Hot Chocolate is back to in-person race this year! I was especially excited since this would be my 5th year running this race. So here is the breakdown:

Pre-race -
I opted in for the 5K in-person option this time as 15K option was not available due to city resource constraints. They mailed me the bib and insulated jacket about 3 days prior to the race (you can opt in for expo pickup also), and they even provided the pins for the bib.

Race day -
There were 5200 registrants for this year, so there was a huge crowd at Seattle center on race day morning. But the race organizers did a great job with signages so you knew where to go for start line corrals, customer service tent, and porta-potties.

The course is out-and-back with total elevation gain about 100ft (small hill on mile 2). The race promptly started at 7am, temp was in the high 30s. I was in corral A, the leading group took off like a dart after the gun went off. We ran around the wheelchair group. About 15 of us were shuffling and settling into own places. Throughout the next two miles, a few passed me and I passed a few. And finished with a time of 17:55.

Post-race -
After taking a medal pic at the hot chocolate backdrop. I went over to the beverage area and picked up the hot cocoa and snacks. It was quite delightful to enjoy that hot beverage on a chilly morning! A few hours later, all the race pics came in through an email notification.

This was quite a memorable race even after 5 years. I would highly recommend this race whether you are new to running or a seasoned racer!

Going into this race, I had a solid 18 weeks build up without any major injuries. Most of the MP (marathon pace) workouts were done at 6:30/mi and my body felt comfortable with it. There were a few workouts that I couldn’t hit the targeted threshold or interval paces. My 2021 weekly mileage had been in mid 40s before starting the training plan in August.
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A goal - 2:50
B goal - 2:55
C goal - about 3:00
Actual (GPS) - 2:49:16, 26.30mi, 252W, 168bpm, 182spm
Training plan - Pfitzinger 18wk/55mi (+10mi on peak weeks)

Goal A was overreaching, none of my MP workouts had ended with a 6:29 mile. B was my safe goal, I could confidently run this race as a really hard workout with avg 6:30-6:40. C was the respect-the-distance goal, there is so much could go wrong in a marathon.
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Race day morning:
I hopped on the 5am bus with friends from downtown Sac to Folsom. The bus was full of banters, it calmed my nerves. We stayed on the bus after it arrived the start line to keep warm. Then we parted ways. I got water, had bio break, then lined up at the start.
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Mile 1-10:
Positioned myself between the 2:45 and 3:00 waves (self seeded). We crossed start line about 30 sec after the gun went off. I quickly found myself swallowed in a sea of runners shuffling left and right to find their spaces, as I was doing the same. By mile 6 I had already run an extra .07 miles, which I was trying to avoid.
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Downhill on mile 1. Small hill on mile 2. Cruised through mile 3-6 with few downhill stretches. Then settled into marathon pace soon after.
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The morning was 45 degrees, but warmer than the expected 39 degrees with high humidity. I tossed my gloves soon after mile 3 and was sweating heavier than I wanted to.

Mile 10-20
Glutes and hamstrings started to feel stiff by mile 10 (they’d been tight the entire week). I tried to stay relaxed and shuffle one foot in front of other to stay loose. Banked few seconds in the mile 10-13 downhill miles.
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Ran into a friend from IG at mile 11, we’d planned to run 2:50 together but couldn’t find him at the start. I led him through mile 20.
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I crossed the halfway point at exactly 1:25:00 (half of my A goal), luck or precision? You decide. Either way I was poised to hit 2:50. My garmin said 13.2 at halfway (.10 extra) avg 6:28, so I’d need to go 1-2 sec faster per mile to sneak under 2:50. No problem I thought, I could pick up the pace.
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At mile 18, some runners started walking here. My pace continued to drop as my energy level dropped steadily. I aimed to stay near 6:30.
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Mile 20 - 22
This is where “the race starts” . Soon after mile 20, a pack of women flew passed me from behind. Their strides looked determined and effortless. They were likely going for 2:45. A few of us tried to latch on but failed.
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Mile 21 and 22 were tough. Many runners started walking. I felt tempted to do the same. Fatigue started to set in, I was losing focus. I was losing sight of A goal. So I swung my arms as hard & wide as possible to keep the momentum up. I looked at my garmin, pace dropped from 6:25 to 6:27, then 6:32.
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I trained hard to get here, I am NOT throwing in the towel now. If I can’t run I’ll walk, if I can’t walk I’ll crawl. I’m going to get this done.

**Most marathoners will find the the toughest part of the race to be the last 10k. I dedicated this race’s last 10k in memory of 3 people who recently lost their battles to cancer. Jim - a beloved neighbor, husband & grandfather. Steve - my ex’s father, he was an artist with a gentle soul. Herbert - the director who hired me on my first career job.**
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Mile 22 - 26.2
After the last small hill on the bridge, we emerged from suburb to downtown Sac. The crowd support was reinvigorating, I felt a sudden surge of energy pumping through my body.
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Luck favors the bold. As I entered the last 5k, my legs were not cramp-y so it was time to drop the hammer. I was running this stretch like the last 800m of a 5k, passing runners left and right.
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With 400m to go, a final turn on 8th street, I spotted the clock and it said 2:49:xx, I sprinted to the finish line and shouted “BOSTON!”. Chip time 2:49:13. That’s a 15min BQ with a 47sec negative split on 2nd half (Also a NYC qualifier too). In 2019 I BQ-ed by only 17sec. That’s it, I’ve done it, I’m going to Boston.
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Post race:
There were 5-6 cameras at the finish, I felt like a D-list celebrity. After a volunteer put the medal around my neck, I quickly spotted my support crew and they signaled me to a rendezvous point. My legs started to cramp, my hormone was out of whack, I held my left hamstring with one hand and the crowd barrier with another and started sobbing. Then I found my crew, held my spouse and cried some more. We went to the beer garden, I enjoyed an ice cold beer then I treated myself with a big bowl of ramen afterwards.
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It was my magical day. Thanks for reading.

This was my 4th year running the Hot Chocolate 15k in Seattle. Since this year is virtual, there was no big hill on Aurora on my course :)

The likes - Best. Swag. Ever. For 15k participants you get a tech hoodie jackets, and these jackets seem to get better and better every year. This year's has a no-bounce chest pocket (fits iPhone 12), zippered hand pockets, and a detachable hood. The gear bag also came with hot coco packets, a few pieces of milk chocolates, and the medal and bib. One odd thing was there were no pins for the bib. The gear bag arrived 3 days prior to the race, that was some good logistics management. P.S. You don't have to wait until after the race to drink the hot coco :)

The dislikes - As much as the race organizers spent the effort to host live Facebook sessions throughout race day, it wasn't something I had energy for after racing hard for 9.3 miles. The race result page also did not have any sort of time/distance validation, so it's an honor system and it makes it hard to compare time results with others. Also, this virtual race experience would probably be more enjoyable to run with a friend or two (socially distanced of course).

Overall, I recommend running with Hot Chocolate events for virtual or in-person, they spend good effort to make sure us virtual racers have a genuine, fun, and rewarding experience.

If you are looking for a good time, a challenging course with good view of Seattle, then add this race to your list. This was my third year running this race and I cannot wait to go back again.

The start line is by Seattle Center near the Space Needle. Parking can be challenging so plan to arrive early. This is a great pre-race area because of its indoor seating so you don’t have to wait in the high-30s low-40s March weather in the Pacific Northwest. There is also actual bathrooms in the Armory building as well as porta-potties in the general area. All participants have preassigned corrals. The 5k-ers start quite a bit earlier than 15k-ers. In my experience the start times are pretty on point.

The first 2 miles have some gentle rollers, not enough to tire your legs out but do hold back for the later climbs. Mile 3-4 are the infamous I-99 bridge climbs, it starts off with a small down then uphill through the bridge, once the bridge ends the course takes you up to a never-ending climb on I-99 (or so it seemed!). Mile 4-5 takes you to Greenlake with a gentle down slope. Then you take a U-turn and climb right back up to the top, make your way through the bridge through mile 6-7. The last 2-ish miles are all downhill, so if you still have gas in the tank now it’s a good time to go full throttle!

Post-race area is a short walk from the finish line. This is where you reward yourself with hot chocolate, marshmallow, banana and various snacks.

P.S. All 15k participants receive a very nice tech jacket

Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/3146067904

Want to run a fast time with other serious runners? CIM is the perfect race. This is a net-downhill course with about 300ft drop (around 700ft climb total). Even though other reviews have warned me that the first 16 miles have many rolling hills, I honestly did not think they were noticeable. Just think of it this way - for every hill you climb, there are 2x downhills to make up time. My goal at the race is to run sub-3hr, which is the BQ for my age group.

I arrived Sacramento 2 days prior to the race and stayed with friends in a suburban neighborhood. On the trip there, it seemed like all the fast runners were on the same flight showing off their Boston gears. The expo was organized, picked up bib and walked around for a bit, lots of shopping opportunities there. Although there didn’t seem to be much swag/free samples.

Come race day morning, the weather was just perfect, about low 40s at start time. My friends dropped me off at one of the shuttle pickup stops in Downtown Sacramento (you must ride the shuttle to start line per protocol). Took me 15 minutes to find the right bus, however. There were buses for special programs by SRA that we weren’t allow to take. Once we got on the right bus, it’s a 30 min ride to Folsom, CA. Even though the driver was blasting feel-good music, the whole bus was filled with nervous energy and quietness, quite eerie. We arrived in Folsom about 1.5 hr prior to start line. YOU ARE ALLOWED to stay on the bus if you wish, so you don’t have to wait in the cold. I got off the bus around 45mins prior to start to stretch/warmup/use the bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms, there were blocks and blocks of porta-potties, I have never seen anything like this. Minutes before the start time, you will find some male runners hop over the fence to relieve themselves then hop back on, quite embarrassing to see but you gotta do what you gotta do *shrug* It’s been almost a year since the race, I can’t give precise picture of the course but I will try my best.

You run on a local highway through a few small towns with some gentle rolling hills. Many locals came out to cheer us, it was quite amazing to see. My goal pace was avg 6:51/mi, I aimed to run conservatively in the start, mostly in the 6:55-58/mi range. Most runners will go fast from the get go to “bank time”, do not go with them, stick to your plan and run your own race. I crossed 13.1 mark at around 1:31, so I needed to pick up the pace to meet my goal. Aid/water station every 2 miles or so, and they provide food/gel at every other station. I brought my own gels but ended up grabbing one from the race in late race for extra calories. Make sure you practice with same brand of drinks and gels during your training, they post what the serve on the website.

From mile 16 on this is where the elevation flattened out. There was a small ramp onto a bridge (maybe mile 20??), otherwise the rest was just flat with few 90 degree turns. You will also see a sea of early fast runners hitting the wall at this point. (My rank went from 1609th at 5k mark to 1050th at finish. I’ll say it again - don’t get too excited at the start by other runners and go out too fast). The last 4 miles were in Downtown Sacramento, straight shot to the capital building. Men and women have separate finish lines so do make sure you take the correct turn. I crossed the finish line at 2:59:43, met my goal to run a sub-3 marathon. I found my spouse in the crowd, we hugged, I cried. Although this time likely won’t get me into the Boston Marathon, I would go back to CIM and try again.

Other runners on IG mentioned the weather got warm in the late AM, so do plan to bring extra clothing with you as needed as start time temperature is cool. It also rained lightly in the early miles.

Of the 3 marathons I’ve run over the years, CIM hands down was the best.

Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/2920356602