

P.S I don't know what happened with the original post -- wierd!

I have seen races that have different things you must do before each leg of the race- but how about instead of food you have to shave a balloon? Or answer a few trivia questions? Or sing a song reallly loud? Meh- I guess if you bug too much they'll think you are a spoiled sport

Sounds really, really dumb from a health point of view.

Sounds really, really dumb from practical, barf point of view.

Oh well. I suppose they will have to learn from experience.

Fixed it, I think! But it was REALLY hard and I'm pretty sure it was broken for a while in the process.

Still working on fixing it...

Thank you for fixing the thread!! I guess the wierdness is just another symptom of all of the other stuff going on the last week or so ...

If this is a first time event they probably don't know how exercise and overeating do not go together. After cleaning up all the puke post event they probably will be open to a different idea next time.

It is downright weird. But so is most of reality TV and a lot of people love that.

Dagmar

I would actually think that the puking will be part of the 'thrill' of the event, kind of like those competitive eating shows...

I think it sends a pretty bad message, myself.

You know, it's pretty surprising that in an era where bake sales and birthday cupcakes are being banned from schools, soda and candy is being snatched from vending machines, there is also an event like this. Then again, our society (not sure if I'm talking U.S. society... not sure how widespread it is outside of this country, and it doesn't occur everywhere in the U.S., either... just pondering and not trying to be too stereotypical here) sends a lot of mixed messages about food and body image. Girls, you should be a size 0 like that supermodel, but let's stop for some takeout that supplies 100% of your daily calories on our drive home.... stuff like that.

That is such a shame that the school is taking an event that could be a lot of fun and positive for the whole family, and turning it into something so unhealthy and sending mixed messages to kids. I would try to discuss your concerns with the school.

Then again I've sort of figured out that my opinion on food and health is certainly not only not representative of society as a whole, it's not a welcome one either. sigh.

Yep, that's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Be encouraged to lobby them to make changes. Food as sport is just a bad idea.

(And good luck in the race when you run it.)

I'm a calorie counter and one of the aspects that horrifies me is the calorie imbalance. It bugs me to no end that people go out and do a 5K which burns, what, maybe 300 calories? And then they hit the after-event pancake breakfast, chow on bagels w/cream cheese, guzzle gatorade and think somehow they've burned more than they've consumed!! So I'm expecting that this event *requires* you to eat more than you can possibly burn on your relay leg, how could it not? From a calorie-in-calorie-out standpoint, it's a losing proposition. In effect, I have to "pay" from my daily calorie budget just to participate. And likely eat something that I just wouldn't eat normally.

But then, I view the whole food thing differently than most - it's just fuel to me.

I'll let y'all know what happens. The event is toward the end of January, so we'll get more info probably after the holidays. I still want to support the school, and my family of 4 could mount a seriously kick-butt team (we are all athletically-inclined and in decent shape). We'll see .....!

Oh gosh, I didn't even realize it was something *you* would participate in. I can't even imagine considering it.