Gosh, where do I start with this race recap?
9.3 miles done, in 1:44. My best race? No. But after coming off an injury I am darn proud of this one.
First and foremost, this race was more about spending time with my friends and having fun. I wasn’t able to meet up with the bloggers because I had previous plans to run with friends, but honestly that is my only regret about the weekend.
Yes, the packet pick up was long…and cold. But we had fun regardless. Are all races put together perfectly? No…but I find it isn’t all about organization that makes the race successful.
We met at my friend Carolyn’s house the afternoon before the race, packed up my jeep and made a quick stop at Jewel for water and breakfast bars. We hit the road to downtown, and made it to the hotel in fairly good time only hitting a small amount of traffic. I must admit, I am in awe every time I go into the city. The Chicago skyline is breathtaking no matter what the weather!
We laughed, joked, and goofed around finding ourselves the life of the party as we greeted fellow Hot Chocolaters! We made it to our room which was amazing, and even were greeted by the staff with extra pillows, robes, and why yes, disposable slippers! It’s the little things, right?
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| View from our room |
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| Can you tell we were happy? |
After relaxing and getting cleaned up we decided to head down to the meeting spot for dinner, which was Carmines Italian restaurant. We decided to hail a cab because walking a mile and a half in boots while it was drizzling just didn’t seem like a good idea the night before a race. We were surprisingly welcomed by hailing a LIMO!!! Yeah, it cost a bit more, but I haven’t been in a LIMO in well, 20 years? So it was worth it as we laughed and joked the entire way to the restaurant.
We met up with our fellow runners and had a simply amazing dinner. Thankfully we split the portions because I don’t know how one person could eat all of this!!!!
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| Amazing group of women! Hope to get to run again with them soon! |
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for showers and to get our stuff organized for the morning. Bed time was around 10:30, but I couldn’t help to toss and turn trying to clear my mind. Could I actually run 9.3 miles? Of course other stressors crept into my mind, but that always seems to be my problem at night…thankfully I drifted off, and didn’t wake up until our wake up call.
We got up, dressed, ate, and headed down to our corrals. We hugged Melissa as she set off for her 5K corral and got Carolyn’s bag checked before heading to her corral. I was corral K, but wanted to run with Carolyn at the start so we headed to corral R. We were having fun, albeit cold, spectating the other runners and the ‘GORUCK’ guys that were carrying ruck sacks and drinking beer while they waited, LOL. Later we found out they stopped at every mile, did pushups and other exercises to support our military. Pretty cool, although I had no clue how they could be drinking beer and running, LOL.
About 1:08 we finally crossed the start line, just to receive a text from Melissa that she had finished her 5K! LOL. In my opinion they should’ve started the 15K race first, but all in all it was ok. The first 3 miles were spent in the crowd, trying to find a good place to be. I had to pee, but didn’t want to stop so early. My knee hurt, but it really started to feel good around mile 5…this of course when Carolyn’s hip started to get wonky so I decided my best bet would to be to go on without her, because running slow hurts my knee even more. We parted and off I went…I found myself nearly flying past people as I found a good edge of trail that was soft…I sort of lost myself for a few miles in the run, and in the music playing in my ear. I did stop around mile 7 for a bio break but then took right back off to run. IT. FELT. GREAT. Yes, my knee is still wonky, but that is just par for the course. I was running, and running strong. Mile 8 I got a text from my hubby asking how it went, and that just motivated me more to GOOOO. I kicked it up even more around mile 9, and literally was sprinting the last .3
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| I see the start!!! |
Afterwards we all met up, got our cheesy mugs of fondue and Hot Chocolate and headed back to the hotel. We cleaned up quickly, and headed back to the burbs. We of course had to stop at Tom and Eddies for some amazing burgers/fries, and then it was time to say goodbye.
What an amazing weekend…
Back to reality tomorrow, but it’s moments like these that make it all worthwhile.
Thanks again, for those that support me…You are all the wind on my back, and the fire under my feet. xoxoxoxo
Movin' it with Michelle 
Sounds like a fabulous weekend and an even more fabulous running experience! Yay!!
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Sounds like a great weekend! I read a recap from a blogger who did a GORUCK challenge and it looked insane. Like a whole different type of crazy.
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Glad you had a great time!!! Nice job on the race! I saw the GORUCK guys out there and they were also literally drinking their beer WHILE running and letting others take drinks of it lol and yes they were also doing pushups at every mile 🙂
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So glad you had so much fun! You rock!
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Sounds like a great time, and I know it must have felt FANTASTIC to be so strong at the end! Way to go!
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Way to go Michelle!!!
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Tim ran the 15K and was in corral N. I saw people leaving with the finisher's mug before he ever crossed the start line. Also, his mug included a ton of liquid chocolate, but only 1 marshmallow and three pretzels. Isn't the chocolate the most expensive part of the ensemble?
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I love the swag these hot chocolate races, especially the jacket they gave out a year or so ago.
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Congrats! So happy your knee cooperated and you had a fun girls weekend! (LIMO! Exciting!)Also, with all the negativity with this race, happy to read that you had fun and the right attitude about it all 🙂
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Sounds like an awesome weekend. That spaghetti and meatball dinner looks incredible!
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A girls weekend/race is always fun! Looks like you had a great time. I looooove Carmine's!!!
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Congrats! Fondue, too?! Sounds like a fun time! I hope your knee heals soon.
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This sounds like an awesome weekend. I laughed with the Army guys. It's my experience that if it involves beer these guys can do anything…ask my boyfriend! Lol
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