Hot Chocolate 15K

I was so close to a PR. So close! In fact, I thought is had one until I looked up my time from two years ago when I last ran this race. Turns out, this year I was 10 seconds slower. 10 seconds! Ugh! Ten seconds aside, I'm happy with how the race went. It's a big race. The last race I ran was the 10K. I believe they capped registration at 750 people with only a couple hundred actually registering. The Hot Chocolate had 40,000 registered for the 5K and 15K. That's a whole lot of people! The organizers grouped us in corrals according to time and did wave starts. It took me, way back in corral Q, over an hour past the gun start to actually cross the start line. Fortunately, this isn't my first rodeo, so I was prepared for a wait.
There are advantages and disadvantages to running with that many people. One of the main advantages is that you're never really running alone. There's always someone next to you to pace with, someone behind you to push you on, and someone in front of you to strive to catch. One of the main disadvantages is that your never really running alone. There are people to hold you up when the drop suddenly to a walk. You're always elbow to elbow.
I haven't decided yet if I prefer the big city races or the smaller neighborhood races more. Each of them have their appeal. What I do like is the feeling of gathering with fellow runners to do what we like to do, run. What I like best about the Hot Chocolate race is the chocolate fondue that all finishers get. Yummy, warm chocolate fondue with a banana, marshmallow, and Rice Krispies treat to dunk into the chocolate. Mmm! Goodness! The hot chocolate they gave us to drink left a lot to be desired so I pitched that.
Overall it was a good day. I had a good run on a gorgeous day in my hometown big city. Only thing that could have made it better was a second helping of chocolate fondue at the end. Oh, and to have been 11 seconds faster. ;)