Walking the Miles ...: Seattle Hot Chocolate 15k

On March 3rd, Seattle hosted its first Hot Chocolate 15k Run and it was all about CHOCOLATE! (It was really all about sponsoring Ronald McDonald House Charities.) But of course CHOCOLATE is what attracted me to the event! Who doesn't love CHOCOLATE?!

Seattle is a three-hour drive north from here so we decided to make it a girls' weekend and spend the night in the City. Brittany, Kathie, Nancy and I drove up Saturday morning to make the most out of the weekend. We went directly to the Hot Chocolate Expo to pick up our bibs, sweatshirts and goodie bags. Surprisingly, they had a table set up for "shirt exchange" with sweatshirts to try on to make sure the size you ordered would fit. I have never seen that at ANY expo and I know it's because most shirts have a date or a city's name printed on them so this was a bonus! As usual, my shirt didn't fit and I was thrilled to be able to exchange it! (They are pretty cool Tech hoodies!)

After browsing the expo, we checked in at the awesome Mayflower Park Hotel, tossed our belongings and headed off in different directions. Brittany and I went to the Seattle Aquarium on the waterfront.

The tanks were amazingly beautiful with so much color and of course the fish are always entertaining!

We absolutely fell in love with the Sea Otters! They were adorable! They sleep on the water with their toys under their arms or on their shoulders. A worker told us that when they get fed, the otters will put the food under their arms and swim right back up acting like they didn't receive any. They were very cute and amazingly, a lot bigger than I expected.

Look at his teeth!

We left the aquarium and went through Pike's Place Market to do a little shopping. We stopped by the original Starbucks (the line was at least 25 people long!!) and just walked around enjoying the sights.

The original Starbucks

We all met up for dinner at an Italian place and had a very enjoyable dinner together. The food and company were great! We walked back to our hotel and called it a night. When back in our room, Brittany and I decided to order in a couple of beverages to celebrate our rare girls' weekend away! heh heh

Make it a double, please! ;)

Sunday morning we woke up to CLEAR skies and beautiful SUNSHINE! My sister-in-law, Edith, showed up at 6:00 a.m. (she lives north of Seattle) so we could visit and then all walk to the starting line together. Brittany stayed behind in the room because she had an injured back and didn't feel she should walk 10 miles. (I was happy she came along for the weekend fun even though we knew she wouldn't be doing the race.)

The 15k started at 7:40 but by the time our corral (the last one!) made it up to the starting line, it was after 8:00. There were over 10,000 people there! (Everyone loves chocolate!!) Because of our delay in starting, the route had to be cut short because the roads were reopening. We were all four walking under 15 minute miles (Kathie and Nancy were at 13:00+ minute miles and Edith and I were at 14:00+) so it was a bit disappointing that a mile was taken away from us but what are you going to do? Turn back and enjoy the remainder of the walk! Honestly, I didn't mind. This wasn't a "race" to beat any of my previous times - I was just there to have a good time!

This was a really nice event - well organized, well staffed with volunteers, and PLENTY of HILLS for the hill-lover in me! And best of all, the weather was PERFECT!

Brittany met us as we crossed the finish line and then it was time for some CHOCOLATE! We received mugs/bowls filled with hot chocolate, chocolate pieces, chocolate fondue and chocolate cookies and bananas to dip in the fondue! It was AWESOME!