The Hot Chocolate is an immensely popular race in Chicago—25 thousand people did the 5K and almost 15 thousand did the 15K this year—and it also has a reputation in our circle for always having something go wrong. This is, perhaps, unfair as it largely dates back to the early days of the race when its popularity grew faster than the organization was prepared to handle. Last year I ran the race because I had a free entry and this year they got me with the medal. I mean, look at that thing—it looks like a bar of chocolate being unwrapped!

And I have to admit that very little went wrong. I got one email that was half lorem ipsum, but that can happen to the best of us. Packet pickup went fine, the race hoody fits well, the race was well-run, and we got our bowl of hot chocolate and fondue in a smooth fashion at the end of the race. My knees are pretty sore, but that’s my own fault for pretty much stopping running after the marathon and I certainly can’t blame that on the organizers.

Official results:
Time: 1:43:04
Place: 9211 / 14168
Place in Gender: 3489 / 4503
Place in Age Group (M40-44): 410 / 547