Overall I was very impressed with how the race directors handled the numerous questions, comments, and whiney runners for the 48 hours prior to the race. And I reserve the whiney term for the very few runners that were posing questions such as, "will you cancel the race if the temperature drops below 32 degrees" and my personal favorite, "will you be mailing finisher medals even if the race is cancelled, because I would like to have mine." They did an excellent job of providing regular updates regarding the status of the expo hours, packet pickup, and notification that the race would go on as scheduled with the exception of the cold weather plan.
I booked a room at the Westin downtown which was a few blocks from the shuttle pickup. We checked in on Saturday night which just happened to coincide with a national Omega Psi Phi (aka Que Dogs) convention that culminated with a 6th floor hotel party. This little soirée kicked off at 10:00 pm and formally ended at 3:00 am Sunday morning but the after parties went on until at least 5:00 am when I finally crawled out of bed. After an impromptu room change at 11:00 pm to move away from the elevator and what seemed to be the pre-party staging area I finally got a block of sleep from about 1:30 to 4:00. Of course that abruptly ended to the tune of some chick singing in the hallway about her milkshake bringing all of the boys to the yard. I never sleep well before races anyway but that wasn't exactly what I expected to keep me awake...
The Hot Chocolate race series bills itself as America's sweetest race and they live up to the billing. The race swag is really nice with a full zip up fleece, very nice finisher medals, and a plastic finisher mug filled with chocolate fondue, hot chocolate, pretzels, and some other stuff my kids polished off. The race was broken down into 2 waves and approximately 8 corrals in each from A-H in wave 1 and I-P in wave 2...or something like that. The 5K and 15K runners are co-mingled and corralled by pace submitted with registration. In total there were about 15,000 runners with roughly 9,400 running the 5K and 5,200 running the 15K and I would say at least 60 - 70% of the runners were female. If I didn't know better I would think there was a connection between women and chocolate.I ate my customary pre-race bagel and drank a Diet Pepsi before making my way to the shuttles shortly after 6:00 am. The temperature was about 25 but with the breeze it felt closer to 15 so it was pretty uncomfortable to say the least. I prepaid to ride the shuttle roundtrip which was $3 well spent and was dropped off a few blocks from the start. Wave 1 didn't start until 7:40 so I was hoping to find a little shelter but the best I could do was to hunker down under the apparel tent to kill some time. The DJ was already setup and there were a few women getting their Zumba on but that seemed like a pretty horrible idea so I passed. Finally around 7:00 I decided it was time to start acting like a runner so I ditched the warm up pants and fleece, checked my bag, and started to get loose.
I was in corral A so I made my way up front a few rows back. My plan was to mentally break this into 3 separate 5K's and run a controlled first 5K , the second one assertively, and the last one hard. That was actually Coach Caleb's plan but it made sense and all I had to do was execute...easy enough, right? I mentioned that I had A and B goals in my pre-race post which were 60 minutes (A) and 62 minutes (B). I knew running sub 60 (as in 59:59) was a stretch and would likely require perfect conditions and a flat course. After reviewing the elevation profile and speaking with folks that had run the 5K and 15K I knew this probably wasn't the course for me to run 60 minutes but I still felt like I could come in under 62 minutes even on a chilly morning.
The course is definitely challenging but I wouldn't say it's notoriously difficult. Atlanta is very similar to the North Carolina piedmont where I do most of my running so it's really just a continuous series of rolling hills with some ups and downs steeper than others. Based on my 3 separate 5K strategy, in hindsight I would consider the first 5K moderate, the second 5K easy, and the third 5K difficult....maybe even very difficult. The race starts off downhill followed by a steady uphill, and from there the course just rolls. I hit the 5K split at 20:23 with splits of 6.37 / 6.34 / 6.23 which is exactly where I wanted to be. The next 5K is still rolling bit but there are more downs than ups and that combined with just a general loosening up and my body adjusting to the temperature my splits were 6.11 / 6.13 / 6.18 so when I hit the 10K split I was at 39:58 but I knew the hard part was ahead.
The final 5K includes a nasty stretch from about the 7.5 mile mark to around 8.5 miles. There's really no reprieve and it doesn't roll, it's just a steady one mile climb late in the race with enough of an incline to suck more than your typical one mile hill that just shows up late in a race. My splits for miles 7-9 were 6.30 / 6.44 / 6.17 and 5.55 for the last 0.3 thanks to the overall female winner carrying me. Fortunately once you crest the hill it levels off before the downhill finish over the last half mile or so. I was able to finish strong but just lost too much time during the climb and missed my A goal with a time of 1:00:26. Considering my A goals are generally based on the highly unlikely but possible if the stars align premise I was very satisfied with my run.My time was good enough for 12th overall and 1st place in the 40-44 category. Even though this race doesn't recognize a masters category I would have been the top masters runner as well. It looks like I might have gotten a bit lucky with who decided to run this year because last year that time would have only been good enough for 4th place in the 40-44 category.
I can't objectively comment on the expo or the post race experience. I made it to the expo 20 minutes before closing then was in and out in a flash. After the race I shook a few hands, picked up my finisher mug, went to bag check, got dressed, and was on a shuttle headed back to the hotel within 20 minutes of crossing the finish line. That just speaks to the efficiency and overall organization of the race and my desire to take a hot shower and go back to bed.
It was really nice to get back into the spirit of racing again and I really appreciate the kind words from friends and family before and after the race, especially the one my wife sent immediately after I finished. It simply said, "I'm so proud of you" which was her way of acknowledging the effort without respect to the time.
If you're looking for a race that offers all of the bells and whistles the Hot Chocolate series is definitely one you should consider. The cities are certainly destination worthy and they seem to have the logistics down to a science. The swag is great and as I understand it the race photos and videos are free once available. Real time tracking is available and age group awards run 3 deep but only the top 3 overall awards are handed out on race day. Age group awards are mailed 6-8 weeks later.
Ultimately I wanted to finish strong and get through this unscathed and aside from a little race belt rash I'm good to go! Apparently my numb back didn't feel the plastic buckle rubbing my back for an hour which had me screaming in the shower like a nine year old girl. Now I'm just looking forward to an easy week of running and then back to the grind before running the Tobacco Road half in March. And considering there are only 100 spots left I guess I better sign up!
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