Ack! Here's a race I never posted about! This was so long ago! Lol! I can't wait to run my 7th Hot Chocolate Run in February 2018!
Sorry for no pictures!
RECAP
OK. I'm trying to get back into a good habit to post a recap about my races. For those who don't know, the Hot Chocolate Run was the first race I ever ran in my entire life. My bestie JM and I ran it four years ago, which is hard to believe!
NIGHT BEFORE
Well! After work I ended down to my parents' abode since my wonderful Mom was going to run the 5k again this year. Since this race is a Beef Team sponsored race my mom was kind enough to make a beef dinner for me. It was so tasty!
After dinner I laid out my gear for the morning. No stumbling around at 5:15 in the morning looking for anything! I decide to go for my Beef tank top vs the tee to wear over my Dallas Marathon shirt. Thought it might help circulate air more so I don't over heat. With all that taken care it was chiiiiiill time.
PRE-RACE
My mom and I typically show up at this shindig at 6:00 am each year, but we tried a 6:30 time instead. It wasn't bad. A little more traffic, but we didn't have to wait as long before the race started. I did feel a little rushed before the race because not only did I have my mom, but I had my work running buddies HC and JP (running the 15k) and my bestie JM and her family (running the 5k). So! I we found HC and JP right off the bat then we gear checked everything and hit the the best-ever porta-potties in the world. They are clean and include hand sanitizer.
My mom pretty wanted to get in her corral pretty soon after that. After that I found JM by here corral and chatted for a couple of minutes to decide on a Finish Line plan. I knew that with her family also in the race she may not be able to wait for me to finish and meet my guy MS, but we would try. Once she was cozy in her corral I ran back to the Automotive Building to chill for a while with the others.
One last potty break I soon enough found myself in the corral pretty darn close to the start line, which was awesome. HC and I made plans to stick with the 11:30 pace group to see how it goes. We weren't sure if the pacer was going to do walk breaks or not, but we' at least try to keep up. As we talked strategy I was also keeping an eye out of MS cause he was doing is super speed walk to get to the start line (did you know it's at least a half mile to a full mile from the Start area to the parking log?). At the last couple minutes he appeared!
RACE
And we were off!
Miles 1 - 4
Well, staying with the 11:30 pacer was nice, actually. It definitely made sure that HC and I didn't run out too fast. We hit Mile 1 and there was no sign of the Pacer stopping for a walk break. We figured we'd keep with the group until we couln't any longer. Then we got to the first water and goodie station at Mile 2. HC was somewhere behind me and I started to walk a bit, but avoiding those who were walking and drinking. I had a very rude runner said to me "No walking in the middle." Uh. I wasn't in the middle per say. Anyway, he lit a fire under my butt I sped up to run near him for a while because I'm apparently passive aggressive with rude people. At least I didn't push him down. That would've been bad.
Right before Mile 4 I had to hit porta potty (also very clean!) that had no line. Ahh! At this point I was also getting tempted by the chocolate and marshmallow treats that they were handing out at the stations. But I had to tell myself "NO!" to sugar! I had some torn up blueberry muffins in my belt (I forgot to bring my Eggo waffles to my mom's). After passing through the water station I was reunited with HC who had lost track of the Pacer.
Miles 5 - 7
Once we got to Mile 5 we were on the Santa Fe Ave that mirrors the Santa Fe Trail, which was a familiar site for me since I had on a rare occasion hit the trail coming from White Rock Lake. There were a couple of hills that we decided to walk up cause I just knew it was going to burn my legs up and just slow me down at the finish. Until that point I ran up every single hill that I had faced, and I felt great, which made me happy since I was a little worried about them.
While on Santa Fe HC and I were discussing future races. We both admitted that a marathon may be in our future. She would like to do another winter one, such as the Dallas Marathon again. I told her that I was tempted with the BCS Marathon cause it's apparently flatter than Dallas, and I've heard good reviews from my friend JB. I know I have a lot of things going on this year that involves money, a trip to St. Louis, my trip to Vancouver for the SeaWheeze Half Marathon, and a vacation with my guy, my brother's wedding in Houston. A lot of stuff, but I still feel like I may be able to swing the money for registration for training. Hmmmm. So much to ponder! OK... now! Back to the race!
Miles 7 - 9.3
Once I pretty much hit Mile 7.50 I was mentally done with the race. I was starting to get tired. I swear the temperature dropped and it got windier, which didn't help with you are sweaty like I was. I never got too hot, which was great. But I hate being cold just as much!
Once we were back on the grounds of Fair Park an I saw the 9 Mile marker then the 5k's 3 Mile marker I knew I was very close! So I dug in and ran up the last little hill. It was perfect timing cause I saw MS right there and he was taking pictures! Awww! That definitely made my smile a lot bigger when I ran across the finish line.
POST RACE
The finisher's shoot was very short. I got my medal. I got a cup of Nuun, which was perfect (I hate Gatorade!). MS gave me the biggest hug when we found each other. I wish there was a picture of that! We saw HC, but lost her while I was looking for my mom. I felt bad the next day about how HC was by herself, but she reassured me it was ok. Next time I'm going to do better.
Once Mom was found I got my cup of chocolate goodness. We got my gear from the holders of backs (aka gear check) then plopped down on the concrete floor. We pretty much almost spent an hour talking and laughing and recapping the race. All of this was great, but my mom and MS were getting alone and I could tell the "parental unit approval of boyfriend" was going well!
Just like last year I popped behind the curtain to change clothes instead of going to the bathroom, which I had already visited and was glad I didn't change in there. Then we made the trek back to the parking lot.
I got home just in time to take a shower before heading out to work for the next five hours. I was certainly very tired after the first three hours. Thankfully, my guy offered to make one of my favorite dinners, "Breakfast for Dinner," for me. He made pancakes, fried eggs, sausages, and hash browns. Total yum! A great way to end the day of running my first race of 2016!
FINISH TIME
01:46:00
I am very happy with this finish time!
WOULD I RUN THIS AGAIN?
Yes! I will always consider the 5k since I run this race every year, but the 15k wasn't too bad. I was very happy with my run. So, yes, I'd run the 15k again.
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