On Saturday morning, my husband and I completed the Hot Chocolate 15k race in Philadelphia (bum leg and all!). We love going down to Philly to run because we get to stay with my best friend and her boyfriend who we don't get to see nearly enough. I got out of work at noon on Friday, so we drove right down and went to the expo, which was fantastic. We got there around 4pm and there were hardly any lines for bib or goody bag pickup. They had a separate area where you could try on your sweatshirt and switch sizes if needed and every single volunteer we interacted with was so kind and helpful! We walked around for a few minutes, got a few free samples, grabbed some hot chocolate and marshmallows, and decided to head back out.
We stopped at the Reading Terminal Market right before they closed and looked around a bit before heading back to the apartment to make dinner (pasta, obviously!), play Cards Against Humanity, eat candy, and go to bed early. We woke up the next morning planning to leave around 6:40 to get to the start around 7 and it worked out perfectly. We got dropped off a little ways away from the art museum and walked to the starting area, thinking it would be a great warm up but nothing was going to warm us up from that wind! It was around 50 degrees but the wind was killer! We watched the 5k start and then huddled in the merch tent to stay warm until they called us to line up in our corrals.
The 15k started right on time at 8am; Joe started in the first corral and I started in the second. We submitted proof of time to be placed there and I stayed up there to give me a cushion against the time limit since I knew I wouldn't be running the whole thing. I ran the first half mile and then started doing quarter mile walk/run intervals. I made it to mile 5 with that strategy with minimal irritation before my leg started yelling at me. From that point on, I walked and tried not to hate myself for possibly messing my leg up further.
The course itself was nice aside from the wind, which obviously isn't the race director's fault. It didn't seem very hilly to me, although I know there were some hills. They don't seem as bad when you're walking them. ;) I typically don't like out and back courses, but the view of the river and Boathouse Row was a great distraction, plus the Philadelphia Museum of Art makes an awesome finish line area. I wound up with an official finish time of 2:18:34 which winds up being juuuuuuuust under the required average pace of 15:00 min/mile.
The finish line area wasn't crowded at all; I found a volunteer and got my medal (so cute!), grabbed a bottle of water from another volunteer, and made my way over to Joe who waited to get his finisher's mug until I was done. Seriously, I have the best husband ever. The mug had hot chocolate, a banana, and chocolate fondue with a bunch of little things to dip in it. We made our way over to the "Rocky steps" with the thought process being that they would block some of the wind (they really didn't) and enjoyed our mug there. My leg actually felt decent, so we decided to start on the two mile trek back to the apartment in the wind.
I showered, iced my leg, ate a delicious salad from Sweetgreen, and we headed out again because I wanted to go to Lululemon and Whole Foods. Between the race and all the walking around the city we did, my FitBit clocked me at 20.62 miles for the day! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the weekend being totally exhausted and I'm still not even totally caught up today.
Despite not being in proper running condition, I had a great time and would absolutely come back to do this race again when I'm healthy and able to run the whole thing! The organization was great and I can't think of a single thing I could complain about. And can we talk about the perks for a second? The medal is adorable and so detailed and the sweatshirt is so nice! It fits great and I loved that they allowed you to switch sizes at the expo if you needed to. I'll be getting a lot of use out of it! Two thumbs up for the Hot Chocolate series!!
