my second 5k {hot chocolate 15k/5k san diego}

this past weekend i made a last minute decision to run the hot chocolate 5k in san diego. i had been debating the race since my knee injury and just when i thought i would just be cheering on my girlfriends  jim pretty much encouraged me into doing it. i was driving and told him to text janelle to see what time i needed to pick her up. the next morning was freezing and we were due for rain so i planned accordingly.  what i didn’t realize was that the pants i chose wouldn’t stick to me until i started to sweat, it was 45 degrees so it was going to take some time. as janelle and i were walking from our parking lot to the race location my pants were literally falling off. i was totally in for it. we needed to meet tessa and her mom but with the sea of runners we couldn’t find them. the race started and we were back in the ‘e’ corral, meaning alongside all the runners that chose the slowest running time. we slowly made our way up the starting line hill, jogging and dodging all the non-runners. after about five minutes i lost janelle because of the non-runners. i couldn’t get past them. when i finally found a hole i just kept at my jogging pace and felt great. this course was more challenging than chelsea’s run. there was a major hill after a bridge and that’s when i decided to save my energy and knees for the last mile. i was sitting right around a twelve minute mile, and when i hit the mile two marker the board said it was 28:36 but we were in the last pack crossing the starting line about four minutes after the start. i knew i was making better time than the first 5k. my ipod gave me the song i needed, “good feeling” by flo rida. i increased my jog to run and took in the sights. i was inspired my a mother and teenage daughter running together, they slowed down at one point and held hands. i had a moment watching this. i want to be able to do this with my kids so i started to run even faster. i looked out into the distance at the coronado bridge and ran even faster. the song inspiring me, “got adrenaline, never giving in, giving up’s not an option gotta get it in”. the song ended and i went back to it again. i do this even when i run at home. this song for whatever reason just helps me focus. i saw the finish line and i ran. this was my fastest mile and when i stopped i felt amazing. janelle was on her phone with tessa trying to see where they were. we all regrouped and took some photos and got in line for our reward of chocolate! ghirardelli was the sponsor of the race, it was an amazing reward even though eating the thick, warm chocolate was hard to stomach so i took most of mine home for payton. 

this was tessa’s starting point and we were even further back. 

right after. 

about to get our chocolate. 

our goodie box filled with: half of a banana, pretzel rod, quarter of an apple, a marshmallow, rice krispie treat, a cup of hot cocoa (this was delish) and a cup of warm chocolate fondue. they were also handing out squares of chocolate. i love their dark chocolate and i tried the dark chocolate sea salt soiree, amazing! drooling thinking about it. 

we sat around eating our chocolate and talking about the run as we listened to liquid blue. this band is amazing, no joke. my aunt and uncle have them at their end-of-summer parties, cannot wait for this august! if you want an invite let me know. ha ha. 

i improved my time by around 7-8 minutes. my first 5k, the one where i ate it i finished at 43 minutes. this one i finished around 35 minutes. i won’t know my official race time because i crashed the race but based on janelle’s time and her handy dandy phone we’re pretty sure it was right around there. 

now we’re planning the next one in a few weeks and looking as far as october for this race. are you a walking dead fan? check to see if this race comes to a town near you!