YORKTOWN — Fourth of July celebrations often include cookouts, but for one Yorktown woman, this year's festivities include a lot of hot dogs.
Holly Titus is a professional eater and will compete in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Sunday. She's currently ranked in the top 50 in the world among female competitive eaters.
"I've actually been training this year... it's athletic, it's one of the craziest things you can do to your body and our bodies are amazing and resilient," Titus said. "I'm excited to go this year... my goal is to beat my own record ... and to live a fun life, to be able to do things you didn't think you could do."
Titus says she's been practicing with lots of hot dogs and talking to other professional eaters. Her competition personal best is 13 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
"i'm a self-competitive person. For me, the fun part is at this stage of life, I've done the respectful things I should ... as you get older you realize I can have some fun and it's okay to be a little strange and color outside the lines and you don't know what you can do unless you try," Titus said. "For me, just being able to see what you can do, even if it's a weird thing."
Titus says if you enjoy the fun of competitive eating and competition, try to enter one or do a restaurant eating challenge.
"I think the biggest thing for me is I shocked myself. We don't know what we can do until we try it," she said. "If you're interested in being a competitive eater ... and you want some bragging rights, I'd say start with some smaller contests."
The women's contest airs Sunday on ESPN3 with coverage beginning at 10:45 a.m.
