This is a race we love to race. There is chocolate... lots of chocolate! At the halfway point, volunteers hand out liberal amounts of dark chocolate bites instead of the traditional gel. I personally carried a handful back to share with a friends children. Good stuff!
This is a race we love to race. There is a tech hoodie... a high quality tech hoodie for all runners in both Male and Female styles!! His and Hers Fleece in black with a shirt tail hem, quarter zip, wicking exterior, fleece interior, reflective logo and rear zip pocket!
This is a race we love to race. There is a dipping bowl for each runner at the finish line loaded with chocolate fondue, pretzels, bananas, marshmallows, hot chocolate, and other goodies for dipping. Organizers refer to it as the Finisher's Mug. Definitely a favorite for many!
24° when we left our cozy motel room this morning. ATL race organizers asked runners to arrive by 6:30 AM so that parking / crowd control would allow enough time for the scheduled events to flow properly. We parked 1.25 miles away from the START so for the day, I collected 12 miles overall. The race route was also slightly longer than a 15K - coming in at 9.56 miles total. Quite the workout and lots of wind to lower the temps as well. First time I've ever wanted a bandit mask for a race (Eddie Bauer has a version that is non bank robber - not a ski mask - really wishing I had purchased it the day before with my ear muffs and magnetic finger mittens - yes, this is a non paid Eddie Bauer Promo - love their quality!).
As you can see in the graphs, there is no flat in this race. Non stop hills, most moderate and thankfully a downward slope for the finish. Route has ample turns, all is asphalt and is well monitored by police presence.
This race hosts two events - a 5K and a 15K - both start in one minute waves to manage crowd control on the course. Runners are given an alphabetical corral assignment but the assignment is not written in stone. Runners can pace themselves as they see fit. I ran with two friends and we chose to stand in the final corral. The 5K had 11,622 finishers with the finalist coming in at 1:30:53. The 15K had 5,361 runners with the finalist coming in at 2:36:56. Sixteen persons were listed as DNF in those numbers. Huge turnout for this event. There is a forty-five minute difference in start times for these races which also helps in the overall parking effort.
Speaking of parking... at least two vendors provided porta-toilets for the race. For the record, Pit Stop is the better vendor. The other vendor (Blue John) which dominated the parking lots, failed to adequately supply their units. We got there around 7:15 AM and most units had no toilet paper and none had hand sanitizer. And it wasn't a matter of crowd usage, the units are built to hold ample supplies for these type of events. Someone simply chose NOT to fully stock the units. Pit Stop did a much better job and needless to say, I've made a mental note for the future. It is ridiculous to expect runners to "bring their own" to an event like this. Yet, many did just that, having had this issue in prior years. I hope organizers listen to feedback and address this for future events. Even if volunteers are needed for restocking, it is not acceptable to have non working units with a crowd that size. It's TURNER FIELD for crying out loud, not like they haven't had a crowd before! *end of rant* For the record though, I saw at least four areas to accommodate the crowd, it wasn't a lack of units, simply a lack of properly stocking and/or restocking the units present.
Hot Chocolate currently hosts events in 14 different major cities. I am a huge fan of the shirts, can take it or leave it with the chocolate (yes, I am female and I do like chocolate, just not what I'm craving after 9.3 miles). I truly hope to participate in a few other cities in the future as the "bling" is more than worth it!
Run Happy!
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Yes, it was cold !
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