I loved that we still had the experience of the Hot Chocolate 15k Race even though it was virtual. All of the swag that we received was just like we went to the expo or crossed the real finish line- lots of chocolate included! I liked the jacket this year but it definingly ran on the smaller side and is a little stiff. I am not sure I will be able to wear it to run in like year's past. The HC team did a great job in the Philadelphia facebook group the "day of" with trying to hyper up any runner that was participating. I would have liked to see more on instagram since that is the main platform that I use. Looking forward to getting back to racing in person but this one was executed perfectly for the virtual space!

I ran both the 5k and attempted the half marathon- the races were on two different days. The 5k race was so much fun and the energy of the city kept you going. The post race food was not very dairy-free friendly so we were not able to enjoy anything outside of the banana.

The Half Marathon started almost an hour late due to police still on the route. All of us runners waited in our corrals with no sense of when the race would actually start. Once we did start the crowd support was super energetic. We came up to our first aid station as since I did not speak French, I relied on the signage colors- blue was gatorade and orange was water. That was a bit strange to me and did cause a little confusion at the first aid station.

A lot of runners openly shared that they did not train for this half/full and were just out winging. This caused a lot of congestion on the course and it was difficult to get around other runners before the road opened up.

Right before the aid station at mile 5, there was an unmarked pothole on the course. Unfortuately, my right foot went in this pothole and I wound up fracturing my cuboid bone. Luckily, the medics were at this station and they tried to help me. The medic told me she just learned how to take BP on her was over to the race (that did not make me feel very good). Because I wasn't able to finish the race, they called for transportation to come get me and take me to the start line. I waited in the tent for so long, they began breaking down everything around me and left me to sit on the sidewalk. Transport never came so I wound up taking an Uber back to where we were staying.

I emailed the race after all of this had happened and they had nothing to reply back about my awful experience. I would love to run this again, but not after how the race organizers treated my situation.

I was not sure what to expect from this race since I was from out of town. I did a little exploring the days leading up to the race to get a better idea of the course but the hills were still so unexpected. The crowd support especially through the neighborhoods was amazing, definitely helped me to keep going. The finishline area was a little hectic due to the NFL Draft that was happening so I would be curious to see how that is different in a normal year.

The Love Run is the race that officially kicks off the spring race season in Philadelphia. The course takes you through a little bit of center city and then out onto MLK Drive. It is a great course for a beginner in the half distance. The weather this time of year is unpredictable- I have ran in snow, rain, summer like temps etc. The crowd support when not on the Drive is so lively that it keeps you motivated to push forward. Finally, the race swag every year is one that I look forward too. My favorite part of the swag is the coffee mug.