I usually sign up for 5K races quickly and this race was no exception. Colony Pizza has some of the best pizza in Connecticut. They are especially known for their hot oil pizza which is very spicy. This 5K race offered free pizza AND beer at the finish line. Basically I've never met a slice of pizza I didn't like, so it didn't take any arm twisting for me to sign up for this race!

The Colony Grill Hot Oil 5K took place on November 9th. Thankfully the weather was great - not too hot or too cold. I was actually hot by the time I finished the race so I was a bit overdressed.

Before the race I picked up my bib. It was very well organized and easy to find our bibs/shirts. To keep with the pizza theme, Colony Grill gave each runner a small pizza box with our items (photo attached).
The pizza box is the coolest idea ever!

Overall the course was good. Your typical 5K course - running through neighborhoods and streets. I will say that there were quite a few inclines (wouldn't quite call them hills) on the course. I wasn't expecting those, but I just powered through and tried not to think about it. The first mile was very crowded. I was constantly weaving in and out of groups of people, while still trying to find my running rhythm. I guess I was focusing on this too much and I didn't see the marker for Mile 1. Thankfully I always have my Nike GPS watch. I started thinking to myself "Damn, this is a long mile" and then I looked down at my watch to see we were at 1.5 miles..haha!I decided to try to pick up my pace for the last half of the run.

After the race I headed to the finisher area to get pizza and beer. It was very crowded but the pizza is worth the wait! I stuck around to see the awards which is always fun.

Its also easy to get to the race. You can either drive (plenty of parking) or take the metro north train.