Back in the summer on the heals of my 1st 1/2, I decided to run the Chicago Hot Chocolate 15K. I had a few reasons. 1) I needed a certified race 10K or longer to provide proof of time for the Princess 1/2 in order to get a preferred start corral. 2)It had a really cool theme 3) The race shirt was a race fleece full zip hoodie 4) New this year was a medal for the 15K finishers.
My only course complaint was that some of the fun aid stations of Marshmallows and Tootsie Rolls were gone when the back of the pack got to them. But the fact that they have them on course is different and something to look forward to. I did manage to snag a Tootsie Roll off a table and a Chocolate Marshmallow around mile 7.
Post Race
Hubby and I crossed the finish line together. I think that was the part I enjoyed most. Running next to him past Soldier Field, The Field Museum, and into Grant Park was fun. And receiving the medal (which was way cooler in person than on the website) was a great way to end our accomplishment.
The walk to the Finisher Mugs and Post Race party is about a block but it felt longer. It was worth it though as the Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Fondue were pretty tasty! There were marshmallow, mini pretzels, banana, wafer cookies, and Rice Krispy treats to dip. The mug itself is plastic and divided into compartments but could be re-used for snacks if you were interested. The majority ended up in the trash and that was kind of sad but we took ours home.
Overall it was a great race. I finished in 2:15 and surprised myself. I didn't have much pain during the race but did struggle with a tight IT band the following few days. We definitely want to do it next year and seriously debated signing up for the Las Vegas leg of the series. That race is less than a week after the Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon in Disneyland so I don't think I'll be able to run, even the 5K that quickly. (The medal looks really cool and instead of a hoodie, you get a running vest.)
The race weekend coincided with my 8 year wedding anniversary and somehow I managed to get my husband to agree to run with me. We decided to make a weekend out of it and stay in downtown Chicago making the race morning really convenient.
This race has had a lot of issues with their packet pickup in years past. A bunch of negative reviews of the race came up on Yelp when I started researching it. Overall, the last year's reviews were much improved after moving the pick up and expo to McCormick place so I decided we could probably handle the packet pick-up.
I was concerned about the weather being too cold. Chicago is windy (but that's not why they call it "The Windy City", you can thank a long dead politician for that moniker) and right up against the lakefront can be really cold. I've never really run in temperatures below 40 so I stalked Pinterest for some guides to cold weather running. This one from Spark people has the best info graphic.
We headed to Target to stock up on base layers and wicking gloves. I scored these great Champion Brand smart phone friendly running gloves that had gripping dots on the back. They were only $15.99 and worked out great.
Expo/Packet Pick-Up
There were 3 days of packet pick-up. We went on the 3rd day about an hour after they opened. It was easy to get to McCormick Place and the signs and crowd were easy to follow. The Bib pick-up was less than 5 minutes. They scanned my phone that had the email of our registration and handed me the bibs and we were done. The snag came when we went to get the "award winning" goody bags.
They were out of my size (XXL Womens) hoodies and were giving out Mens XL as a replacement. I was not happy. One of my reasons for running the race and forking over the $65 registration (plus parking and bus fare) was the hoodie. There was a very nice woman who clearly worked for the expo that was trying to fix the growing problem. The story we were told was that the additional boxes of that size had been misplaced and they were trying to locate them. She was scrambling to do what she could and while I was standing there she managed to find 5 or 6 additional XXL Womans hoodies.
The expo did seem to have a fairly generous size swap policy and did have the hoodies for everyone to try on in a separate section. I'm glad that they allow that but I was dismayed that the one I ordered wasn't there to begin with. In the end I was happy but I don't know if they ever found the missing boxes. The hoodie fit true to size and was very comfortable.
The Expo itself was on the smaller (well it seemed small to me but this was my 1st race expo so what do I know) side. I was excited to see Bondi Bands there as well as Nuun. Sweaty Band had a table as did JVC which netted me a new pair of headphones.
I didn't find as much chocolate related merchandise as I was hoping and the "I run for chocolate" gear was somewhat plain. They had a really cool cowl neck long sleeve running shirt but only had XS left. I didn't end up buying any chocolate race gear because in my head I was shouting Princess Expo, Princess Expo.
Race Day
We lucked out and the weather was 43 degrees and not too windy. There was a point, though, that I felt the wind in my shoes around the 5K mark that I began to worry would become uncomfortable if prolonged but it ended up not being too bad. RAM Racing did a nice job of organizing the corrals and I was glad to see spot checkers at the entrance making sure people were in the correct place. We ended up being in corral P which was the last wave of the 15K. The MC was energetic and there was a camera capturing the race field which was fun. Even though there were 45,000 people it didn't feel that way and that was really impressive. The 15 min pace requirement was upheld and part of the course was closed to those who fell off pace.
There were plenty of water and Gatorade volunteers and the local cheer teams were a fun touch. The course had great mile markers and markers at the 5 and 10K points. They also had chip time mats at those intervals which I really liked. The race allowed you to sign up for Facebook and text updates on runners for free so I was able to get those posted to Facebook without doing it myself. The course split from the 5K route was clearly marked and I took a moment to snap a selfie that there was no turning back.
I was concerned about the weather being too cold. Chicago is windy (but that's not why they call it "The Windy City", you can thank a long dead politician for that moniker) and right up against the lakefront can be really cold. I've never really run in temperatures below 40 so I stalked Pinterest for some guides to cold weather running. This one from Spark people has the best info graphic.
We headed to Target to stock up on base layers and wicking gloves. I scored these great Champion Brand smart phone friendly running gloves that had gripping dots on the back. They were only $15.99 and worked out great.
Expo/Packet Pick-Up
There were 3 days of packet pick-up. We went on the 3rd day about an hour after they opened. It was easy to get to McCormick Place and the signs and crowd were easy to follow. The Bib pick-up was less than 5 minutes. They scanned my phone that had the email of our registration and handed me the bibs and we were done. The snag came when we went to get the "award winning" goody bags.
They were out of my size (XXL Womens) hoodies and were giving out Mens XL as a replacement. I was not happy. One of my reasons for running the race and forking over the $65 registration (plus parking and bus fare) was the hoodie. There was a very nice woman who clearly worked for the expo that was trying to fix the growing problem. The story we were told was that the additional boxes of that size had been misplaced and they were trying to locate them. She was scrambling to do what she could and while I was standing there she managed to find 5 or 6 additional XXL Womans hoodies.
The expo did seem to have a fairly generous size swap policy and did have the hoodies for everyone to try on in a separate section. I'm glad that they allow that but I was dismayed that the one I ordered wasn't there to begin with. In the end I was happy but I don't know if they ever found the missing boxes. The hoodie fit true to size and was very comfortable.
The Expo itself was on the smaller (well it seemed small to me but this was my 1st race expo so what do I know) side. I was excited to see Bondi Bands there as well as Nuun. Sweaty Band had a table as did JVC which netted me a new pair of headphones.
I didn't find as much chocolate related merchandise as I was hoping and the "I run for chocolate" gear was somewhat plain. They had a really cool cowl neck long sleeve running shirt but only had XS left. I didn't end up buying any chocolate race gear because in my head I was shouting Princess Expo, Princess Expo.
Race Day
We lucked out and the weather was 43 degrees and not too windy. There was a point, though, that I felt the wind in my shoes around the 5K mark that I began to worry would become uncomfortable if prolonged but it ended up not being too bad. RAM Racing did a nice job of organizing the corrals and I was glad to see spot checkers at the entrance making sure people were in the correct place. We ended up being in corral P which was the last wave of the 15K. The MC was energetic and there was a camera capturing the race field which was fun. Even though there were 45,000 people it didn't feel that way and that was really impressive. The 15 min pace requirement was upheld and part of the course was closed to those who fell off pace.
Yes, I ran in the race hoodie.
There were several women in the very same Sparkle Skirt pattern. I got several thumbs up and compliments on my cute skirt.
There were plenty of water and Gatorade volunteers and the local cheer teams were a fun touch. The course had great mile markers and markers at the 5 and 10K points. They also had chip time mats at those intervals which I really liked. The race allowed you to sign up for Facebook and text updates on runners for free so I was able to get those posted to Facebook without doing it myself. The course split from the 5K route was clearly marked and I took a moment to snap a selfie that there was no turning back.
My only course complaint was that some of the fun aid stations of Marshmallows and Tootsie Rolls were gone when the back of the pack got to them. But the fact that they have them on course is different and something to look forward to. I did manage to snag a Tootsie Roll off a table and a Chocolate Marshmallow around mile 7.
Post Race
Hubby and I crossed the finish line together. I think that was the part I enjoyed most. Running next to him past Soldier Field, The Field Museum, and into Grant Park was fun. And receiving the medal (which was way cooler in person than on the website) was a great way to end our accomplishment.
The walk to the Finisher Mugs and Post Race party is about a block but it felt longer. It was worth it though as the Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Fondue were pretty tasty! There were marshmallow, mini pretzels, banana, wafer cookies, and Rice Krispy treats to dip. The mug itself is plastic and divided into compartments but could be re-used for snacks if you were interested. The majority ended up in the trash and that was kind of sad but we took ours home.
Overall it was a great race. I finished in 2:15 and surprised myself. I didn't have much pain during the race but did struggle with a tight IT band the following few days. We definitely want to do it next year and seriously debated signing up for the Las Vegas leg of the series. That race is less than a week after the Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon in Disneyland so I don't think I'll be able to run, even the 5K that quickly. (The medal looks really cool and instead of a hoodie, you get a running vest.)
