Despite the mixed reviews I’d heard from people who had run it before, I was intrigued. 1) The race sweatshirt is baller. 2) There are chocolatey treats at the finish. 3) I’d never run a 15K, so automatic PR!

While wading through the sea of humanity before the 7 a.m. start in Grant Park, I turned to my racing companions and said, “We are never doing this race again.”

Here’s the thing: there were more than 20,000 5K finishers and 16,000 15K finishers. That’s as big as the Chicago Marathon, for Pete’s sake. Except it wasn’t a marathon, so the majority of the participants were not experienced racers. I’d be willing to bet there were thousands of people running their first 5K that morning. I can’t even imagine how overwhelming that would feel.

It’s not that the race was unorganized. Gear check was a snap, the corralled wave start ensured there were few bottlenecks on the course, and I’ve never seen so many volunteers at an event. But it was just too much hoopla for the race distance.

Read my complete review here: http://rulesforrunning.com/2012/11/13/race-recap-hot-chocolate-15k-chicago/