Frozen Hot Chocolate Run

The Hot Chocolate 15k was a smooth ride beginning to end. Registration, packet pick up, parking at the race, totalling before the race began, and picking up your finishers mug. It was a super fun even and I had so much fun!
The volunteers were great! Thanks for all your help!
Upon finishing, you received a mug full of chocolate and goodies. I wish I could’ve just gotten the mug sans the goodies. I ate the banana and spent 5 minutes spooning chocolate into the garbage can. It’s all in good fun though!
It was fun and well organized. Thanks Unilocal for the entries!

Hey, Hot Chocolate 15K, welcome to Austin! Glad you’re here and hope you’ll come back next year. Me and my running buddy/​BFF had a blast at this event and plan to make it an annual affair if we can. The hills on this course kicked my butt, but it was exciting to breeze down that final peak into the finish line at a respectable pace even as exhausted as I felt.
Results posted here:
I’m fairly new to running, having only completed 2 previous 10Ks (our annual Austin institution, the Cap10K) and several low intensity charity 5Ks (all on paved streets in downtown Austin), so that’s where my comparisons to this (first of many, I hope) Hot Chocolate race are made. My requests for next year are pretty well summed up in Jeanette’s and Lauren’s reviews, but here’s a brief recap:
The good (to keep):
– well organized, from registration to packet pickup to race day
– free, close in parking at the event; we were able to park quickly and walk right over to the starting chute with no hassle
– super friendly volunteers (wearing cool volunteer promo baseball t-​shirts)
– great crowd management strategy with few bottle necks on race day
– neat runner premiums included with registration fee (drawstring backpack, tech shirt, sunglasses, finisher’s goodie cup o’chocolate stuffs)
– awesome medal shaped like a chocolate bar for 10K finishers
– family-​friendly options like the 1K fun run and 5k short course. My kid was even given a goodie cup of his own, just for being with me when I picked up mine.
– cool water misters at 2 or 3 points along the 10K course, which we really needed (see water report below)
– cold water-​soaked towel & iced bottled waters at the finish line
– easy gear check system with tags tied to your racer bib #
– chipped bib racer time tracking by Chronotrack (with options to text message start, split, and finish times to up to 3 numbers to let your friends/​family have some idea where you are in the course)
– high resolution photos emailed after the race, included with registration (unlike most other races where you have to order & pay for these separately)
The bad (to improve):
– the heat! It was freakin’ boiling hot & humid out there, even at 9am. Can we move this thing to a more comfortable date, OR start much earlier in the day, OR have it at night? This is Texas, so just assume that heat stroke is a real concern any time of year except maybe November through March (and even then, it could be pretty hot). Other reviewers are correct when they suggest that the 10K event begin before the other shorter events (which would help with the heat problem if it’s going to be a day race).
– the rocks! About ¼ of the 10K course was on big (2 – 3 inches wide) white caliche rock surface through the COTA unfinished parking areas. This is dangerous, especially to runners not wearing shoes with hard soles for rough terrain, but even in the best shoes, risks of ankle injury & wipe-​outs are real. Most runners I heard talking about it were expecting to be on pavement, so next year, please communicate well about the type of terrain and appropriate footwear. Even better would be to plan out a different course that stays on pavement or at least plain dirt. When possible, I stuck to the edges of the trail when we had to go through the rocks. Dodging piles of wild animal poop added another level of difficulty.
– water stops on the 10K course: too few. Talk to some people who participate in or manage the Cap10K (held in April when it’s not nearly as hot) and find out how they manage the water. Austinites don’t usually need to bring water to events like this because it’s available about every 1 – 2 kms. For this race, we had 1 water stop during the first 3.5 miles — insane! I could hear lots of runners in my pace group complaining, «Where in the heck is the water?» We eventually got to 3 more water stops clustered closer to the end of the course, but there should have been more up front. I know next year, I’ll plan to carry my own hydration just in case.
– junk food overload. I love chocolate as much as any red blooded woman, but I think many people paying to participate in a fitness-​oriented activity are not going to be interested in a bowl full of sugar at 9am (even after running 6 miles). Like Lauren, we ate the bananas, kept the finisher’s bowl, and tossed the rest — such a waste of food! I like the idea of offering an empty bowl, or maybe one that just has a wrapped dark chocolate bar with it. Maybe frozen bananas on a stick dipped in chocolate?
– the fees. My experience is limited to mostly 5Ks for charity (as a mentioned above), but the $ 64 registration for this event seemed pretty pricey to me and other runners I heard talking about it. Organizers might consider offering an option to register to run without the swag bag and bring down the cost a bit.
Even with all those criticisms, I’d definitely go again next time. See ya in 2015!

For it being the first year, this event really impressed me! It was very well organized and there did not seem to be any hitches throughout the whole race. There wasn’t too much traffic getting to the race and the parking was good when we got there. I had never been to the Circuit of the Americas before, and it was awesome to see the track and the motorcyclists practicing so early in the morning!
We did the 5K and there weren’t as many participants as I had expected, but I’m thinking it’s because it was the first year of the event. It was pretty humid and the course was a lot more hilly than I had anticipated! This made it a challenging race, for sure, which I didn’t enjoy as much as the time as I do now looking back :) The volunteers are the water and gatorade stations cheered us on and there were a couple sprinkler stations to keep us cool! At the end of the race we were given cold water-​soaked towels and bottles of water which helped a ton!
I enjoyed my mug of chocolate Blue Bunny ice cream, marshmallow, pretzels, rice crispy treat, and banana. I couldn’t finish all of it, but glad most of the stuff was packaged so I could bring it home to enjoy later. The race results were up really fast on the website, but it was a bit challenging to access them from my phone. After the race was over, we got to walk around to the different booths and enjoy the sunshine/​cheer on the 10K finishers. I really enjoyed this race and it got my Saturday to a great start! I would definitely consider doing this race again next year :)

I’m so excited this race came to Austin! I mean Dallas and Houston always get the good stuff. I opted to do the 10k since I’d won a Unilocal contest for a pair of entries. I don’t even know what # race this is for me as I’ve done quite a few so sometimes I can be a bit too particular. So excuse me if I’m super critical.
So let’s just get the obvious out of the way. There are HILLS, HILLS, and more HILLS especially the last couple miles but the last one does lead into an awesome downhill into the finish chute. I didn’t anticipate that there would be so many on the perimeter of the track although I’d done a race inside the COTA track before. I hate Hills and there were many times I wanted the EMS thing to just take me away. Luckily I pressed on and got my awesome finishers medal and mug o’ chocolate goodness!
So I thought this race was very well organized, the volunteers were awesome, and there were ample water stations as well as a couple misters along the course. Packet pickup at the Texas running company was smooth, quick, and easy. The goodie bag was awesome and I’m loving the shirt. There are a couple things I’d like to see changed. The race really needs to start earlier like 7am. It is just too hot this time of year to be out running or walking as late as some were. A lot of the well known races in town start at 7am so many runners are used to it. Secondly I think the 10K racers should start first. We have the longest distance to go & with the later start time we could use the head start especially in the heat. Next I think a heads up about the gravel parts of the course would have been nice. It isn’t pleasant to walk or run on that type of surface. Lastly, chocolate at the end of a race sounds like a fantastic idea however the little I had made my stomach upset. An option for a mug without the goodies would have been nice but I’m glad they provided bags that I could put my mug in to not have chocolate everywhere on the drive home.
Overall I had a fun time doing this race and while I dislike the COTA for races I might be able to convince myself to do it again if it returns. Or maybe it will return during the cooler weather months ;)
PS: I did receive two free entries for this race via a Unilocal contest but the opinions expressed are my own. :)

This was my second Hot Chocolate Race, but first Frozen Hot Chocolate Race. I ran the 15K Hot Chocolate Race in Dallas in Feb. While I enjoyed the cooler weather of that race, the ease of the Austin race was way better. Packet pickup was a breeze, no paying for parking (had to pay to park twice in Dallas, for packet pickup and day of parking). The line to park was moving fast even though it was long (in Dallas it took forever). I needed to change my shirt size and was able to do it on the day of the event. You could also change the sunglasses you got. The announcer was great at the start of the race. I wish there were more Gatorade stops. Not enough for the heat of Texas. Only downfall was I thought we were going to run on the track (I got to run on the track back in Dec for a different race). That would’ve been fun, but they had another event going on. Oh well! I liked that the race had misters along the course. Helped to cool you off while you were running. There were a lot more hills than I was expecting and that slowed me down ;)
I liked that at the finish line you were handed a nice cold towel!!! I really need that; it was awesome! The finishers mug was great. A perfect treat for the end of the race. You got malt chocolate ice cream, dipping chocolate with pretzels, a banana, rice crisper treat, graham crackers and a marshmallow and a wet napkin. Also you are able to get a plastic bag to put your mug in so chocolate doesn’t get everywhere trying to take it home. I hope the race comes back to Austin and we can try for a colder weather day ;)

I did the Frozen Hot Chocolate 5k this morning, and it was such a great event! I can’t imagine a smoother race experience. I got lucky and won race entries from Unilocal,so that fact that it was free made it even more awesome.
I picked up my packet a couple days before the race at Ready to Run on Far West, and I was right in and out, no line. The goody bag included a super duper neon orange tech shirt and some sunglasses.
Parking at COTA was easy, and free! Woo! We arrived about a half hour before our start time to stretch and check out the onsite vendors, which included a running accessory company and a small women’s boutique.
The organizors graciously delayed the start time by a few minutes to ensure that some folks that had been delayed behind a traffic accident would be able to participate, which was really nice of them. The announcer at the beginning of the race was super energetic and did a great job getting everyone pumped up!
The course in a word: hills. Man, this was hilly. The final hill was particularly nasty, but it was followed by an amazing downhill that lead straight through the finish line. Fun! This wasn’t the most scenic run I’ve ever had, but it was cool to run around the motorcycles whizzing around the track.
This was very well-​staffed race, and the volunteers along the course were amazing! They were all really high energy and did a great job cheering everyone on.
At the end of the race, we were rewarded with chocolate fondue and a number of delicious dippable food, including bananas, marshmallows and graham crackers. Yum!

There are few things I’m willing to get up at 5:30am for, and the Hot Chocolate 15k is one of ‘em. It was held out at the Circuit of the Americas track, which I’d not been to previously — so it was fun to be out there at daybreak to check it out.
We opted for the 5k, which kicked off at 7:50 on a paved, hilly route that mostly circled the track. There was some sort of motorcycle event going on simultaneously on the track — which kept things lively and loud. We made great time, and were rewarded afterwards with ice cold water, bananas, and individual chocolate fondues. Yeah, that’s right — chocolate sunrise. What a way to start the day.
Ok, so on second thought — maybe it was the chocolate that got me up this early! Never the less, I got my burn on and got my sweet fix all before 9am. Happy Saturday!