The Expo
The Champ and I headed down to the Hot Chocolate Expo early Friday afternoon. I wasn't sure what to expect especially since the pick up was at the World Congress Center. Honestly, my first thought was big and chaotic.
But I was wrong.
It was very organized and you got your bib as soon as you entered. Personally, I don't like it when expos make you climb through rows of people, sponsors and booths. I like to get my bib then look around.
One thing that made it fast and I could appreciate was that they didn't have your name on it. That means you were able to walk up to any open counter and they scanned your bib for registration. Simple. Easy. Fast.
After we got our bibs we went over to get our swag bag. They actually had a goody bag try on station i.e. they had tons of hoodies out for you to try on. One of my pet peeves is getting race shirts that don't fit so I loved that you and the option to not only swap them out but you could try them on before hand.
The Gear
The hoodie was awesome it had thumb holes, and a back pocket. I love back pockets so , so much. I mean, if I don't have to wear my spi belt then I don't want too. I loved that I could stash my iphone and id in the pocket during the race.
The Wake Up
When I got the email stating all of the parking at Turner field was closed a yellow flag went up. Um, Turner Field is huge. Again, I thought back to past races and kinda kicked my self for not purchasing parking ahead of time. (There were 30,000 runners in case you were wondering.)
HC did offer bus transportation from Centennial Olympic park for free which isn't far from Turner Field. Again, I thought it would be chaotic but we parked near CNN and literally walked right onto a bus. (I worried for nothing)
Like any good runner I had to document my running journey so we got a picture with Marshal the badass marshmallow man. Even the Champ my non runner husband smiled for Marshal. And yes, that is the Champ's smile. (he smiles on the inside, really big).
After the photo we got really, really cold. We are southern ok, so we were out of our element. Luckily they had a stage, a DJ, and Zumba instructors.
Here is a pic of me attempting to do zumba. It looks like I'm flailing my arms around but whatevs. Tons of people were out there so I was by no means dancing solo.
The Race
After some zumba it was time to get into the corrals. I was originally signed up for the 15k but decided to drop to the 5k to be able to run with the Champ. I signed him up to be in a corral that ran an average of 12 minute miles. But once we were in the corral that little competitive side creped in. I ran part of this course for other races and I really, really wanted to give it my all. Before you knew it I turned to him and asked if it would be cool if I ran ahead.
When the horn went off I tried to take off. Again, I was in a slower corral then I should have been. I totally rock 12 minute miles for distance but aim but 9 something for 5ks. Well, this didn't happen. I literally hit a wall of people walking not even 100 feet onto the course. I got annoyed.
The first mile there were times I had to walk because of all the walkers. Again it irked me because even the signs in the corrals said no walking. In fact, they had a special for corral for walkers (which I think is awesome).
I think what happened is you had so many people that were excited about running a 5k and they weren't really aware of their abilities. I want to say we were corral H. By mile 2 I was running with people that were in the A corral. Again, people just weren't aware of their abilities. I shouldn't have been running with people in the A corral (some who were walking). I suspect there were a lot of first timers which is cool but if you are a more seasoned runner and are running for time you need to make sure you are in the right corral. (but I'm sure you already knew that)
It was a great course, rolling hills with spectators sprinkled everywhere.
I was 198 in my division of 1,215 and for my sex placed 1,457 out of 9,138. No complaints there!
I finished feeling strong and hungry.
After Party
We went to get our finishers mug and again that was a smooth process. It was super yummy and they gave you a lot of chocolate fondue, we didn't even finish it all and we covered our goodies in it. The hot cocoa was the jam. You can see it steaming in the picture below it was perfect since we were cooling down and getting chilly.
Have you ever ran a Hot Chocolate Race?
