Registration was a breeze. I had no problems with it. I also liked that they sent weekly training emails to help you prepare and get hyped up for the race. I was also able to apply for a preferred corral using my last half marathon time. You actually have to show proof of it and if approved, they will put you in an earlier corral. A few days before race day, I received emails with links to all the important information I needed for race day including the QR code for package pickup, my corral info, and start time. They were very organized and I really appreciated that I didn't have to hunt for anything.

Package Pickup, Swag, and Other Perks

I opted to pick up my package at the expo but for out-of-towners, the option to have it mailed was there. I thought that was a great idea, but it's only open to US addresses. We got to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall at around 4pm and there were hardly any lines. Had there been any, I bet it would've flown by really quickly since there were a good number of volunteers there. They quickly scanned the QR code from your email and handed you the bib. The bib had a gear check tag, gear check pickup tab and of course the finisher mug tab (very important).

I was then directed to pick up my goodie bag, which essentially was the hoodie. The hoodie was awesome. It's so comfortable and warm and I can see myself using it often. I can say that this is one of my favourite race swag. We then continued on throughout the expo and a number of vendors were there selling accessories, sunglasses, official Hot Chocolate 15k and 5k merchandise and other race representatives like Oiselle's The Tenacious Ten.

Nuun Hydration was also there sampling various Nuun Active flavours. I was also able to try out their new line of vitamin drinks. Of all the flavours, I loved the blueberry pomegranate and ginger lemonade the best. They are also the hydration sponsor of the Hot Chocolate 15k and 5k so runners were able to stay hydrated with various flavours of Nuun throughout the course.

There were a bunch of inflatables around the expo for photo ops, which was cool. They were also handing out chocolate drizzled marshmallows and hot chocolate in case you didn't want to wait until the next day to get a treat :P

As for race day perks... Let's start from the top. Gear check was available for runners, but I didn't use it. It looked like your gear was pre-selected to be in a specific bin (as per the tag on your bib) and you just drop it off on race day while volunteers put it in the specific box. On the course, the aid stations were frequent enough and all had Nuun and water but some Sweet Stations had marshmallows or M&M's. Race photographers were out on the course so if you're lucky, you were able to download race photos of yourself for free. If you're a spectator, you could've tracked your runner but we didn't try it out. There were timing mats at certain points so I assume, people could just look up your bib number and see if you ran a certain distance already. The medal was a big, gold chocolate bar with bite on the corner. It was a hefty medal and it looked great, I got lots of compliments on it. The finisher mug was pretty awesome too. The mug had a cup of hot chocolate, a banana, bag of pretzels, rice krispies treats, cookies, melted chocolate for dipping, and a moist towelette.

Course

Hope you like hills because you'll get lots with this course! You can't escape it. You kind of just have to suck it up and adjust your pace accordingly. If I were you, I'd do a bit of recon on the course in the days leading up to the race. Luckily, we drove along Aurora on the way to the expo so I had a sneak peek of the punishment that's coming. Don't let it discourage you, just mentally prepare and you can conquer it. I know it's easier said than done but really.. it's mostly mental. My favourite parts of the course were the downtown parts, running across the Aurora Bridge and anywhere that's a downhill lol! I ended up with 200 m of elevation gain on my Strava entry. So... yeah not flat. To add insult to injury, it's an uphill finish... which was a surprise to me.

Don't expect cheer sections. It was a little disappointing that there were only a handful of people spectating and cheering but that's ok. There was a cheer section at the top of the Aurora hill which was really cool. They gave me the boost I needed to keep going. The volunteers at the aid stations were really lively though. I appreciated their smiling faces as well as the huge marshmallows they were handing out. I felt like a cyclocross racer accepting a hand up :P

Would I Do This Again?

Yes... But I'd like to try a Hot Chocolate 15k and 5k in another city just to change things up a bit. The race is well-organized, the website was easy to navigate and had all the information I needed. What you get out of it is fantastic: the hoodie, the sweets, the finisher mug full of food and hot chocolate, the big medal, the race atmosphere... It's definitely worth it. With so many races across the US, you're bound to find one that will be convenient for you to get to.

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