The Hot Chocolate 15K in Minneapolis had special meaning for me this year. This particular race allows you the opportunity to raise money for a particular charity. This year, it was the Ronald McDonald House Charities. A few years ago, my daughters' BFF passed away from Lymphoma, and her family used them quite a bit while Carina was in and out of the hospital. All in all, I raised over $1000 and was given a free race in return. I also received a $50 gift card to spend at the Hot Chocolate store at the expo.

I volunteered for this race as well at the expo, handing out race bibs. Afterwards, I used my gift card at the Hot Chocolate store in the expo itself. The expo was well staffed and organized and had a lot of great vendors. You could easily spend over an hour there if you like to shop for running stuff.

The bibs weren't preassigned. This made it easy to hand them out and kept the lines to a bare minimum. Give your name, and it was entered into a computer, printed out, and attached to a bib. It was so fast! It also gave group or family members the opportunity to have consecutive numbers!

The Hot Chocolate jackets were a nice touch, although they ran small. I couldn't exchange mine on race day because they had run out of Ladies Mediums, but i did get to exchange it for a Men's Small. That was OK, although it was green rather than pink. But I'd rather have something that fit. I might also add that they didn't wash very well. They shrunk up and got a little misshapen.

Somehow, I had a huge issue parking because of construction. I'm not sure how everyone else did. I ended up parking on Boom Island, which I wasn't supposed to do. Thank goodness I didn't get a ticket, but I did have to wait a little bit before I left as there were still runners on the course.

The course itself was a bit of a shocker to me as we wound through some industrial areas. One road scares the heck out of me to drive on, let alone to run on. But at that time of day on a Saturday, I guess it is as safe as it's gonna be. But running along the river is always nice, and crossing it as many times as we did made for a challenging, but occasionally scenic run.

There were aid stations along the way. I'm guessing 3 or 4 for the half marathon. They all had candy of one form or another. I don't eat sugar, so this didn't interest me at all. I also carried my own hydration, so I didn't use any of the water stops. But the volunteers were all very friendly.

There weren't many fans on the course, which meant most of the support came from the volunteers, but they did a great job!

After the run, there was an after race party featuring music and lots of chocolate, both hot and cold, and in the candy form. Again, I don't eat or drink it, so I gave away my hot chocolate and brought the goodies home to my family. Like I mentioned earlier, there was a gear exchange, but I had to settle for the men's jacket.

Overall, I recommend the Hot Chocolate 15K. It is a well run event. And the swag and post race party is fun, especially if you are with a group of friends or with the family. And if you like lots of sugar!

The best part is, however, that you get FREE race photos! And I was super excited to find mine was showcased on the website that year! The race meant a lot to me because of the fund raiser and because I was running in memory of Carina. I even had a special bib made for the run. You can read more about it at http://www.neonismycolor.com/hc15k-race-recap/