Hot Chocolate

Last year I was sitting in book club talking about running with several of the girls. Somehow the talk turned to the Hot Chocolate races that are happening all over the US right now. Instead of running shirts, they give fleece jackets. And instead of just water and Gatorade, they have chocolate at the stations. At the end of the race is lots of chocolate too. So we all decided to run the race in Atlanta in January.

Somehow after the meeting I was the only one who actually signed up. I waited for a while. But when it was clear that everyone had bailed I changed the hotel to include Jon and the whole weekend.

That was one of the best times we've had in a long time. Jon was able to get off work on Friday so we headed down early. We left the kids with my in-laws so we could have some couple time.

We visited museums, restaurants, and walked downtown. It was romantic, fun, and relaxing.

Since Jon wanted to ride the bike while I ran we decided to ride the route in a car. There were several places where the streets were one-way and I would be running the "wrong" way the next day. Add all of the events going on and traffic and we had to take several side steps. We found ourselves here.

And since the hot sign was on, we HAD to stop. =) So this might have been my pre-race supper.

The race was on Sunday morning. The paperwork told everyone to be in or ready to get in the corrals at 6:30. But because it was a corralled and chipped race, my corral didn't start until 8:25. It was FREEZING. So I (I wasn't the only one) stayed in the car until it was just a few minutes from my corral start time. Then I ran down to the start and took off.

Once I warmed up, the race was super fun. Chocolate makes everyone happy. =)

The route was beautiful. Since I haven't ever run a 15k I didn't have a time to beat. So I decided to just run. If I was tired, I walked. If I was feeling it, there would be bursts of speed. It was one of the funnest races I've done.

The chocolate at the end was divine. Hot chocolate in a cup, fruit, cookies, etc. to dip in the melted chocolate. I might have made myself a little sick eating it all, but what a way to go.

The medal was pretty cool too.