It's like a sexy tight dress that looks like a Taco Bell sauce packet.
So me and my friend, we're going to do matching ones.
I mean, he's a dude, so I don't know how he feels about this, but I'm just going to buy them and, you know, hopefully he'll wear it.
So not only are you running a 31 mile race in a costume, but the costume is a sexy tight dress.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it'll be, you'll get a lot of airflow.
It'll be a little more aerodynamic.
Like it's better to have too little than too much when you're running, I think.
This is The Sporkful.
It's not for foodies, it's for eaters.
I'm Dan Pashman.
Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people.
Before we get into the show, I gotta tell you a little.
While back I announced that I'm teaming up with my friends at Culinary Backstreet to lead a tour of Mexico City next year.
Well, reservations have now opened up and spots are filling up fast.
This is going to be such a special trip.
We're going to go into the homes of master mole makers, go on a tacos al pastor crawl and a lot more.
We're even going to a lucha libre match.
That's Mexican pro wrestling with this fascinating cultural history.
Also, my fall 2027 Italy tour is now open for reservations.
We're going to Rome and Puglia.
We're going to eat spaghetti alla Sassina in Bari, where it was invented, and a ton more.
The last one sold out well in advance, so get on this one too.
For info on both trips, go to culinarybackstreets.com slash sporkful.
Come travel and eat with me.
All right, let's get into it.
I love when we get mail from our listeners.
And last year, I got an email that stopped me in my tracks.
It reads, This should be a great challenge for my stamina and stomach.
With 10 Taco Bell stops and 30 miles, it should be a fun run.
So I thought I'd invite you to join me.
Maybe on a bike, though.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join Eleanor because the race was in Denver.
And also, I have no desire whatsoever to run or bike 30 miles while eating that much Taco Bell.
But today on the show, we'll do the next best thing.
We're going to follow Eleanor as she attempts to run her first ever Taco Bell 50K.
Can she finish this grueling test of cardio and stomach endurance?
Can she, against all odds, actually enjoy it?
And why on earth does she want to do this to herself in the first place?
Well, Eleanor started running when she was 17.
During her senior year of high school, COVID hit.
I was living in Chicago and it was so cold out and I couldn't really like socialize or do anything fun.
And so I might as well do something even more miserable.
And so just to get out of the house, I'd do a few miles.
Had you ever been a runner before that?
No, I was the closest thing to sports I did in high school was the math team.
After graduation, Eleanor left Chicago winters to go to college in L.A.
That's when she really got hooked on running.
Probably junior year, I was averaging like 10 miles a day.
And then by senior year, maybe more like 15 to 20.
What was the first time you ran in any kind of a race?
I learned that people could run in races together in groups.
When I was doing this internship in Florida, my roommate there, she was on her college track team.
And she was training for a half marathon.
And so at that point, I'd run maybe eight or nine miles.
And then I realized you could break 10, like one could break 10 and they might not die.
That's when I started running maybe like a half marathon every day.
And then at that point, I was like, well, a marathon's really not that far off.
I could just sign up for one.
And so I did.
I just found the cheapest one I could that would be, like, near my college.
And I didn't follow any kind of training plan.
I was just like well, if I can run a half marathon every day, then what's two half marathons in one day?
My first marathon I did November of my junior year of college.
And how'd you do?
I got a .358, which was all right.
A 358 means she ran the marathon in three hours and 58 minutes, which is more than all right for a first marathon.
It actually puts her in the top 20% of women marathon runners.
And it sounds like after that, you felt like, well, I conquered a half marathon.
I conquered a full marathon.
Now what?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Because once you run a marathon, it's like, what's the next frontier?
Obviously, I could try to get faster and faster.
But I don't think I'm going to make the Olympics, most likely.
I don't think I'm going to break any world records.
You wanted a different kind of challenge.
Exactly, yes.
While Eleanor was studying abroad, in Paris, she heard about wine marathons, where the race course brings you to a bunch of local vineyards and at each one you take a sip of the local wine.
Eleanor found one in Burgundy, so she hopped on a train.
So that was 19 wine stops.
And at the wine stops, they also serve like the local food.
So like little cakes, stews.
Yeah, because when you're out for a run, if there's one thing your body's craving, it's stew.
Well, you know, the French, they're not going to just have wine.
You have to pair it.
Right.
But maybe like a little bread and cheese, I would think.
Sure.
Maybe a slice of ham.
Maybe.
I don't know that I'd want a bowl of stew.
And then you're having one or two sips of wine at each stop?
Yeah, probably like equivalent to like a shot glass.
Okay.
But even that will add up if it's 15 or 20 of them.
Especially if you're dehydrated.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When we think of marathon running, we tend to think of it as being pretty intense and serious right.
Like, if you want to get into one of the coveted races like New York or Boston, you need to qualify by running other marathons and posting good times.
So even getting in is competitive.
But in France, Eleanor discovered a different side of running.
It was like all a celebration.
Like it was a celebration of like what your body can do, but also a celebration of food.
And we did it all in costume.
Me and my friend did it.
She was a bunny rabbit and I was a donkey.
I feel like these costumes must be warm.
Oh, this one was just ears and a tail.
Oh, okay.
All right.
It's not like a full body.
You're not going furry encased in a donkey head.
No, I have a little bit of self-respect left.
Not very much, but.
I mean, that would have been a real commitment, though, Eleanor.
Maybe you got to up your game.
Okay, maybe you give it a try then.
All right.
What did you eat on this race?
Well, when I went to college, I stopped eating meat just for moral reasons.
And so fortunately, I could skip the stew, but I did go for the cheese.
I did go for the cakes.
And at the end there was this massive tent where you could try every single like in case you missed a stop.
You could try every single pastry that was offered.
Oh, I like that.
Eleanor had stumbled on a parallel universe of extreme running that involves extreme eating challenges.
It's part of a growing trend.
There's the Krispy Kreme challenge.
You run two and a half miles to a Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen donuts and run another two and a half miles back.
There's even the Coney Island Hot Dog 50K in New York.
It's pretty much what you'd imagine.
The next race Eleanor did was the Beer City Half in California.
It was a half marathon followed by a beer tasting.
Then they also had a beer mile race, which is when you run a mile with a stop every quarter mile to drink a beer.
So four beers in one mile.
Eleanor thinks she was the only person to run both the half marathon and the beer mile that day.
And yes, she puked.
Does it ever cross your mind maybe you should just stop?
Like maybe you don't need to finish the mile?
Maybe I think a smarter person would say yes.
But when everyone's cheering for you, you're in the human Bud Light costume and everyone around you is finishing the beer mile.
Really, like it would be a step backwards for womankind if you don't finish the beer mile.
I'm just I'm a feminist.
What can I say?
I would think that then after that race, you're like, okay, I just threw up twice.
Maybe this is my last race of this kind.
That is exactly what I thought.
And then a few weeks later, I found out about the Taco Bell 50K.
If you met Eleanor when she was a child, you would not have predicted she would ever sign up for a Taco Bell 50K.
That's probably because she wasn't a runner, but also because of what she typically ate as a kid.
I mean, I grew up in like a very food focused household where my mom was like like she used to cook professionally.
And so she was a great cook.
We had a big garden.
So she grew everything from scratch and we had chickens.
And so, like even when I was a little kid, I was eating like pate and like fresh bread and all kinds of delicious French style things.
Then, when Eleanor was 14, her life changed forever.
I get a text from my sister and she's like, Ellie, look in your desk.
And I open my desk and there is a cold chicken chalupa that she had left for me the night before.
I mean, it was it was a cold eight hour old taco.
It had the sour cream and the dry shredded cheese and the ground beef against this like crusty fried chicken.
Yeah.
And I try it and it's my first taste of fast food and it's incredible.
It's so good.
Like I love my mother's pate and whatever, but there's like so much flavor, like such an intensity of preservatives and additives that like, just like, would knock the socks off of a Victorian child which functionally, I was at that point.
How did your relationship with Taco Bell blossom from that first encounter?
Honestly, the fact that I went vegetarian really nurtured our relationship.
Taco Bell is like probably the best vegetarian fast food there is because you can sub everything for black beans.
And so for nine bucks you can get the Luxe combo box where you get like a bean burrito, black bean crunch wrap and fiesta potatoes with a drink.
The calorie per dollar ratio on that is really unbeatable.
That brings us to last year when Eleanor graduated from college and signed up for the Taco Bell 50K.
This race, it was organized by like a local running group in Denver.
And so basically it traces this loop around urban Denver like nowhere really special, but it goes from Taco Bell to Taco Bell.
To be clear, this event is not officially sanctioned by Taco Bell.
It started in 2018 with seven runners.
Now it's ballooned to 700.
All its website says that the race began with a hot tub, a stoic Russian, a short king from New York and Susie.
There's a total of 10 Taco Bell stops along the route.
The run starts and ends at the same Taco Bell, so that one counts twice.
Runners have to order at least one food item at 9 out of the 10 stops.
They have to finish that menu item and keep the receipt as proof.
And is there like an official, like a referee at every Taco Bell?
It's a free race.
I don't know if they have the funding for that.
I think it's if you lie about finishing the Taco Bell 50K, then you're kind of the lowest person.
I think there's like a circle of hell just devoted to that.
Right.
There are a few additional rules that I ticked through with Eleanor.
It says by the fourth stop, all entrants must have consumed at least one Chalupa Supreme or one Crunchwrap Supreme.
Now, in case people aren't familiar, both of those involve beef or, in your case beans cheese, sour cream, lettuce and tomato all encased in a taco shell or flour tortilla.
Yeah, I'm going for the Crunchwrap.
I love a Crunchwrap.
Let's strategize here a little bit.
Where should the Crunchwrap Supreme go?
I'm probably going to push it to four.
Honestly, I think the later you can push it, the better.
If you can get in your good miles at the start, I think that's smart.
And then by the eighth stop you have to have had at least one Burrito Supreme or one Nachos Bel Grande.
Okay.
So which are you going to have for that?
You got to help me.
I don't know.
They're both pretty bad.
I'm thinking nachos would be the lighter option, but nothing about this whole event sounds like a good idea to me, so I'm not sure what to say.
As I'm told, when you're running a long race, conventional wisdom is that you want to eat small amounts of simple carbs and avoid anything that could upset your stomach, like dairy or fiber, meaning avoid cheese and beans.
This race seemed specifically designed to push the stomach to the limit, and it includes additional opportunities to find that limit, like the Diablo Challenge.
You have to cover every single menu item with Diablo sauce.
And then at the end, you have to do a shooter of Diablo sauce.
That's Taco Bell's hottest hot sauce.
Yes.
There's also the Baja Blast Challenge, named after the flavor of Mountain Dew that I believe is proprietary to Taco Bell.
Yes, I love a Baja Blast.
I think it'll go really well with the Diablo.
Like you have the Diablo to heat things up and the Baja to cool it down.
Actually, that makes a lot of sense to me as a flavor pairing.
Plus, it's just like salty and spicy and then the sweet.
I mean, for people who don't know Baja Blast, it makes the color of Mountain Dew look all natural.
It's beautiful.
It looks like the ocean.
It's iridescent.
Like if the light refracts off it just right, it is actually, it's beautiful.
It's a breathtaking color that certainly can never be replicated in nature.
But to accomplish the Baja Blast Challenge, you have to drink a total of two liters.
I'm not going to do... the Taco Bell 50K and only do half my effort.
I'm taking every challenge I can.
Coming up, as the race nears, Eleanor begins her final preparations.
Then she heads to Denver and the Taco Bell 50K begins.
That's coming up.
Stick around. to open up a can of advertisements.
Welcome back to The Sporkful.
I'm Dan Pashman.
Last week on the show.
I'm live on stage in Boston with a few local luminaries, including Matt Shearer, aka.
Reporter Matt on Instagram and TikTok.
Matt has taken it upon himself to find some of the quirkier folks in Massachusetts and tell their stories.
A lot of times those stories involve food.
One of his most famous was about the uproar after both Duncan locations in the town of Stowe Massachusetts, closed.
At our show, Matt made a powerful argument for why that story mattered.
Duncan, when you live here, it's like an extension of your kitchen, right?
Like you go downstairs every day and then you put on clothes or whatever, you walk out.
You go to Duncan and you don't even look at the menu when you walk in.
That's how you can tell if someone's local.
If someone's looking up when they walk into a Dunkin', they're not from here.
You just, you walk in, you know what you're getting.
And then imagine somebody just took your kitchen away.
That's what it's like to lose both your Dunkins.
It's just a part of your routine, a part of your everyday.
A little something that brought you comfort.
Now, during that live taping, I also asked Matt to look into a guy named Mr Fresh who used to work at Dunkin' Donuts near me when I lived in Boston.
And guess what?
There's a development in that story.
Check my Instagram for that.
That live show also includes cookbook author Omi Hopper talking about how she went from makeup to cooking.
And Ian Koss, host of the Catching the Codfather podcast, to talk about why we should eat more monkfish.
That one's up now.
Check it out.
All right, back to Eleanor Siegel and her attempt to run the Taco Bell 50K.
As Eleanor and I are talking, the race is just one week away.
I ask her if she's done anything special to prepare.
Usually I wouldn't eat before I run, but lately I've been running to my favorite bakeries eating like an almond croissant or something, and then running back and trying to like run through the stomach cramps.
And that's been working.
I've been eating usually a light breakfast before my morning runs, which I didn't used to do.
And then I've been adding in runs later in the day.
So like I'll have like a big lunch and then maybe a few hours later I'll go running.
You know, people call this gastric training.
This is a thing that people do in order to like be able to eat more during ultras to improve their performance.
And so that's been very helpful.
I haven't been eating any Taco Bell.
I've completely gone cold turkey on Taco Bell because I'm trying to build up a craving.
Oh, interesting.
But are you eating anything similar to Taco Bell or are you eating like kale?
I've been trying to eat like richer things.
I'll have like a slice of toast with like cream cheese.
Like usually if you're eating when you're running, you want to go more carby.
But I've been trying to have things that have like a similar fatty protein emphasis to like a Crunchwrap.
I'm not a certified gastric trainer, Eleanor.
I don't know that a slice of toast covered in cream cheese is going to quite prepare you for nine servings of Taco Bell.
Yeah, I mean, I think if I do that, if I really try to do the full training now, I'll just get sick of it.
So I want to do the nine servings of Taco Bell over a race just once in my life and then probably never again.
But, Eleanor, you were saying never again after the beer mile.
Yeah, I mean, maybe the next stop is a McDonald's 100K.
Does that exist?
I'll start it.
You know, I'm young.
I've got big things ahead of me.
Is there any part of you that's regretting the decision to do this?
I think the regret is going to come a bit later.
I think right now I'm excited.
I got one of my friends to sign up.
So me and him, we're all geared up.
We're working on our training.
I think after, probably by stop four, when I have to face the crunch wrap, I think that's when the regret will hit.
I've like thought about like trying to qualify for like more and more prestigious races.
I kind of think it's a joyless pursuit.
I think this is something that's a lot more social.
It's not about being the best.
It embraces stupidity.
We're just going to like test the limits of the human body as much as we can while we're still in our early 20s and can probably recover from it.
The key word being probably.
Probably.
All right.
This is our eighth edition.
This race is called Attack of the Tostada.
Since I wasn't able to go to Denver even as a spectator, we sent an audio reporter named Ray Solomon to meet up with Eleanor at several of the Taco Bell stops on the route.
Here's Ray.
The sun is rising over Denver.
There's just a huge crowd here.
I love the beginning of races.
I'm a runner myself.
I love doing races.
It's very exciting.
The beginning of a race is just so much anticipation.
And there's something really beautiful about starting a race.
You're just in this crowd of people.
Everybody's getting ready to push their bodies to the limit as hard as they can.
Okay, so you were the only one in a taco hat?
Shockingly.
I mean, so far.
Ray meets up with Eleanor and Eleanor's friend Roberto Gonzalez at the starting line.
They're not wearing the sexy hot sauce packet costumes they planned on because the costumes didn't arrive in time.
So just regular running gear plus a taco hat for Eleanor.
The starting line is at the first Taco Bell on the route.
So, even though the race hasn't begun yet, runners can get food here, and it does count as their first stop.
I've had about three pints of Baja Blast so far just to wake up, get some caffeine in me and a Chalupa Supreme which honestly, we woke up pretty early.
We didn't sleep so great last night, so getting a little bit of food in my stomach, it feels good.
One menu item down.
Eleanor just has to eat Taco Bell eight more times.
Easy.
And there's more good news.
As you'll recall, the rules require Eleanor to eat a chalupa by stop number four.
So by eating one now, she's already ahead of the game.
I would have never enrolled, but then I got a text saying, like, hey, want to do this race with me?
And I was like, you know what?
This is Roberto, Eleanor's friend and running partner.
I'm trying new stuff, so why not?
I was training for a half marathon last year, but then I got injured so I didn't run for a while and I just started running again.
And I think the farthest I've run so far is like 25 kilometers, which is half of what I'm gonna run today, but I'm pretty confident actually.
Some might say overconfident.
No, I'm kind of greedy.
So like out of pure greed, I will make it to the end line.
Even if I have to crawl or something like I'll be there.
Roberto is from Mexico City, so he's certainly eaten his share of tacos.
But the first time he ate Taco Bell was three weeks ago.
I thought it would be worse, actually.
There's a lot of small menu items which I can eat.
Because I also have a kind of sensitive stomach.
I never eat that much before I run.
So we'll see how that turns out.
Roberto says he's probably going to deploy the cinnamon twist strategy, meaning he'll rely heavily on cinnamon twists, which is sort of like mini churros, one of Taco Bell's lighter menu items.
Eleanor, on the other hand, she's not going to do that.
Eleanor goes hard or goes home.
And in the days leading up to the race, she got even more intense with her gastric training.
She's a university research assistant, so she put her academic mindset to the challenge.
I've just kind of had the Taco Bell menu open in like a tab and like sneaking over while my code runs.
Just like, how can I optimize the carbs in this?
I ate half a deep dish pizza and then ran home maybe like four miles after that.
And it went okay.
So I've actually, I've at least increased my confidence this week.
This year, as I said, there are 700 runners from all over the place, including someone who came from India.
They assemble outside the first Taco Bell.
Jace Romero, one of the race's co-founders, goes over some of the other rules.
When you're ordering your food items, You must eat and drink your food items at the actual Taco Bell.
Stop at the Taco Bell, take the time, get it down, and then continue on with your run.
Have fun and suffer.
Okay.
Dan suggested have fun and suffer.
Then a band performs an original song.
My wife left me and she took the kids.
After that, the announcer leads the runners in a chant of the official slogan of the Taco Bell 50K.
When I say on the count of three one two, three you're going to say I am hungrier than I think I am and I can eat more than I think I can.
One, two, three.
I am hungrier than I think I am and I can eat more than I think I can.
At 7.30 a.m., they're off.
Eleanor and Roberto head out, and Ray heads to her car.
She drives ahead and meets up with Eleanor at stop number four.
That's seven miles into the race.
We're pretty good.
It's been pretty slow.
Like with just the logistics, there's like stopping at each one.
Like the last one, I forgot to put in my order.
We got there.
I think it's ready.
Turns out there's like a 40-minute wait.
But, you know, the Taco Bell employees, they were like troopers.
They were very nice, like making sure everyone got their orders.
Yeah, I had a cheesy roll-up at the last one before that, the Doritos Locos Taco.
Cheesy roll-up, it's not sitting great.
But I'm doing a hash brown right now, so that should be a nice switch.
I'm doing great.
My legs feel fresh.
And stomach-wise, I also feel fine so far.
So I've had hash brown at the second Taco Bell with Baja Blast.
And then at the last one, I just had cinnamon twists.
And I'm going to do cinnamon twists with Baja Blast here and also use the bathroom.
I'm feeling the heat more.
It's like getting to be 80 degrees and sunny, not much of a breeze.
So I've been replenishing my Baja Blast like at every stop.
Eleanor sounded confident, but she still has 24 more miles to go and six more Taco Bells to eat at.
Can she make it to the end?
That's coming up.
Stick around.
Time to cook up some advertisements.
Welcome back.
Let's return to the race, where Eleanor and her running partner Roberto, again meet up with reporter Ray Solomon at a Taco Bell on the route.
Okay, we're at stop number seven.
It's just about one o'clock and here come Eleanor and Roberto outing.
Hey, how are you guys?
We're two-thirds of the way.
We've got nine miles from here.
I've got a burrito supreme.
It's cold um, just how i like it.
I guess i don't know um, but yeah, i think the run's just starting.
Yeah, for me it's just cinnamon, the lights all the way from here to the end and then baja blast like Cinnabon.
Delights are cinnamon sugar, donut holes filled with cream cheese frosting.
That's what Roberto's planning to stick with.
But Eleanor wants him to try the caramel apple empanada at the next stop.
You gotta try the empanada.
People say it's good.
People say it's lapsed.
Next one we got an empanada.
Although you look like you're in pain.
It's okay.
I'll try it.
Better than I thought.
Yeah.
Yeah, most of this time, like at least half the time, it's just been like waiting and begging and being like please give me this burrito.
All right, so this is the, what is this?
So this is a Burrito Supreme.
I got it with black beans instead of beef.
It's a pretty small burrito.
Like it's not, this isn't a Chipotle burrito.
How are you doing on your Baja Blast challenge?
Honestly, pretty good.
I've had maybe one cup of water and like eight or nine of Baja Blast.
So I think I'm like pretty much there.
I'm a little worried about the caffeine.
I'm starting to twitch.
But I think that's why my energy is pretty good right now.
I'm not much of a social runner, but I'm a social eater.
And so when you get here, you can talk to people about their orders and what they recommend and how their stomach's doing.
You finish those cinnamon delights really quickly.
Yeah, there's only two of them, which is better, but they're also more.
The dough is more like a gum, so it's harder to swallow.
Is that enough to carry you to the next stop?
Yeah, but I think I need water because my mouth feels very dry and I think it has to do with the sugar.
Or are you going to let it sit?
I'm going to see if it, I'll see how it moves.
I'll order my, the caramel apple empanada, and then let's get a move on.
Eleanor and Roberto only have three more Taco Bells left.
It seems like they're in a groove, but then at the last stop, Roberto hits a wall.
He gets a caramel apple empanada and it doesn't sit well.
He has to switch to walking for a few minutes.
Eleanor, however, would not be deterred.
At 232 pm, seven hours after starting, she crosses the finish line, which is a Taco Bell drive-through.
Roberto does finish a little while after, and he and Eleanor find each other after the race.
In the end, neither of them attempted the Diablo challenge, but both of them completed the Baja Blast challenge.
Perhaps most impressive of all, neither of them puked, which I think makes both of them winners.
I feel great.
It's the first time I've run a marathon and 50K, so I'm pretty happy about that.
Yeah, I got an energy rush at the end.
Yeah, I saw you.
The first two miles of this race were really hard for me, but the last 10 really just kind of flew by.
Any last thoughts?
Get a buddy who gets you to do this.
It's pretty fun.
Everyone needs a buddy like that.
Yeah, you need someone who will just be convinced to do the worst thing that one can do to themselves.
Well, you know, you guys have inspired me and now I feel like maybe I should do this next year.
Yeah, you could do this.
A week after the race, I debrief with Eleanor.
It was so much fun, and I finished, which, shocker, I didn't think I would.
You didn't think you would from the beginning, or there were points in the middle you didn't think you would.
Honestly, beforehand, I kind of thought I would probably drop out over the race.
Is that common for you with these things?
Do you have that moment of doubt frequently or this was a different feeling for you?
Yeah, there's always like a little bit right before, like the sun's coming up and you're surrounded by all these people and they're wearing like really crazy athletic gear.
And you're like, oh, my God, I'm in a taco hat.
Like, how am I going to finish this?
For those of you keeping score at home, here's the complete list of everything Eleanor ate, subbing in black beans for meat where applicable.
One Chalupa Supreme.
One Cheesy Roll-Up.
One Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco.
One Hash Brown.
One order of Cinnabon Delights.
One crunchy taco, one burrito supreme, one caramel apple empanada and after all that, one Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco.
That comes out to a grand total of 1950 calories, nearly the recommended daily intake for the average American adult.
And honestly, a lot less than I would have guessed.
But it doesn't include the Baja Blast.
Speaking of which, Eleanor got Baja Blast at five of the stops.
And while it was supposed to make finishing the race harder, she thinks it might have actually helped.
When you're running like you're just burning through a lot of calories and it's just sugar and caffeine and it goes down really easy and it's cold and it's refreshing.
And it's just like a really easy way to get quick energy in.
I just kept refilling my water bottle with more Baja Blast.
I think I made three liters.
Now remember the Baja Blast challenge only required Eleanor to drink two liters, but she's clearly an overachiever.
All of the obvious difficulties of the race aside, there was an additional challenge that she says she didn't anticipate.
It took her seven hours to finish the race, but she only spent four and a half of those hours actually running.
The rest was mostly spent waiting around.
Because imagine a Taco Bell that's used to like you know, maybe a few dozen people showing up in the mornings.
Suddenly you have 600 runners all pre-ordering.
We're all like fighting, scrambling for like our bag with our little name on it.
Oh my God.
Do you lose momentum?
That must be hard.
So you lose physical momentum.
But getting to spend like an hour just like chatting with people discussing strategy, like hyping each other up, like seeing everyone else in their silly costumes, seeing where people are from, like what kind of races they've done before, how they're feeling,
At first, it was really frustrating.
I was like, my time's going to be terrible.
But then...
I kind of realized that like waiting in the Taco Bell and this like hectic mass of people who all decided to do this like idiot thing, that was the fun of it.
But maybe the most surprising thing of all was just how much Eleanor actually enjoyed the food.
Mile 14, I get a Cinnabon delight.
They're these little donuts covered with cinnamon sugar.
And honestly...
After Seven Miles especially, they were delicious.
I kind of wish I'd ordered more, but the line was so long that I couldn't.
I just had to get to the next Taco Bell.
Are you allowed to repeat menu selections?
You are allowed to.
I decided not to.
You wanted this to be a challenge.
I don't eat at Taco Bell that much.
This is my one opportunity to just like explore the menu, see what I can do to my stomach.
I think a lot of people like the idea of exploring the menu of Taco Bell.
Not so many people combine it with a 31 mile run.
But OK, look, great respect.
I like that, even in such an extreme situation, you did not lose your appreciation for food and your desire to explore new eating experiences.
I was curious to unpack more of Eleanor's strategy.
Remember, she only had to stop at nine of the 10 Taco Bells.
Initially, her plan was to make her final stop at the one at the finish line.
But, like mile 23, I was thinking about it and I was like when I get to the end, I want it to be the end.
Like I want to make it across the finish line and not have to eat any more Taco Bell.
Eleanor called an audible.
She got food at the second to last stop, which completed her eating requirements for the race.
So then I ordered another Doritos Locos Taco.
I ordered the Cool Ranch, and this time they pulled through.
They still had some left.
Honestly, the Cool Ranch never fails.
At mile 28, it was, like, still delicious.
I still enjoyed it.
Roberto, like, he stuck with the cinnamon twist strategy.
I kind of made fun of him for, I was like, you hate the cinnamon twists.
They're disgusting.
He was like, I know.
But he just like crushed them up and mixed them in with the Baja Blast and like chugged it down.
Wait, that's like Kobayashi style.
Like in the hot dog bun in the water.
Yes.
Just to get it down easier.
Oh, that seems a little sad that he didn't enjoy the food as much as you did.
Yes.
I mean, I think I had the ideal Taco Bell 50K experience, but I think it's so impressive that he finished.
Honestly, I think in my long runs now I might just like root to Taco Bells instead of carrying, like you know, gels and snacks.
Now I won't turn you in Eleanor, but did you have any, on course Pepto Alka-Seltzer, Pepsod AC or Mylanta?
No.
Because that would have been a violation of the rules.
This is not a race worth cheating for.
Was there any moment during this race that you regretted doing it?
No, honestly, I feel like races like a lot of runners agree with me.
It's kind of a type two fun where you look forward to it and you're happy you did it afterwards.
But during the race, you're like, why did I sign up for this again?
This hurts.
It's hard.
I'm never going to make it.
But I was having fun the entire time.
In that sense, it was like your best race ever in terms of just pure enjoyment.
I think so.
I'm already signed up for next year.
Really?
Okay.
Next year, Diablo.
Congratulations to you, Eleanor, on accomplishing this very impressive feat of human endurance.
Thank you.
And I'm glad it went so well for you.
I'm glad you managed to enjoy the food as well as finish the race.
And I can't wait for next year's update when you go for the Diablo.
I'm looking forward to it too.
And if they start a Taco Bell 10K, maybe I'll invite you.
All right.
All right.
That still sounds daunting to me, but I'll consider it.
I'll give that real thought.
My wife left me and she took the kids.
Before she left she did forbid me from running the Taco Bell 50k.
From running the Taco Bell 50k.
I told her I wouldn't and now I'm a liar My name's on the list, it's like the goblet of fire I may not win or make it to Monday, but I will eat the noxious Belgrande.
That's the band Hot Sauce playing their original international Taco Bell 50K anthem.
My thanks to Eleanor Siegel, Roberto Gonzalez, and our reporter Ray Solomon in Denver.
You can hear more of Ray's work on Colorado Public Radio.
And the Taco Bell 50K this year is October 3rd.
You want to sign up?
Go to TacoBell50K.com.
And start training now.
I will not be there.
Next week on the show, we head to the 1970s era test kitchen of Ebony Magazine, which was rescued from demolition just a few years ago.
That's next week.
While you wait for that one, check out last week's live episode in Boston with reporter Matt Shearer, cookbook author Omi Hopper and reporter Ian Koss.
That one's up now.
And hey, did you know you can listen to The Sporkful on the SiriusXM app?
Yes, the SiriusXM app.
It has all your favorite podcasts, plus over 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, plus live sports coverage.
Does your podcasting app have that?
And there's interviews with A-list stars and so much more.
It's everything you want in a podcast app and music app all rolled into one.
And right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to SiriusXMcom slash Sporkful.
This episode was produced by me, along with managing producer Emma Morgenstern and senior producer Andres O'Hara.
It was edited by Camille Stanley and Johanna Mayer.
Our engineer is Jared O'Connell.
Music help from Black Label Music.
The Sporkful is a production of Sirius XM Podcast.
Our executive producer is Camille Stanley.
Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.
And this is Ethan from Golden, Colorado, reminding you to eat more, eat better, and eat more better.
Thank you guys, it was so much fun.
