I had been gone for vacation for a few weeks, and when I got back I was excited to make a stop in Seattle for work. It was so nice and toasty in the Middle East that by the time I got to Denver and Seattle, I was freezing!
The Hot Chocolate race series by far is one of my favorite. Their expo, races, and finish line festivals are always so well planned. My goal was to achieve legacy status, which is given to you when you race in 3 consecutive years. They gave me an amazing swag pack, filled with gourmet chocolate, hot cocoa packs, a special medal, and a mug. The mug is definitely my favorite because it means that I can show it off during work meetings 🙂
The race expo was packed with people. The start line was also packed. This was right at the beginning of the pandemic. We didn’t quite have a care in the world yet. Tried to keep our distance at the expo, but at the race I didn’t think about it too much.
The race starts at a bit of a downhill. It begins at the Seattle Center and then heads north on Mercer for a bit. After the downhill, you are then met with a consistent uphill until the turnaround point. With my hip bursitis, I thought that I would be walking the entire race. After the first quarter mile, my hip felt fine so I thought a slow trot would be acceptable.
I eventually caught up with the rest of my group and ran the rest of the way. The finish line comes up very quickly at the Seattle Center, and requires a few sharp turn down narrowed walkways. That could definitely be improved but overall, it was fun!
A few days after this, I began getting sniffly so I worked from my hotel room. Unfortunately by then, Seattle started making the news about exponential growth in COVID infections. It was a scary time to be in Seattle, especially after such a positive celebration. By the time I was set to fly out, Amazon’s corporate campus was completely shut down. I got the email notification from work as I was waiting for my flight home. Such a scary time indeed.
Amara in Training 