Hot Chocolate 5K Race Report

Today was my first postpartum race. I decided to do the Hot Chocolate 5K, put on by RAM racing. Time: 33:55 for a 10:55 min/mile pace

RACE GOODIES: The race schwag is pretty cool--a nice lightweight running jacket and a fleece beanie hat, both with the hot chocolate logo on them. They also come in a useful running bag that can be reused.

PRE-RACE INFO: When I got the email about the race packet pickup, there were a few snags. Firstly, the packet pickup was at the UIC pavilion, which was fine with me because I have a permit for that area. However, it sucks for everyone who had to pay for parking. That being said, its better than having to park at Navy Pier for packet pickup like you would do for the Shamrock Shuffle. The irritating thing was the fact that they wouldn't let anyone park at the event, and there is a LOT of parking at the Montrose area. I understand that part of your race is on the road, so make that non-parking, but the huge lot? Nobody touches the huge lot! It has enough potholes to kill people if they decided to run though it, so people weren't going to do that either. So they suggested public transportation, which is a good idea, but really, I'd have to leave my house at like 4 am to make that work. We did end up finding a parking spot and walking about a mile to the start line. Luckily it was a good morning to walk, and shockingly, I left enough time for myself so we could walk and not run to the start line.

RACE: We started too far back, as evidenced by the ladies ahead of us who were standing there with their race bags. It took 11 minutes to get to the start line, and the start line was a reduced size from the waiting area, kinda like pinching the end of a hose. The race started out on the road, but very soon went to lakefront path, and there were waaaay to many runners for that. Additionally, the walkers didn't know path etiquette and were walking all over the path, not staying to the right. So we spend a large part of the beginning of the race dodging people. There were some hazards on the course: low tree branches, dumpster handles (two of them), and an open truck tailgate with a inflatable dinghy in it. At one point just past mile two, there was an extremely sharp S curve which was wwwwwaaaayyyyy to sharp for the amount of runners running over it. It was a gorgeous course, and it was pretty to look ahead and behind and see all the runners, but it was definitely not a course for someone trying to PR.

I would suggest having 5K walkers start after 5K runners before the 15K people start. That would alleviate a lot of the congestion. Or perhaps because you didn't allow parking at ANY of the lots, you could use more of the wider road to give runners some room. There is another 5K out of the same location that has runners on the road for much longer and it is much more effective.

POST-RACE: They did a good job funneling runners toward the fondue tent and then after that was the hot chocolate tent. Fondue was YUMMY good, hot choc was bitter and watery. They also had a lot of volunteers passing out post race chocolate bars. Overall, it was more of an event than a race, and if you go into it with that attitude, it is a fun run to do with friends or family. The goodies are top notch, there is no denying that!