2012 Race Recap

2012 was a big year in races for Team Tizzel. Holly added 5 more states to her 50 Marathons in 50 States goal. Race events brought us to Disney World 3 times and Oregon for the first time. Dave did his first distance beyond 5k.

January

For the past few years January has kicked off with the race events at Walt Disney World's Marathon Weekend. This is the focused event of our Team AllEars fundraising efforts for breast cancer. Dave's Duffy the Disney Bear outfit for the 5k helped us to raise over $6,000; and the team over $70,000. Holly had fun doing the half marathon with our friend Jessica on Saturday. On Sunday they ran together again, but Holly participated in the 13.1 mile relay with our friend Jamison as a partner while Jessica continued on for the Full/Goofy. There's no relay offered in 2013 so Holly may have scored her only chance for a Chip and Dale medal.

February

February brought two unique events. First, the Jost Van Dyke Invitational 5k. This is a 2 person race between Holly and our friend Dan over the hills of beautiful Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Next, we trekked a few hours over to Goshen, Indiana so Holly could participate in her first indoor marathon - the Maple Leaf Marathon. 204 laps around a track with 8 other participants.

March

Saint Patrick's Day Weekend was spent in Virginia Beach. On Saturday Dave and Holly participated in the 8k event. The next day Holly ran the marathon. These events were well-run, had miles of shoreline, and great  after-parties on the beach. This became a family event with Holly's parents, brother, and nephew cheering her on along the way. Holly's favorite race this year due to her whole family being able to watch her finish and the excellent post race parties.

April

Holly was able to squeeze two marathons into April. First was the Go! St. Louis Marathon. Two weeks later was the Kentucky Derby Marathon in Louisville. With Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan checked off we are running out of driving distance marathons.

May

The spring ended up being a busy travel time. A week after Kentucky Derby was the Expedition Everest 5k in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. The night race combined obstacles and puzzles to create a really fun event.

July

Fourth of July morning kicks off with the Antioch 5k. This is a pretty big local race. Hot as heck this year. When Rock and Roll announced moving the Chicago events to July we thought they were nuts. It was warm, but not as bad as it could have been for a 5k (Dave) and half marathon (Holly). We had a fun day Saturday with Team AllEars friends and enjoyed the post-race Cobra Starship performance.

September

Back on the road this month. Labor Day Weekend was spent in central Oregon with the focus on the Sunriver Marathon. A few weeks later Dave participated in the Fox Lake 5k and got an age group award. At the end of the month Holly took off for Disney World to participate in the Tower of Terror 10 Miler - another night race. Dave stayed home for that one and attended Tizzel's Food and Wine Festival.

October

Back to Virginia for Washington's Marine Corps Marathon. A great event that Holly wants to do again. The only thing that brought the weekend down a bit was Hurricane Sandy and having to leave via rental car immediately after the race.

November and December

The winter brings shorter-distanced themed races to Chicago. November brought the poorest organized event: Hot Chocolate 5k (Dave) and 15k (Holly). December was the opposite with the Santa Hustle 5k.

2013 Plans

Currently in the plan for 2013:

• Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Dave and Holly are both doing the 5k and half marathon (Dave's first). Holly is adding on the marathon to earn another Goofy Challenge medal and unofficial Dopey title.
• Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend in Disneyland - Holly and Dave will both do the 5k and the half marathon. This will give us both Disney's Coast to Coast Medal. This will also be the end of Dave's half marathon career.
• Little Rock Marathon, Arkansas - We'll be joining a few friends for the race with the biggest medal in running. Holly will be doing the full while Dave snacks.
• Flying Pigs Weekend Cincinnati, Ohio - Pigs is a big race/party weekend. Dave is doing either the 5k or 10k (can't remember which one he registered for) and Holly is doing the 5k, 10k, and full which will earn her an additional medal.
• Chicago Rock and Roll Half - Holly should get something special at this one since it's her 5th Chicago RnR in a row.
• Atlantic City Marathon, New Jersey - Looks like a fun location for a race.

Hope we see you out there in 2013!

2012 Chicago Hot Chocolate 5k/15k Video

We filmed a bit at the Hot Chocolate race last month in Chicago. We've had some busy weekends with very little time to edit it into anything meaningful so that's why we're posting it so late. We're updating the race report to include the video as well.

The video covers pre-race, the 5k portion of the course only since Dave was the one working the camera, and the post-race. We spent time with our friend and Team AllEars teammate Laura. The weekend after the Hot Chocolate Laura completed her first half marathon at Walt Disney World's Wine & Dine Event. Wine & Dine is a night race, which adds extra complications beyond a morning race. This past weekend Laura completed her second half marathon. We are very happy for her.

 

Chicago's 2012 Hot Chocolate 5K/15K

On November 4th, Dave and Holly participated in Chicago's 2nd running of the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K. Dave walked the 5K with our friend Laura and Holly ran the 15K. Based on the way the packet pickup and corralling went this is likely the last time they will participate in the event.

RAM runs several smaller races in the Chicago area that are relatively popular. The Hot Chocolate series is really popular, mainly because it features chocolate treats at the finish. This year's race brought in 40,000 people. That's 5,000 less than The Chicago Marathon. The difference - the marathon spreads folks all over the city for 7+ hours. Hot Chocolate concentrates everyone in a couple mile sliver of Chicago's shoreline.

Holly went to pick up the packet on Friday. Packet pickup was in a tent in a parking lot of Soldier Field - which is near the shore of Lake Michigan. Holly encountered a line of about 1,000 waiting outside the tent. It was around 40 degrees and windy. Her wait time outside was over an hour and the line was much longer when she left. This was a disaster of a pickup process. Their Facebook Page is full of negative comments form irate runners and apologies from RAM (check screen shot atend of this post). A lady at lunch yesterday said she was brought to the front of the line because she brought her toddler with her - and it still took 2 hours.

Corralling was another mess. Corrals were lettered A-T and are usually assembled based on runners' pace per mile. Holly and Laura were placed in Corral R and Dave in Corral Q. Holly's pace should have pushed her up further in the letters. Dave was able to enter Corral R with them because no one was checking. Each corral would cross the start 3 minutes apart. We were in Q....We crossed the start line at gun time +1:07. Yes, we crossed the start line an hour after the race started. Laura and Dave were quickly walking/jogging and ended up isolated on the course within the first half mile. Then we got trampled by the waves behind us. The bibs passing us were alphabet soup - proving the corralling system just did not work, nor was it enforced.

Oh yeah, it was cold out too. Standing that long in the cold is not that much fun and not really too good for the muscles.

The course had it's pluses and minuses. Both distances ran together until about 2.6 miles. There were some nice views of Lake Michigan, Navy Pier, and the skyline. Unfortunately about a mile of the 5K was in a tunnel system. Holly also got to experience the McCormack Place Tunnel on the 15K course - twice. At least another mile of tunnel. She also stated there were two places where she was on grass - a no-no for a race course. We did notice that volunteers did a great job pointing out potential course hazards along the way. Water and Gatorade stops were well-manned and efficient. In the finish shoot we received water, Gatoade, but no chocolate. There was a sign for it, but no one handing any out.

The swag for this race wasa sweatshirt and a plastic cup. The shirt was a nice hooded tech shirt. The complaints we were hearing in the corrals were that shirt sizes did not correspond with your usual sizing. Dave's XL shirt fit like a Large.

We waited about ten minutes for our other swag item: a large plastic bowl. You received this bowl at the after-party and it was filled with your treats. In the center was a place that held a paper cup of hot chocolate - which was branded Ghiradelli. If anyone from that company tried this hot chocolate they'd be embarrasses for their brand. It was way watered-down and tasted like the plastic urn it was held in. Another compartment held chocolate fondue while another portion held our dipping items: a banana, marshmallow, pretzels, apples, and Rice Crispy Treat. The hole was awkward for dipping in and made a mess. When you were done you still had to hold this thing filled with liquid chocolate. Many of these items ended up in the trash. A plastic / rubber medallion would have made a better keepsake.

The piles of Ghiradelli squares we received last year were nowhere to be found. Major disappointment. The band at the party was a decent local band and the port-a-potties were plentiful.

Here's our video covering pre-race, 5k portion of the course, and post-race.

Overall not a good event. The high registration fees ($48 5k and $68 15K) were partly justified by the quality of the shirt, but not for the food and bowl. Last year's post-race treats were way better and we didn't have to lug around some stupid bowl filled with liquid chocolate. we still had fun hanging out with Laura and enjoying lunch at Bar Louie.

Be sure to follow the action on their Facebook Page. It can be entertaining.