Hot Chocolate 5K

Well hubby and I finished the Hot Chocolate 5K this morning.  The boy ran it in 28:57.  I am so out of shape. I ran walked it.  More walking than running!  I haven’t done any running for about a month. 

We got there about 6:30ish. It was still dark out. My sister-in-law dropped us off and we walked in to the where the race started.  There were tons of people at the race.  After hitting the porta potties we headed over to the start line.  They had corrals set up for the different paced runners. Hubby dropped the boy off at his corral. We couldn't get into ours because there were so many people that they were blocking the entrance so we went in at the beginning corral.  They started the corrals in waves which made it easier to start the race.  There was a big swarm of people in our corral.

Finally we got to the start line.  I jogged a bit.  I was running so slow hubby was able to walk with me!  LOL!  It started downhill then it went up hill for a long way then downhill and the last was a long uphill.  Even though I have been in the park where they held the race, I wasn't sure where we were.  It took a while for the crowd to thin out.  I was feeling claustrophobic with everyone so close to us.  All the runners were in the back and they were being annoying by darting in and out of the crowd to pass people. 

The weather was cool and overcast. I did get a little warm so I took off my jacket but I had to stop and take off my race bib from my jacket to put on my leg so that cost us a minute.  I ran too long after the stop and I got a side stitch that lasted a while.

The water station was a little chaotic.  The first few tables were Gatorade and the rest was water.  It was hard to get to the station since the volunteers were standing out far enough to pass out the stuff.  I wanted a Gatorade water mix but I didn't come across it so I mixed my own. 

My legs felt like rubber at we passed the 2 mile mark. I still ran and jogged.  I did run the last way to finish line.  It took us 1:03 and 1:04 hours to walk/jog this race.  I need to get back into shape. I thought I was going to die.  At the post race party, everyone got a giant mug with hot chocolate in the center, a green banana, hot fudge in a small compartment and the bigger compartment held a rice crispy, a marshmallow, tiny pretzels which were too small to dunk in the chocolate and a wafer cookie.  Hubby and I didn’t keep our mugs but the boy did.  It isn’t very useful. I guess you can use it for a snack bowl but we don’t have room for three of them.

We were tired and sleepy after the race.  Hubby and I couldn't move. Our legs felt like jelly. My asthma kicked in so I used my inhaler but it took a while for the wheezing and shortness of breath to go away.  I took a nap when I got home but I am still tired.
  

It was a fun race but I’m not sure I would do this one again.  I like the smaller races.