Sunday, March 23, 2014

SD Hot Chocolate 5K

This morning my mom and I ran the Hot Chocolate 5K in San Diego.

We went to the Expo yesterday to pick up the bibs. It was pretty lame that we had to pay for parking, but I guess that is just the price you pay for living (and running) in San Diego. {Although I would highly recommend they move the Expo to somewhere else in the future - it has been at the San Diego Concourse for the last two years and is less than stellar.}


Mom trying out some of the chocolate on a marshmallow 

Us and Marshall the Marshmallow

Free chocolates (although you would think they might give you a little more... It is a CHOCOLATE race for Pete's Sake)

You'd think they would put the "props" somewhere a little better lit... NOT VERY THOUGHT THROUGH...

This morning we had an EARLY morning wake-up call, seeing as they were recommending you arrive at the race by 5:45am for the 6:45am start. I woke mom up around 4:45am (I got up around 4am - boo for not being able to sleep) and we were out the door by about 5:15am. We made sure to get out our race gear last night so we wouldn't forget anything (like mom's inhaler).

We decided to go with a Detroit Tiger's theme


We were able to get downtown and find some street parking with PLENTY of time to spare - WHOOO HOOOO for free street parking on Sundays. We sat in the car for probably 10 minutes before walking the few blocks to the start (we might have been able to park even closer, but I was worried with the road closures and hoards of people {they said there were 15,000 runners this morning between the 5K and 15K} that I didn't want to chance it).

Mom and Marshall

I have NO IDEA where the U.P. is in this map... Hmmm...

Giant Hot Chocolate!

We headed over towards the start line, hit the port-o-potties, and had plenty of time to get over to our corral. We didn't check a bag, but it seemed like there were tons of folks at the Gear Check. We took a couple of pictures and got ready to head out.

Starting Line shot.

Mom's hip was giving her a hard time, so we decided we would walk/run the race. Last year I ran the 15K, so wasn't sure what to expect for the 5K course. Well.... let's just say IT WAS HILLY! I would say about 75-90% of it was hills. Up and down. This didn't seem to bod well for mom's body or asthma.

We were still able to finish the race together, reppin' our Detroit Tigers, with smiles on our faces!

I probably shouldn't try to take pictures WHILE running... BLUR....

And of course, then we got to collect our CHOCOLATE!!






This year I was provided a FREE ENTRY to the 5K for myself since I was an Ambassador for the Hot Chocolate series (last year I did pay for my 15K entry myself).

I think I will probably pass on this race for next year. I have run both distances now and I would have to say, there was nothing too special about it. The course (both the 15K that I ran last year and the 5K I did this morning) is pretty hilly {which = not very fun}. Although you are running in downtown San Diego, I would say you don't see much other than tall buildings (I have run quite a few AWESOME courses in SD where you see the bay, bridges, and beauty). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the "goodie bag" which has been a GREAT hoodie for the past two years, but with a less than amazing course and no bling (other than the plastic finisher mug filled with hot chocolate and chocolate fondu with dipping treats) I think I would prefer to try out a new race.

Have you done a Hot Chocolate race before?

2 comments:

Jennifer K. said...

Adorable outfits! I wish I was "in the know" about street parking being free! I did the 15K and probably got there too late to find anything even if I'd known. It was kind of annoying to have to pay for parking for both days, but it was a really fun run!

Meridith said...

Yay Momma! I love when family members get in on the action. We have a Hot Chocolate run over here in Philly in a couple of weeks however I'm already signed up for a half in AC and as much as I love chocolate I hear the Chocolate Runs are sort of hit or miss.