SKECHERS Hot Chocolate Run

The best value race by far that I have ever done. For the price of $75, you get a jacket, hot chocolate, melted chocolate to dip various sugary snacks in, and free race photos. The 15K starts at 8 AM, making it a little warmer to balance out our already “cold” (Florida cold) December. That alone makes me want to do this every year.

I rode my bike there and arrived a little late. I didn’t realize there were pace groups, and I started with a pretty crowded slow one. This probably took a good minute or two off of my time. I did not feel too confident in my running. Most of my long runs were done in zone 2 at a pace of 12-14 minutes, so my 9 minute pace from February didn’t feel natural and I didn’t want to blow up. Once I broke through the crowd, I was able to keep the 9 minute pace, dipping below that for a few miles.

I really thought I would perform better with all of the running I have been doing. The most surprising part is that I basically ran a little slower than my 5K pace on run club. My limitations might just be mental. I think there was just a lack of preparation. I didn’t sleep well (I worked on this website’s race feature instead of sleeping early), drank a bottle of wine over the weekend, didn’t eat well the night before, and didn’t hydrate well.

I have a half-marathon in Sunday and given how this went, I can probably do a 9 minute pace for it. That’s the new plan. Overall, I had fun.