Plenty of firsts here for me.

1) First time travelling over 30 mins to a race.
2) First time staying in a hotel for a race.
3) First time racing the 15k distance.
4) First time having chocolate available at the aid stations!
5) First time being assigned to a race corral.
6) First time making use of a race pacer.

I stayed at the Sheraton Charlotte hotel, which was the "preferred" hotel on the race website. It was really nice and really convenient to have the race Expo at the same location. The Expo had a swap table if you needed to swap out your ordered race shirt size.

The race shirts themselves are amazing -- a bit above your normal race t-shirt. They are quality long sleeve micro-fleece tops. I wanted to purchase an additional one for my wife, but they didn't sell them unfortunately.

The race start line was only a few blocks away from the hotel (15min walk) and I had no trouble finding it on race morning. I got there quite early and saw the 5k race leave before the 15k people assembled on the start line.

Being assigned a race corral was fantastic. Very few times have I started a race without a squeeze at the starting line. My assigned corral was the first to start and it was so cool to be able to start off running and not trip over anyone. The corrals were released 4 mins apart.

My target was an 8.30/mi race. But I didn't know what to expect in terms of elevation. I couldn't find this information on the website. I started out a little too fast, among the 8.00/mi crowd. At around 2 miles in and a few hills, I was starting to slow a little. The 8.30/mi group caught up with me. I managed to stay with the 8.30/mi for the remainder of the race and still achieved my target, but it wasn't easy!

All credit to the race pacer though. He kept on pace the whole way and motivated those around him to keep going. I had never used a pacer before like this, but could not have done it without it this time.

Racing at the 15k distance was new for me. It feels weird to finish just before 10 miles. This was definitely good prep for me with a Half Marathon coming up in March. I know better what I'm capable of and can make some goal adjustments with confidence.

The after-race party was dampened a little by the constant drizzle all morning. So the field itself was becoming really muddy... or was that chocolate... now I'm not sure. Anyway -- the bowls of melted chocolate and assortment of items to dip in it was awesome.

The Live tracking was really cool as well. It was a free service that allowed my wife to check on my progress. It texted my pace at 5k, 10k and completion to her phone.

The race also provided race photos for free, and most of them were available immediately after the race. Now that is amazing right there. It's not their fault I look half dead in most of them.

Would I run this race again? Yes, I would!