Hot Chocolate 15K

On Saturday, November 6 I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K in Grant Park. This was my very first race ever and no, I didn't start small! I skipped right over the 5K! My cousin, Shannon, was the inspiration behind this run for me. She's the one who called me up and invited me to do it with her. I've been training since April and was pretty sure that I could get to 7 miles, but wasn't sure how I would feel after that. I wasn't concerned at all with running the race quickly and I felt good the whole time. My 10K split was 1:08 and it took me 1:44 to run the whole thing. That's over an 11 minute mile, but now I have a baseline time to work from. My personal goal was to finish the race and run the whole time, no walking. Shannon and I stuck together and we did it! We crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. It was so awesome. Afterwards we enjoyed chocolate fondue and hot chocolate together...yummy. Good job, Sha!



I completely understand how people become addicted to running these races. It was amazing and exhilarating to be down on the lakefront with 30,000 people all running together. (I've never seen so much black spandex in my life!) Supporters were all along the course with their cow bells, signs, and encouraging words. Working toward running a race was very motivating for me and kept me committed to working out. I loved the whole experience. I'm hooked now and already looking into the next race that I can run. Shamrock Shuffle anyone??

Jeremy, Sarah, and Ali all ran the race, too! I met up with them before the race for a bit, but we got separated so I didn't get any pictures together with them afterwards. They all did awesome and crossed the finish line way before me. They finished in just over an hour and Sarah came in 27th (out of 2271 people) in her age group! Here we all are together with our bibs. I'm keeping mine forever. Good job guys! I'm so proud of you!