The Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15K & 5K

Sunday was race day! I woke up at 4:50 in the morning and we left the house around 5:20am to drive from my house to Atlanta. The traffic was pretty good until we got to Turner Field, then it was a little backed up, but we had plenty of time.

After parking the car and gearing up, we walked from our parking lot to the race site and did a quick sweep of the area. There was a place to check bags and a few vendors and merchandise tents. I actually did look at merchandise, but there weren't any shirts left that I like. (I have since learned on Facebook that there will be an online store soon!)

I have to admit, this was a very well organized event! They had corral letters on our bibs based on the pace that we entered at sign up which matched ordered gates to stand in. The only thing that took a while was actually starting the race. We were in corral F, which was five from the front. Once they corralled us, we had to wait for the race to actually begin (about 15 minutes). First, was corral A. The horn sounded for them and they took off. Then, we all moved forward in 3 minute intervals, so it was about 30 minutes of standing around waiting to actually race.

The course was hilly, and by hilly, I mean steep hills! The very first one had my calves on fire!! There was a point when my toes actually went numb and I couldn't feel them at all! Once we got to the finish line, we were given Gatorade and then a bottle of water. Then, off to the after party...

There was a tear-off strip on the bottom of the race bib for our "finisher's mug," which consisted of a brown coffee mug with dividers in it. There was a spot for a cup of Ghiardelli hot cocoa, a packet of sugar wafers, two marshmallows, some pretzels, a Rice Krispy Treat and a banana. There was a DJ and SO many people. In fact, there were just over 19,000 (yes, thousand) people signed up for this race.

Here I am with my finisher's mug!

And, Jessica with hers.

It was a great experience and I will definitely repeat it next year. It was well worth the 5am wake up. I had to work right after the race and I didn't get to bed until later last night, so I am super tired. I have logged nearly 8 miles so far this month. I still have a lot to go!

   

Hot Chocolate 5K Atlanta Expo and Swag!!

Today, after work and watching martial arts, the fam and I drove to Atlanta to the GA World Congress Center for the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K Expo and packet pick-up. The race is on Sunday at Turner Field at an insane time of morning!

I have to say, the pick up was extremely smooth moving. There were lots of vendors there. I refrained from purchasing everything I wanted, but I have had issues with my ears being cold a lot, so I splurged and spent 10 bucks on an ear warmer band. I already love it!! I don't know if I'll use it on Sunday, though, because the weather here in Georgia has taken a turn for the crazy and it's 70 degrees outside right now!

Who wouldn't love this?

I met up with my running buddy, Jessica while I was there and we walked around for a few minutes together. We even stopped for a picture:

Yep, this is us, standing in front of a marshmallow man's crotch!

Right next to the "marshmallow man," was a table full of deliciousness:

If you've never tried this before, it's available at a lot of stores and it is like CRACK! You will eat it with a spoon!

After I left the expo, we took the kids through downtown Atlanta to eat at one of the greasiest, yummiest little treasures of the city, The Varsity! They serve hamburgers, hotdogs, chili/slaw dogs and burgers, fries, onion rings, ice cream and the beloved Frosted Orange! It was delicious and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves!

Here is one last pic of all the swag from the Expo. I'll post again after the race on Sunday!

A hoodie instead of a shirt, a hat, a cute bib, a  bag, the headband and the biscoff spread

One Week In and A Little Disappointed

I am one week into my January challenge. So far, I have run 4.36 miles. Not too shabby since I hadn't run at all since last month and that was only a mile! Of course, when I woke up this morning, I was eager to see if the scale had moved. I haven't been logging or really working hard to reduce my calories or even change my eating habits all that much. I don't want to take on too much at once and end up getting burned out, so I have just tried to be more aware of the snacking and how much I am eating. You know, no pressure. So, I hopped on the scale and prepared for success.

Epic. Fail.

I am UP 1.5 pounds from last week! I am hoping hoping hoping that it is due to extra water retention in my muscles from starting to run again. I mean, I have stopped nibbling on chocolate at night. I even started drinking a cup of tea in the evenings to curb that craving all together (and it's been working!) I have been choosing to eat more salads and fewer sandwiches/chips!! What the frig???

I'm not going to let it really get me down. It's only one week. It takes 12 weeks to really notice a change and I'm just working up to a real routine. I am, however, going to try to increase my water intake a bit more from here out. I am usually dehydrated because I just don't think to drink water. (I am currently sipping on a glass of water with a splash of lemon juice in it as I type this.)

Less than one week until the Hot Chocolate 5K. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. I'm really glad they are back in school now. It helps me get things accomplished easier, both with housework and working out.

Tick, Tick, Boom and A Run

My next race, the Hot Chocolate 5K, is in one week. My "training," thus far, has been atrocious. Today, I had one of my "de-stress" runs. I had less than 30 minutes to squeeze in a run and I ran nearly a mile and a half. The first mile was at my comfortable pace of 5mph and for the remainder of the run, I turned it up to 6mph and ran until I was tired. It wasn't too far, but it was sufficient.

I'm not sure how the race on Sunday will go. I am, of course, extremely nervous about it. You'd think after completing a half marathon last year I would be more comfortable with the short races. I think this one has me all wound up because it starts at 7:30 in the morning. That is EARLY for me! That's what time I wake up on the mornings I have to get the kids to school. To even get to the location for this race, I will have to leave my house at 5am and I'll be running at 7:30!! Then....then there is the post party which is an expo of chocolate!!! Not too sure how my body will be handling chocolate that early in the morning.

Moving on to the not so fun part of this post. The car I drive to work, which is a clunker, has been acting up as of late. We have been trying to brainstorm as to what the problem was with it. On Friday evening, I drove from work over to the martial arts studio to watch my son. After that was over, the four of us went over to Walmart and purchased a few small groceries and parts for the car. We decided to change the spark plugs, the air filter and the oil filter/oil. Then, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. I was almost home, driving the kids in the family car, when my cell rang. It was my husband calling to tell me that I needed to turn around because the car quit running and wouldn't start back up. Great. Just great. Here we are on the way home with parts. Just our luck, right? We decided to have the car towed home the following morning and he would look at it then.

Well, he jacks the car up and comes into the house to get me. "It can't be fixed," he says. Yeah.  I go outside and peer under the car and into a hole about the size of my fist in the engine block. So, needless to say, I don't know what in the world we are going to do. We just spent nearly 500 dollars putting new tires on that car! Happy New Year!!!! It's always something, isn't it?