Thousands of Runners Fill Grant Park as the Hot Chocolate Run Takes Over Downtown on Sunday Morning
The 5K, 10K and 15K fields started at 7:30 a.m. under an overcast sky, the 2-mile walk followed at about 9:15, and Grant Park's post-race chocolate party closed out a race morning that tied up downtown streets from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Grant Park belonged to runners on Sunday morning. Thousands of runners and walkers descended on the park for the Hot Chocolate Run — billed as America's sweetest race — with the 5K, 10K and 15K races all beginning at 7:30 a.m. and a 2-mile walk following at approximately 9:15 a.m., WGN-TV reported from the scene.
The course is a downtown tour on foot. Per the Loop Chicago weekend advisory, the route starts near the Art Institute of Chicago, heads south along the lakefront and downtown streets past Soldier Field, the Field Museum and the Chicago Board of Trade, and finishes near Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. The advisory held the event window from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the road closures that came with it.
The weather cooperated in the way November allows. The station's feed read 54.8 degrees and overcast on Sunday morning, on the way to a high near 59.5 — cool, gray and dry enough for fast times and cold hands. Finishers were pointed toward the event's signature ending: a hot chocolate-themed post-race party in Grant Park.
