I had a good time, which was something I really needed after the week I had (long, painful story). Plus, I was still coming off of the cold I developed earlier that week, and I was worried about how I was going to do. As usual I always wanted to better my time from the year before. Granted the year before the race was two days after I had suffered a 24hr stomach flu and had to walk the entire course before I could only eat half the chocolate yumminess. So far the last two Februaries in a row have been crappy. Really crappy. This has to change! Gotta!
Anyway! My mom and I drove down to Fair Park under the cover of darkness and walked from one end of the park to the other to stand around in the Automotive Building. It was cold, but not too cold. Once I met up with my best-friend-for-life Jennie and one of her friends I gear checked our stuff right before heading out to the corrals.Well, actually to the port-a-potties.. then the corrals. I have to say the The Hot Chocolate Run ALWAYS has enough potties, which I LOVE!
Whenever I sign up for this race I always enter my true estimated 5k pace, but I always end up in one of the last few corrals to start the race with Mom and Jennie. I know that I'll never win my age group, so it doesn't matter when I start. One of the main reasons why I do this race is it's always with my favorite people, and because it was a nostalgic - The Hot Chocolate Run was the first-ever 5k race I ever did.
I ran the entire course, but my Garmin stats show I stopped once for a second near the beginning (I don't remember that). I averaged a 10:56 pace and I looked pretty steady throughout the course, which was nice. I didn't break any PRs, but that was ok. I didn't want to accidentally over do it the weekend before the Austin Half Marathon.
After the finish I had to change my clothes - desperately! I got my gear, but I wasn't about to stand in line for the indoor bathroom, which I know would be questionable at this point in time. Instead I stepped behind the curtain that the race organizers put up alone the long halls of the building. There was a perfect, dark space in between the curtains and the wall for me to the changed. Granted if someone stepped in further down from where I was they would have seen a show, but oh well. I just changed my shirt and pulled on another pair of pant - so it wasn't anything too scandalous (not that I cared). When I stepped out a woman was surprised that I decided to change there instead of in the bathroom. I told her that after doing X amount of half marathons and such I know when to pick my battles.
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| The entrance to my awesome impromptu changing room! |
With my new dry layers of clothes we got our chocolate goodness. It was WONDERFUL!
On the drive home, I was thankful for seat warmers!
I can't wait to do it again next year. I'm seriously considering the 15k because of the medal, but a friend/running buddy wasn't a fan of the course. Hmmmm. Decisions! I would've done it this year, but I didn't want to burn out or do something stupid before the Austin Half Marathon. We'll see what I do next year, but at least I know I'll be there! I also can't wait to see what awesome goody bag they'll have too. I LOVE the race jacket I got this year.
Images found here and here.
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