Hot Chocolate 15k - St. Louis - Run

The race started, and other runners streamed past me for the first two miles. After that, the streaming was slower, but still consistent. I ran slowly, allowing my body to warm into the distance. After the first half mile, the road sloped steadily up. That's where my feet and calves started hurting. By the top of the hill, about a mile in, I had already pulled down my running mask and peeled off my jacket. In the next mile, my hip flexors started talking. After 2.8 miles, the 5k and 15k courses split. I seriously considered taking the shorter, less painful path; my body was already screaming for me to stop. But I gritted my teeth, and kept left at the fork for the full 15k.

Towards the end of mile 4, I pulled down my arm warmers and yanked off my hat. I was running in tights and a T-shirt, my jacket tied around my waist like a fit Kurt Cobain. I'd badly overdressed. The coat, with my arm warmers and gloves zipped into the pockets was heavy and unwieldy, and contributing to the spasms in my hips. I usually get a second wind during miles 5-7, but in this race, it lasted from mile 5 to mile 5.5. Mile 6 was a long, steady, unending climb. That's where I started mentally swearing, and where I took a few walking breaks to let my hip flexors unwind.

The race became mentally easier after that long uphill; I realized that I would hurt just as much running slowly as running fast, so I may as well get through the pain as quickly as possible. That thought kept me going until the last mile, when my body almost shut down. My hip flexors and calves cramped so badly that I could barely keep moving forward. I shuffled my feet off and on, fighting through the pain on the last hill, then pushed hard for the last quarter mile, crossing the final timing mats and staggering to a stop. With cessation of movement, my body immediately cramped, and I started getting cold. I grabbed a bottle of water and a cup of Gatorade while I waited for my friends to cross the line.

I would have dressed more appropriately; I wore too much, based on the recommendations of the race directors, who greatly overestimated the severity of the conditions. I would have used the gear check, so that I could be warm on the walk back to the hotel.

I would have trained more. My training was really inconsistent during the last two weeks.

I would have warmed up. I think my lack of warm-up contributed to the cramping I experienced throughout the race.

After the race, we got souvenir bowls that held a cup of hot cocoa, a well of melted chocolate, and some snacks for dipping. I drank the hot cocoa as we started our walk back to the hotel (we stayed within walking distance of the start and finish lines to avoid traffic and parking issues the day of). By the time I got back to the hotel room. My chocolate had frozen solid. It was still delicious, though; I dug it out with my pocket knife one bite at a time.

I took a shower, and the hot water washed away the remaining muscle spasms. I'm not sure what caused me to cramp like that; it was probably a combination of the cold weather and hilly course. Whatever it was, I haven't hurt that badly while working out since . . . I don't know. At the time, I was convinced that I'd never experienced such pain. But you know how that goes. I probably think that at some point during every race.


I was undertrained. I haven't run or trained at all consistently in the past two years, which limited my running performance. It will take time to build up my fitness again.

My muscles cramped badly, perhaps a combination of lack of warm-up, lack of strength training, and intense cold. I've never experienced cramping like that.


I think the race activities were limited by the weather. If it hadn't been so cold, the post-race would have been more fun. I didn't attend packet pick-up or the race expo, so I can't comment on those. There weren't enough drink stations, especially towards the end. The course was very hilly and difficult; I'm not sure whether that makes me more or less likely to do the race again. There were PLENTY of portaloos, which signals proper organization by the race directors!