Hot Chocolate 15k - St. Louis - Run


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St. Louis, Missouri
United States
RAM Racing
28F / -2C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 13m 21s
Overall Rank = 174/3063
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 4/274
Pre-race routine:

I live about 45 minutes from the start line so I had plenty of time to eat a muffin and protein bar in the car ride over. Parking on site was pretty limited so we decided to go with the park and shuttle over option. It was SUPER COLD (28, feels like 18), but at least the shuttle was warm.
Event warmup:

I did some skipping on the way to the port o potties to try and get the muscles firing. I was just getting out of the potty when it was time to get to my coral.
Run
  • 1h 13m 21s
  • 15 kms
  • 04m 53s  min/km
Comments:

When I registered for the race I submitted a conservative pace of 8:30/mile and the website told me I'd need to submit proof I'd do that (via previous race results), but I didn't feel like investing that kind of energy during registration so I said "Fine, put me wherever." Which ended up being the fourth coral to start and to be honest I have no idea what pace that put me near, but I did have to duck and weave to find some space to really get running. The course goes through Forest Park, which is very scenic albeit desolate at that time of morning possibly due to the unfriendly temperature. The volunteers were fantastic and I certainly felt a lot of sympathy for them - at least I was generating heat while running. About half way through the race I grabbed a cup of water and noticed a thin sheet of ice had begun to form. Also, they started salting the road around the aide stations to keep people from slipping. So yeah, that cold.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe next year I'd submit my proof and get into one of the earlier corals. I probably should have gotten a little more water in. My stomach was pretty grumpy over the lack of hydration once I stopped.
Post race
Warm down:

I found my husband who'd ran the 5k and been done for quite a while by the time I finished. We attempted a selfie with the medal (I gave him mine since they don't give the 5k runners medals), but we were doing such a tragic job at it a nice passerby stopped to take the pic for us. Then we grabbed our hot chocolate and chocolate fondue. It was amazing, but we were just so cold we opted to grab our gear bags and head back to the shuttle.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

A few crowded spots on the course.

Event comments:

I liked the race. There were, I believe, over five thousand people between the 5k and the 15k so it's really amazing how well organized it was. There was a line for the shuttle to the race, but other than that I would have never realized how many people were actually there. I've never run a 15k, so I ended up with a PR. My goal was to go sub 8:00 average and I ended up with 7:53 so I'm pretty happy with that. :)




Last updated: 2017-12-12 12:00 AM
Running
01:13:21 | 15 kms | 04m 53s  min/km
Age Group: 4/274
Overall: 174/3063
Performance: Good
Overall, my average HR was lower than normal for that pace. Most likely due to the cool weather. Stayed mostly in the 150's, then spiked up to the 170's the last couple of miles due to a huge hill and the sudden urgency to be done with the race.
Course: The first four-ish miles were mostly flat or downhill, which gave me a sinking feeling. Like, what goes down must come up because this race is a circle, right? Sure enough, that last mile goes right up a massive hill.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5