Because of my work schedule, I wasn’t able to attend the race expo! My friend picked up my bib and swag for me. This race was pretty far from home for us so we got a hotel room. The ones right at Hershey Park were somewhat expensive, but we found a cheaper one elsewhere in Hershey, still only 5 minutes from the race.

The morning of the race we drove to Hershey Park; I think the Hershey hotels offered a shuttle. Plenty of parking here! I liked that we could park the car and walk to the start line, didn’t have to take a shuttle or check our bags.

We had checked out the course map including the elevation changes so I knew to expect some hills, however they weren’t really that bad! In the beginning we ran through the park which was pretty sweet (sweet, chocolate, get it? Ha!). We went through the town of Hershey and then through the neighborhood where the kids attending the Milton Hershey School live. At this point I was feeling pretty tired and ready to be done running. Then I saw all the kids outside with signs, cheering us on and giving us high 5’s! It was pretty early in the morning and I was surprised by how enthusiastic all of the kids were. I work with high school kids and I know that most of them would not be thrilled to be up early on a Saturday morning cheering on a bunch of people running that they don’t even know. So to see these kids made me so happy and gave me energy to finish the race! Around Mile 11-11.5 they were handing out snack size Hershey bars! I took two from the nice lady and shoved one in my mouth right away. As soon as I did that I saw our friend up ahead ready to take a photo – oops! I thought for sure I would have chocolate in my teeth for the photos but I got lucky! With about a half mile left I ate the other Hershey bar and powered through to the finish for a time of 2:09:51. Beat my goal time by 6 minutes!

I don’t recall anything about the aid stations; so I guess that means they were average and met my needs. (I carry my own gel so I guess all I need is water/Gatorade).

They were handing out bananas and other snacks as you came out the finish chute. I took a few things and made my way to the car. I grabbed my phone to take some photos and made it back just as Christina was finishing. We took some photos but other than that not a lot to do after the race so we headed back to the hotel to shower and go to the park – race entry came with a free ticket to Hershey Park After Dark !!
Overall I really enjoyed this race and the whole Hershey experience. One negative was the long sleeve shirt – I got a small and it was still huge on me; but the Reese’s cup medal (my favorite!) totally made my day!!