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(Above: Laura Eynon, 5 feet 6 and 135 pounds, meeting a serious challenge at following Tip No. 3 at the 2009 race)

Next weekend's Krispy Kreme Challenge will mean one thing for Greensboro's Laura Eynon.

"I want the glory again," says the 2008 women's champion. "I’m in better running shape this year than last year. I just want to get that title back."

The road race, a fundraiser for N.C. Children's Hospital on Feb. 6 in Raleigh, sounds like a fun event. It's a 4-mile race, but "the challenge" is eating a dozen doughnuts at the halfway mark and getting across the finish line without losing them.

Since Eynon excels at doing that, we asked her to offer five tips to winning the Krispy Kreme Challenge:

TIP NO. 1: Go to the starting line hungry.

"I don’t eat the morning of the race," Eynon says. "I go in hungry so that when I hit those doughnuts, I'm ready to eat. But I know some people can’t run without eating. I eat a normal dinner the night before. But I wake up and stay hungry so that when I get to the eating station, I'm really ready to go."

TIP NO. 2: Don't drown the doughnuts.

"It's important that you don’t drink too much water with the doughnuts," she says. "You need some water to help get ‘em down. But after a while, it's like eating too many Saltines. You need some water, but putting a lot in your stomach, you don’t need to put too much water in there also."

TIP NO. 3: Own them.

"You can’t let the doughnuts see you get afraid," Eynon says. "You can’t let ‘em sense your fear. I was looking at some pictures (from last year's race), and in one I look like I’m mid-bite and I was about to cry. I let ‘em see my weakness."

TIP NO. 4: Stretch before you run.

Runners, this isn't exactly what you're thinking. "To borrow a tip from professional speedeaters, you can eat a lot of lettuce and water to stretch your stomach out," Eynon says. "I don’t do that. I just trust that I’ll be able to shove 12 doughnuts into my face because I’ve done it before."

TIP NO. 5: Eyes on the prize.

"Always, the key to remember is the pain is temporary but the pride is forever," she says. "That goes for stuffing your gut, too."