On Sunday, September 17, 150 hungry runners gathered in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn to live their best lives in the 8th annual New York City Pizza Run.

The 5K race was way more delicious than standard competitions. Yes, it involved running three laps around the park, amounting to 3.1 miles, but it also had an extra-tasty rule: Runners had to eat a slice of pizza between laps one and two, and another between laps two and three. The entire slice of pizza had to be completely inside their mouths before proceeding, although they could be chewing it when they took off for their next lap.

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Juan Francisco Balagtas took first place, finishing the course (and his two slices) in just 19 minutes and 28 seconds, while Farah Visslailli took top honors among the women, completing her three laps and two solid slices in 26 minutes and 49 seconds. They won free admission to next year's race (a $60 value), a one-year Black Card gym membership to Planet Fitness (a race sponsor), a $25 gift certificate to Pizza By Certé (which supplied pizza for the race), and other prizes.

In sum, the runners polished off 360 slices. Clearly, everybody won, particularly since a portion of race proceeds went toward Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and race entry included a post-race beer. Cheers to running! Cheers to pizza! 🍻 🍕

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Headshot of Elizabeth Narins
Elizabeth Narins
Senior fitness and health editor

Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.