It’s been a few years since I’ve run a Hot Chocolate race. I’ve run the Phoenix 15k twice, the San Diego 15k once in person and once virtually and now the 5k in person.
Why did I sign up for this race vs doing the LA Marathon this weekend? Well, I haven’t been running as much and didn’t really want to sign up for a marathon and run untrained, LA is a great race but it’s not an easy race, not that any marathon is, but it is pretty hilly.
In any case a few weeks ago I got a survey from the Hot Chocolate race and so I filled it out & got a 15% off coupon. So I figured what the heck, let’s give it a go and sign up, plus it was less expensive than the San Diego Half 5k which was pricing at $70 for the 5k. With the discount I think I paid $47 for the Hot Chocolate race. Which is still a lot for a 5k but they at least give you a really nice jacket.
Packet pick-up was at downtown on Friday & Saturday, there was no race-day pick-up. We went on Saturday afternoon and I was able to get my bib & goodie bag with in minutes. They did require proof of vaccination (I showed my card) or a negative test result in order to enter the expo.
Race morning, well I figured we could leave around 6am, get there about 6:15 and I’d be good to go. Well, that was a fail on my part because it rained that night and there was a ton of traffic getting off the 94.
At one point, Sean was like you are going to need to get out and run to the start because I only had about 18 mins to get to the start and we weren’t moving.
So out of the car I went, running down the end of the freeway to 16th street and then over to 13th where the start was. I made it with about 7 minutes to spare.
Just enough time for a quick start-line photo and a trip to the port-a-potty.
I got into my corral, I was in the A-corral, which seemed pretty empty but I’ll take it.
They had someone sing the National Anthem and then we were off!
I wasn’t paying too close attention to the cameras because we were heading uphill immediately!
I turned on my headphones and listen to an outdoor run with Robin on the Peloton App.
Up we went, this race is pretty hilly so I just decided to go easy on the ups and try to make up time on the downs.
It’s funny how much steeper the hill feels in a race setting LOL. But while I have been doing a lot of climbing, it’s been mostly hiking which did help me on this race, but I still went pretty easy on the ups because my breathing is still a bit rough with running uphill.
5ks are pretty quick – this one had a decent amount of turns and then an out and back up a hill near the 2 mile mark. From there, we were heading down for the most part.
A few more turns and then we were almost to the finish!
There were a few photographers on the course and then at the finish-line.
I have to say 5ks are not easy by any stretch, although I didn’t really go too too hard so I felt great afterwards, no soreness or any issues like I have after 1/2 marathon or full marathons. My feet felt great too!
I got a few post race medal photos – checked out my time, 28:44 which is nothing close to my PR, but and I had no idea over 4,0oo people ran the 5k but I managed to have some really nice stats.
219/4142 overall
77 of 2,907 female
and 7 of 441 in my 40-44 age group
I have to say I was shocked when I saw the stats. I’m typically a middle of the packer so that was a nice surprise. I might have to start working on my 5k time and try to see what I can do next year!
The medal was cute too, a little cup of hot chocolate. Now time to get the post-race goodies!
While not all the treats were vegan some of them were and I wanted to share with all of you. When I finished, there were no lines to get your goodies so I just went up & got a bowl of sweets. In addition to what was in the bowl, there was a cup of hot chocolate too.
Overall I like this race, it’s pretty low key & fun. I would run it again.
Pros: The Goodie Bag (jacket) is really nice this year & the medal was cute. There are 2 distances so it gives a bit of variety and 15k isn’t a distance that you find on a regular basis.
Cons: 5k start is at 6:45a – it was still semi dark when we started. Traffic to the race – make sure to allow plenty of time to get to the start, I made a rookie mistake of leaving too late and had to run to the start.
Overall though, I would come back.
