The Dallas Hot Chocolate 15k was my 2nd ever race at that distance. And I’m glad to report that it went much better than the first one. In fact, I earned my shiny chocolate themed medal by running a new PR!
The medal looks like a chocolate bar, but it tastes like brass.
There was supposed to be sold out with 13,000 total people running the 5k and 15k races. That means a lot of traffic getting to the event. Luckily my friend, Jewely talked me into taking the train down with friends rather than drive.
Of course we needed a pic on the choo choo.
We definitely saved a lot of time and stress by taking riding the rail. All we had to do was sit there and watch the world go by.
You can’t take a selfie around us without getting photobomed, duh!
As we got closer to the race, the train got more and more crowded. We were lucky to have gotten on at an earlier stop, when seats were still available.
Train’s getting full. Luckily they had stripper poles for people to hold on to.
The temps that morning were in the mid-40’s, but with a 10-15 mph wind it felt like 35 degrees!!! So when we got to the event, we stayed warm before the race by staying indoors!
B4 da race. I never understood arm sleeves. Are they for people that don’t care about cold shoulders?
The 5k started first. But due to traffic and such, people were late. The race was nice enough to wait for them, but that also meant the 15k would start like 15 minutes late. It was not fun standing in the cold waiting for the starting horn to blow! But eventually, we were off!
My run buds Clay and Dawn were on the course cheering. Clayton got this shot of me. Dueces!
The course itself was TOUGH – lotsa hills! Most people don’t think of Dallas as hilly, but this race made sure to find as many as they could!
At mile 5ish, we had about a pretty steep incline for about half a mile. At the top of the hill, some spectators had set up a whiskey station to give shots to the runners. Haha, with the pain I was feeling, I was tempted to take one, but decided to plug along instead.
The red parts are my slowest sections, coincidentally, they were also on big hills. Ha, when I saw that hill around mile 8 after turning the corner, I dropped a few choice words aloud!
And can I just say, I love the support of the running community. Towards the end of the race, a few of us strangers started encouraging each other with words of encouragement. It helped us finish strong!
You can watch a short video of my and my new besties crossing the finish line BY CLICKING HERE!
I wanted to run a sub 7:40 mile pace, and I did!!! ~ 7:39 per mile ~ a full 20 seconds faster per mile than my last 15k! That came out to more than a 2 minute PR!
Also, I’ve said this before, but I hate my age group. I finished in the top 3% overall, but in the top 15% of my age group. Grrrr, I can’t wait to get to a new age group next month!!!
After da race with our sweet rewards.
After the race, they had a fun little after-party going on with a DJ, chocolate treats, etc. Here’s a 6 second video recap I made:
To be honest, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so all the chocolate was a bit too much for me to handle. But on the way home I decided there should be some celebrating with a grown-up treat…
A chocolate stout still counts as chocolate, right?
In the end, I was sassified with the results – especially considering the wind, hills, & not knowing how to pace this distance. And most importantly, it was a fun time!
How bout you? LIke that bling? Gotta sweet tooth or a beer tooth? Ever ride a choo choo train?
-Scott
Piratebobcat 