Hot Chocolate 5K
A few weeks ago I signed up for the Hot Chocolate 15 K in Denver. The concept is YUMMY! You run the race and at
the end you get hot chocolate and chocolate fondue with misc. goodies to go
in. These goodies included marshmallows,
pretzels, rice crispy treats, banana and another thing or two. I signed up and
then it occurred to me, I can’t have most of the goodies, so I sent in an
email. I was told all the snacks were separately
wrapped and I shouldn’t have any issues.
Then the evil germ buckets got the better of me (I must add that I love
the evil little germ buckets and I would trade in where I work for
anything!). For once in my life I actually
listened to my body and downgraded to the 5K. Keeping in mind this was an inaugural
race there are a lot of ups and downs (some things would be a down if it were
not an inaugural)
Packet Pick-up
Packet pick-up was held on Friday and Saturday (no packet
pick-up the morning of) – Thumbs down.
This race is not a massive race there is no reason not to permit same
day packet pick-up. In two days I drove
almost 300 miles for this race. I get
Runner’s Roost would lose money if it were morning of packet pick-up, but I am
not a fan of theirs by ANY stretch of the imagination, so them losing money is
NO skin off my back.
Goodie bag
The bag included a sweatshirt and the bib and that was it!
Yes, they had little pieces of chocolate at the “expo” (which was not an expo) –
Thumbs downs(ish)
Pre-race
We got a little piece of paper recommending we get to the
race at 5:45 (race start was 7:00). We
got there closer to 5.
Port-a-potties – two different areas and there were plenty –
Thumbs up
Merchandise sales area – a little crowded, volunteers were
not trained how to work the computers, got an awesome pair of jammie bottoms – Inaugural
Thumbs up
Support area – they had the standard band aids, safety pins,
etc. Oh! And hair ties!!!!! – Thumbs up
Race Start
We were line up in corals, it was obvious there were a
significant number of newbies out there which is awesome, but race etiquette
needs to be explained CLEARLY to these people.
A lot of basic information was listed on their site. – Thumbs up
While lined up in the corals I saw at least two strollers –
the rule against them NEEDS to be enforced! – Thumbs down.
Race
The race went off without a hitch. It was a flat course, one water stop with
port-a-potties. Mile marker 1 and 2 were
pretty close to what my Garmin read (I get a smide off, not a big deal) mile
marker 3 and the finish line were off! My Garmin read 3.35 (I would understand
up to 3.25) – Thumbs downs(ish)
According to my Garmin’s distance I am very happy with my
time! I might have been slow, but that is ok I did it and I didn’t hack up a
lung in the process!
After Party
Once the race was over the masses went over to the chocolate
tent. The set up was well organized, it
was a very streamlined process. – Thumbs up
The email response I received LIED!!!! The pretzels were not
separately wrapped, BUT there were no issues when I asked for a bowl without pretzels
– Thumbs WAY up
There wasn’t as much chocolate as they made it seem, but the
chocolate went over well.
A few things I would suggest…
#1 – Do not make packet pick-up mandatory the day/2 days
before.
#2 – ENFORCE the no stroller/no dogs on the course rule (my
sister saw some dogs out there too)
#3 – Consider finding out about people’s allergies
(gluten/dairy) and look into the possibility of having an allergy bowl. (I am not saying they need to do it, but it might not hurt to look into it)
All in all it was a good inaugural, they do have some glitches
then need to work out but they have a good strong start.
Do not let what you can not do; interfere with what you can do.
–John Wooden
