I Survived the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k Disaster

"Epic Fail," "hot mess" and "won't run for chocolate ever again" were some of the ways people (and to be honest, me) described this race.

On its face it sounded fun: hot chocolate, chocolate fondue at the end of a 15k run. I knew several people who were going to run it. And I had never run (or even been too) National Harbor.

To sum up, 15,000 or more people descending on a location with no mass transit options and one road in and out made for a traffic nightmare. The race started over an hour late. TK and I didn't even run it because she was fighting a cold and standing outside in mid-30 temps waiting for the race to start didn't help.  (We dropped down to the 5k and then after waiting in the corrals just said, let's get chocolate.) But even an hour later people were still trying to make it to the start. (And don't get me started on the fact that the race start was about a mile away from National Harbor.) The lines in were that bad. Even the shuttle buses were caught up in that traffic nightmare. The race company blamed accidents and parking issues and the location said there weren't supposed to be that many people. I tend to believe the location. Even I could tell going to pick up my packet that it had traffic snarl written all over it.

The people who did run it complained of a crowded course and a course that was not well marked. 

All in all, it was a lesson in how not to run a race and it made me appreciate all the well managed races I'd been fortunate enough to participate in.

So, what did I do instead of running. Well, I did get some hot chocolate and fondue. It was good, but the fondue froze after about 10 mins.

(Tells you how cold it was.) Instead we sought warmth. We went and got some tea at Cake Love where they had this cool sign saying "Nothing is Fat Free." I think it should be fat free when a race is over an hour late and it's freezing outside. After that, I just hung with my "peeps." (OK bad pun, I know!)

I'm trying to look at the positive, I did get get to spend quality time with my DC friends that weekend. I can also say I was part of the epic fail race! (and I probably won't run for hot chocolate again. I'll stick with races I know are well managed.)