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After a week of grey cold weather, the sky cleared and the sun came out for CrossRealms’ second year participating in the Chicago Hot Chocolate 5K/15K run. CrossRealms’ was proud to promote fitness and support the Ronald McDonald house Charities in this event.
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This was my first time participating in the race, and only my second organized run ever. I had done a couple of practice 5K runs to be certain I would be prepared; however, no average run through the park can quite prepare you for the experience of running side by side with 40,000 other people!
I got the impression that many of the participants had done this run before, as they clearly loved the chocolate theme. There were Umpa-Loompas, people dressed as Hershey kisses, and one girl who had a halo of marshmallows.
Laurie and Mike had done the run in 2012, so they knew to get there as early as possible in order to be in the front of the running queue. I arrived right on time and therefore was in the last group to cross the start line, and didn’t begin running until my coworkers had already crossed the finish line.
I completed the event having run every step, and even shaved 7 minutes off of my fastest training time. This accomplishment made the month of training leading up to the race well worth it . Now I am ready to sign up for the next race and continue the tradition!
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