Let's start with the expo! It wasn't anything too crazy to make a separate blog post about, so I'll just throw it in here. My sister, nephew, and I went over to Philly for the expo on Thursday. The expo times were a little inconvenient but we made it work. Bib and shirt pick up was super easy and painless. I was even able to pick up my brother's stuff for him which is sometimes a pain for other races.
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Right after we grabbed all our goodies, we went over near the shirt exchange area to try on our super adorable quarter-zip jackets we received. For those who have never run a Hot Chocolate run, instead of a typical t-shirt, you receive some sort of running jacket. Each year the design changes so you'll never get the same jacket twice! They also have different male and female jackets which allows ladies to get the perfect fit. You always want to try on your jacket at the expo, though, because some years the jackets run bigger while others they run smaller. Ours fit perfectly, so we threw them back in our bags and headed into the vendor part of the expo.
There weren't too many vendors to check out so we didn't walk around for long. This was a good thing for me because then I wasn't tempted to buy anything, although I was checking out some new clothes that I definitely DID NOT need. The best part of the expo was the CHOCOLATE, of course. They were giving away small samples of hot chocolate and chocolate dipped treats. This definitely got me excited for the finisher's mug we'd receive after the race on Saturday.
Overall, it was a very organized expo but lacked in vendors compared to other larger race expos I have been to in Philly. We still had a great time, though, and it ended with a visit to the Reading Terminal Market so it was a win in my book!
Now onto race day! The 15k started at 8 am but we were advised to arrive by 6:45 am considering the 5k portion had a start time of 7:15 am. When John and I left the house around 5:30 am I was surprised at how nice the weather was. I knew it was supposed to get colder from there, so I enjoyed the warmth while I could. We had to pick up my brother and wait for my sister and brother-in-law before heading into Philly, so we didn't get to the area to park until around 6:30 am. Everywhere was already pretty crowded due to the early 5k start but luckily we were able to score a parking spot!
The temps had already dropped by time we made our walk to the start line. We took a couple pre-race pictures and cheered on the 5k runners before seeking out warmth in the merchandise tent. Shout out to the awesome workers/volunteers for letting cold runners stay warm in the tent! Eventually we made our way towards the start line to figure out the corrals. Between the three of us, we all had a different corral assignment. I'm not really sure how the corrals were organized because we all put in the same pace and my brother and I have the same last name sooo not sure.... We all moved back to my sister's corral because you're only able to move back. We probably could've started in any corral, to be honest, because our bibs were all pinned under our jackets.
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| Quick selfie while keeping warm in the merch tent! |
My body finally warmed up sometime after mile 3 and I took my jacket off to cool down. The next water station gave out M&M's as their treat and boy was I happy! Each person was given a whole condiment-sized cup filled to the top with M&M's. I dumped them into my hand so I could throw the cup out and snacked on the candy for the next half mile or so. I normally would be a bit hesitant to fuel my body with so much chocolate during a race, but we had decided to run this race for fun so eating candy definitely equaled fun! There was a turnaround sometime between miles 5 and 6 (I think). Turnarounds always make me happy because then I know I'm almost there! Plus, I know what I'll pass on the way back so I can keep track of how much farther I have to go.
The water station that had the M&M's in the beginning ended up giving out candy hearts on the way back. I was a bit bummed because I would've rather had more M&M's but the candy hearts were just as good (though they did dry out my mouth a bit). My brother, sister, and I were still together around this point (mile 7ish) and that felt great! We were having such a great time chatting and enjoying the candy. The last hydration station gave out those chocolate wafer chip things. That was the only candy I decided to pass up and instead put them in the jacket pocket to give to John at the end :)
We crossed the finish line holding our hands up the air together which was pretty cute, if you ask me. As soon as we crossed the finish line, we were handed our medals which are SO cute! We snapped a cute picture in the finisher's chute before exiting and looking for our fan club. We found them quickly which was a surprise considering the size of the crowd. The finisher's mugs were being handed out in a separate tent a good distance from the actual finish so we all walked over towards that tent. Receiving the mugs was quick and painless. We decided to snack on the goodies in the mug (hot chocolate, melted chocolate, and goodies to dip in the chocolate: pretzels, marshmallows, cookies, and a rice crispy treat) on the walk back to the car because our fan club was a tad chilly from standing out in the cold for so long. As always, everything in the finisher's mug was DELICIOUS! I could've had so much more of that hot chocolate.
To finish off such a great time in Philly, we stopped at Geno's steaks on the way home to get one of the best cheese steaks around! Somehow races always need to end with delicious food! Overall, the Hot Chocolate 15k was an amazing race. Philly courses are always my favorite plus who doesn't love free chocolate?! :)
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