Hot Chocolate 15K: A Pretty Sweet Race!

Saturday, February 11th brought a new race to the Dallas running scene--the Hot Chocolate 15K. This is one of those fancy pants corporate races that tour around from city to city and I took a bit of a leap when we signed up. The race ended up being a HUGE mess in Chicago and Washington DC and was getting some bad press. But I had read that the corporate folks had been working with the local running store to gain insights about what would work best for our local scene. The race was also based in Fair Park, home of the White Rock Marathon and a few other "big" races so I knew that there would be plenty of good strategies for setting up a good course. I have never run any of the big, national "corporate" races but I like racing 15Ks and this one promised good schwag so I took a gamble and signed Erik and me up.


Me, Liza, Kylee, and Vi

We have had an exceptionally mild (even by Texas standards) winter, but a big cold front blew in just in time for the race. The north wind was a-blowing and the wind chills were in the teens--prompting an email from the race officials encouraging people to switch to the 5K if they felt like they would be exposed to the elements for too long. I was not looking forward to the wind, but was otherwise excited about a cold weather race. I just run better when the temperatures are under 50 degrees and a race day with temperatures in the upper 20s are rare this winter. I got to wear my tights for only the 2nd race this winter and my vest, which hasn't been out of the closet since sometime last February.


Corina, Erik, and Me

One would think that leaving the house almost two hours before the start of the race would allow for plenty of time--after all Fair Park is only 30-35 minutes from my house. I had even allowed extra time because everyone trying to get into Fair Park at once can be a traffic nightmare. Soon enough Erik and I found ourselves sitting in the middle of a huge mess of traffic. We both agreed that it wouldn't be so bad if it were just us, that we would even be willing to bail if it got too close to start time....but we had Corina and Marci's race bibs and timing chips with us. No stress, right? It turns out that the Fair Park people had only opened a couple parking lots way back at the back of the park. I am certain that better gate management would have solved this issue with little problem. We finally made it there, parked, and sprinted across Fair Park in the bitter cold wind to find Marci and Corina. The starting gun was going off as we were in the porta potties and Erik and I ran up as the race start was under way. Not the way that I like to start a race--but it might have saved us some shivering on this day.

The hectic morning left me unsure of my race goals and after a couple of miles I decided that I would just settle into a pace that felt comfortably pushed and see what happens. Because race course was a big rectangle it kept us out of the wind most of the way. It ended up being a challenging course too with a steady climb around mile 4 and a steeper climb at mile 6. I don't know if I will run this race again, but I really did enjoy the course.


Iris, Corina, Marci, Me, and Erik

I have been focused on running consistent races with negative splits and I was thrilled to see the race broken down by 5Ks. My time was only about 45 seconds slower than Too Cold To Hold in January--and that race was on a much less challenging course.
1st 5K 28:13 (9:06 avg)
2nd 5K 28:20 (9:08 avg)
3rd 5K 26:38 (8:35 avg)
87th out of 480 in my age group

The post race celebration was a chocolate wonderland! We were given a tray with apples, a pretzel, marshmallow, rice krispie treat, and a banana and a cup of chocolate fondue in which to dip them. We were also given a cup of hot chocolate--perfect for a cold day. There a table of Ghirardelli chocolate and caramel squares at the finish line...yum. As I mentioned earlier, the race schwag was pretty sweet too--a windbreaker shell with the race logo and I had a coupon code that scored me a free hat. The shell will be perfect for those rainy days (hmm...could have used it at White Rock) or for later in the spring when the wind is fierce.


Taco Joint Goodness!

After the race our frunners group made our way to my favorite Dallas taco establishment, Taco Joint, for some delicious breakfast tacos. It was a perfect ending to a cold race morning!

(Thanks to Corina and Liza for the great race day pictures! This blog would be so boring without your contributions!)