Chocolate chocolate everywhere and lots of drops to eat!

Chocolate drops that is! Sorry it took so long to get this post out. I have had a few deaths and injuries in the family that have kept me away. I am back now and playing catch up for you guys.

As most of you know, earlier this year I had the honor of participating in the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k. I have to be proud of myself because I did my longest ever race.  I am not going to sit here and say I was not scared because I was. I know this took a bit of time for me to get this out to you guys but life has hit me hard with so many curve balls and with deaths and injuries it has kept me from doing a lot that I love to do. Including write to you guys.  Well, the Hot Chocolate race was my very first non-obstacle/color run I have ever done. It was my very first full blown road race.  I would go into step by step on this race but then I feel it is best for you to sign up for yourself and experience it yourself.

As you guys know I won’t recommend a race to you guys unless I liked it so when I recommend this race to you guys it means I liked it. Granite it was cold, wet, icy and I ended up getting injured I still liked it. I went to the race with a friend Peggy and Joylynn and Peggy’s niece, I was still scared out of my mind. I mean I had signed up for the 5k not the 15. I had only switched the night before. I have to say I loved how well they were organized and set up. They made it fun for everyone even though it was sleeting that morning and everyone was freezing their behinds off.  After crossing the start line I noticed there was no way I was going to keep up with my experienced running comrades and that became confirmed when I fell under the first over pass I had come across. I slipped on ice and hurt my ankle making the rest of the race a bit hard to run. I was last on the course, so I thought, which for me scared me more than the distance I was partaking. See there are a few things that really scare me when it comes to myself.  The one that scares me the most is being in an unfamiliar place alone with no one around that I know. I have made my life all about fitness but when it comes to running on a road alone with no one around but complete strangers passing by in their yard or walking down the street scares me more than anything.  That is at made is race so scary to me.

I am a country girl by brand by choice. City life scares me to shreds. Which is why even though I loved this race, I don’t think I was trained enough to do this race distance. I bet I would have had a majorly different feel afterwards if I had done the 5k but other than feeling the since of accomplishment that I felt after passing the finish line, I was crying. I had been on the course for 2.5 hours and my legs where spasming so bad but at least I had finished it. Some were not so lucky and dropped out of the race before mile 4. For the remainder of the year I will train my hardest to try to do the 15k again with better outcome. One of the police officers that where there had done multiple marathons and that was some encouragement that helped me push myself harder but one police officer made me feel down on myself because they kept telling me to quit because I was the last one. To be honest it upset me yet made me determined to finish the race and prove that officer wrong.  Other than that, I really liked the staff and the support from the volunteers and staff alike. They were so encouraging and supportive that it made you not want to give up and gave you a second wind. This is why I recommend this race to you all. Most races I have heard of give up on their racers who fall behind and don’t meet their minimum requirements. This race didn't. We actually had one of the directors follow behind us for a bit to make sure we were okay and to let us know we were not alone. To me that meant a lot considering how bad the neighborhood we were running through was. Don’t take this the wrong way but when you go from a nice rural neighborhood to a neighborhood where there are guys dealing in front of their apartment, makes you just a bit nervous.  It is not the race officials fault by any means but it was a relief to know they cared enough about us to follow behind to make sure we made it to the finish line safe.  I also loved how a portion of the proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald house to help children. As you guys know I am a stickler for charities and if I know the race is for a good cause I will do whatever it takes to help show my support.

Don’t take my word for it however, sign up for a Hot Chocolate 5k/15k near you and share your experience with me. I am sorry I had a bit of issues with my GO PRO and didn't have the race course recorded but here are some pictures I took of this awesome race.