This fun, hilly race takes you all around the Charlotte area. It starts at First Ward Park which is easily accessible from the Uptown Charlotte area, and is directly off of the light rail. The expo was small but had a lot of options for gear and opportunities to sample sweets. The options to pickup your bib are limited (just Friday expo hours which only went until 6pm), but you could request your bib to be sent to you ahead of time when you registered.

The swag included a nice, zip up, lined jacket, and bowl of sweets and chocolate dip once you cross the finish line, as well as a cup of piping hot chocolate, and free race photos that were emailed to you on race day. Pretty cool for the reasonable registration price, and I love the choice of race distances (the 5k or 15k). Better than the typical 5k only or even 10k option.

There wasn't a ton of crowd support throughout the race, but the aid stations were frequent and efficient. About halfway through they started offering chocolate or other sweets like marshmallows. The course is rolling hills the entire time, but it wasn't awful. Definitely a good workout! I'd definitely recommend this race to someone looking for a challenge but that wants that sweet, sweet swag!

Check out my blog post for a more detailed review of the race weekend: http://www.fitnewtonblog.com/race-recap-charlotte-allstate-hot-chocolate-15k-5k/