Hot Chocolate 15k Race Recap

This morning I did what people in the insane asylum do: I got up at 3:45am to go running.  I left my house at 4:15 to head down to San Diego to run a few extra miles before the race.

Don’t mind me, just going early morning running with my purse.

I got down to San Diego where I met up with this crazy and this crazy and their friend Mason for 5 miles/42 mins at 6am.  They had run like 2500 miles beforehand.

Hardcore Homies

Then there was just enough time for a quick clothing change, a little breakfast and then chocolate race time.

Emily, Sarah and Tootsie Roll

My mom handmade this costume for me – she actually made 2(!) but the first one was way too small, I couldn’t even get it past my thighs.  The only problem with this one is that I gave her really inaccurate measurements and it didn’t fit in the bust.  But is my mom awesome or what?!

The rest of the outfit:

Red polka dot BIC Band

Target C9 sports bra – just bought last night because I didn’t own a white one?!  What’s wrong with me?

Pro Compression Socks

Mizuno Wave Rider 15s – love these shoes and I try to “save” them for only marathons or fun races.  I’ve got issues.

Right before the race we hopped into the A corral and saw blog friends:

Sweaty Emily, HauteRunningMama Nicole, Thunder Fingers Chacha and Margot the Faster Bunny

Maybe you’re cool enough to have already seen this pic:

Moi, Emily, Nicole, Chacha

The race started right on time and I tried to chase Margot down to no avail.  She was a woman on a mission and my legs were feeling yesterday and couldn’t keep up.

From the beginning I felt like I was pushing the pace and running hard when in reality, I don’t think my pace reflected that.

By mile 2 I needed to do a little costume repair as my top was falling down so I moved a few safety pins around to keep it up.  In retrospect, I should have safety pinned the costume to my sports bra instead of just pinning it tighter or if I was really thinking, sewed the sports bra in the costume.

I ran with Emily for a few miles; she was keeping a killer pace for having 20+ miles on the calendar for the day.

The course was all rolling hills with some fast declines and tough hills.  I didn’t look at my Garmin much but a couple times I saw 7:45 going up the inclines.  blah.  Not keeping even close to MP (marathon pace) during a 9 mile race is awesome. 

But with every hill was a nice decline.  This was at mile 7:

I hit the 8 mile mark, saw Margot and Phil blazing by, and then it was all downhill to the finish.

I finished in 1:07:02, average pace 7:11, 22nd woman, 66th overall and 5th in my age group.

Ashley’s boyfriend Phil and Margot both killed it today, running super fast with all those hills.

I also met reader Kristin from Stuft Mama; look at those guns! 

After everyone finished, we hit up the chocolate…

Everyone received a little box with hot cocoa, chocolate fondue and assorted foods to dip.  I liked the box idea because it was easy to handle and how many times after a race are your hands full of junk to carry around?

The chocolate fondue was good; I ate all the fruit and tried some of the other stuff, but I’m not really a sweets person post-race.  I’d rather have salt.  Give me pickles and french fries! 

I’ll do a complete race review in a couple days, but I have to say, there weren’t any race issues (that I noticed).  The whole thing went off without a hitch; I was actually impressed.

Then Margot, Chacha and I did a few cool down miles by the harbor.  With the 9.3 mile race, running back and forth to my car and the cool down miles, I did 13.75 miles/1:48 so my total mileage for the day was 18.75 miles/2:30. 

Getting to hang out with friends, go long, dress up in a costume and get free chocolate?  Not too shabby.

Tagged as: blogging friends, costumes, my moms so awesome, race recap, san diego