Race Recap: Hot Chocolate 15K

I am going to ignore the insane weather going on.  It has literally been pouring all day.  I am so over the rain.  I am starting to forget what it felt like to be warm.  So frustrating.  Anyway, let's (finally) get to the Hot Chocolate 15K recap!

Hot Chocolate 15K
April 6, 2014

I had been looking forward to this race for a while.  I had heard good things about it and was looking forward to spending some time with the girls visiting Megan in Philly.

We ended down to Philly on Saturday afternoon and went straight to pick up our numbers.  It looks like other Hot Chocolate races have a real expo, but this one was basically a number pickup.  It was held at Philly Runner in University City.

We picked up our numbers and swag bags.  This race has a pretty sweet race hoodie.  It's nice and soft and very comfortable.  I also used a promo code when I registered so I got a nice travel coffee mug.  It's a good size and really cute!

Sweet travel mug

After picking up our gear, we headed to the hotel to check in quickly and then spent the rest of the afternoon with Megan and her adorable daughter Chloe.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

We got up early and headed back to Megan's.  Her place is really close to the start, so it made for perfect parking!  We weren't sure how traffic would be, so we left extra early.  It was fine for us.  Since I had to 12 on the schedule, I headed out a little early and got an extra 3 miles in.  It worked out perfectly since I could feel the weather.  It was warmer then we had thought, so I dropped an extra layer off when I went back to pick up Megan and Abby.

We headed to the race start and it was so well organized!  Dropping baggage off was super easy and there were tons of port-a-pottys with little to no wait.  It was really refreshing!

The race started pretty promptly at 9 and off we went!  The course wasn't anything special - an out and back on Ben Franklin Parkway.  Not the most scenic course, but it was on the water so that was nice.  Plus since it was an out and back, I got to see Megan and Abby on the course.  Always nice to see a friendly face out there!

I did the first 6 miles at goal race pace and the rest was supposed to be easy, but it was hard to pull back to mug.  I felt strong the whole time, so I am taking that as the positive.

After finishing, they had the chute set up well.  Water and gatorade easily accessible.  I was able to pick up my bag quickly and went to meet Pam (who was spectating with Chloe).

But the best part of the race is definitely the post race chocolate!  It included a cup of hot chocolate (which was some seriously good hot chocolate), melted chocolate for dipping, a marshmallow, pretzels,  graham crackers and a banana.  It was all delicious, but I would suggest using pretzel rods moving forward.  The tiny little pretzels were too hard to dip.

It was all really good.  I just wish there were more things to dip into it!  I am going to play a game of how many uses can I find for my hot chocolate finishers mug.

While eating all my chocolate we hung out at the finish line and waited for Abby and Megan to finish.  Everyone had great races!

We stopped for some cheesy photo's with Marshall the Marshmallow before heading home to Megan's to shower and head to breakfast.

All wearing our race hoodies

All in all, I would definitely recommend this race!  It was well organized, not too crowded and the race swag was definitely worth the entry fee.

Results
Official: 9.3 mi, 1:20:36, 8:40 pace
Garmin: 9.4 mi, 1:20:38, 8:35 pace

A bowl of yum.