Location: San Francisco

Distance: 7.46 miles

Gun Time: 2:02 (took more than 10 minutes to get to the starting line….plus lots of stopping for photos…and trudging up Hayes St Hill)

Registered runners: 40,000

Estimated actual runners: 60,000 (that’s 20,000 bandits!)

Houston’s Sean Wade won the Master’s Men division (38:58) and placed 14th in the overall Men’s Division!

Today’s Bay to Breakers was SO much fun!! This was, by far, the biggest and most fun and entertaining race I’ve been in. LightningSpeed “I never run” Luna was an excellent race buddy - and this is definitely a race that’s more fun running with at least one other person. I decided to carry my camera through the race so I was able to get pictures of some of the costumes (and, er, lack thereof) along the way.

The crowds were incredible. I’ve never been in such a huge, energetic crowd at the begining of a race. When we arrived to the starting area around 7:35am, the Tortila Toss was underway. This is the Bay to Breakers tradition where thousands of tortillas are flung into the air like frisbees. I’m happy to report I got to fling 1 or 2 tortillas of my own.

At 8am, I set my watch to see how long it would take us to reach the start. The gun went off and for a good 2 minutes there was absolutely no movement in the crowd. At one point, I glanced at my watch and saw that 10 minutes had passed. But, I got so distracted by all the costumes that I completely forgot to record when we crossed the start. bleh!

We were finally able to start jogging about 1-2 blocks past the starting line. The ground was slippery from all the tortillas. There were various items of clothing dropped on the ground, so I wiped my shoes on a sweatshirt. I figured the only thing worse than slipping and breaking a leg would be having to explain that I broke it when I slipped on mushed tortillas in downtown San Francisco while running towards the Pacific Ocean with a bunch of naked people.

[photopress:BaytoBreakers_043.jpg,thumb,alignleft] All the creative and hilarious costumes made it difficult to concentrate on pacing. The huge group of 50+ Smurfs (the “Smurf to Breakers”), 10ft Christmas Tree, Star Wars Stormtroopers, Pac Man, Super Mario Brothers, a group of Emus and of course the famous running Salmon (running upstream against the crowd) were just a few off the top of my head. (click here to view more costume photos) I was so distracted laughing at the great costumes that before I knew it, we passed the 1st and 2nd mile markers. At first I tried recording my splits, but between checking out costumes and stopping to take photos, I gave up and focused on enjoying the race.

Although clothed runners far outnumbered naked runners, there seemed like a lot of naked people because, well, naked people stand out in any crowd. Most of the naked runners I saw were men, and many were part of the Bare to Breakers group. Some were nude only from the waist down, which I found to be more disturbing than those who were completely bare (except for shoes, of course).

Somewhere between Mile 2 and Mile 3, we reached the infamous Hayes Street Hill. What a killer. I made it halfway up before I had to walk. In Houston, there’s a really steep hill at Sabine and Allen Parkway, just west of the Sabine St bridge. Imagine climbing up that hill for ~10 city blocks. That was Hayes Street. The race packets said it was an 11.15% incline. Trudging up the hill, I reminded myself to be more grateful for the hill workouts in Houston. Best of all, though, we had a giant Chipotle burrito as our beacon along the way.

At the top of Hayes Street, volunteers were handing out muffins and other snacks. We also had an amazing view of the streets completely packed full of runners both behind and ahead of us. The rest of the race was mostly downhill and the air felt much cooler this side of the hill.

[photopress:BaytoBreakers_061.jpg,thumb,alignleft]In addition to elaborate costumes and nudity, Bay to Breakers is unique for its multiple alcohol checkpoints. That’s right, alcohol checkpoints. Several of them. In a road race. Hilarious.

In fact, there were several runners and centipedes whose costumes involved alcohol. There were some vikings pushing a beer keg in a shopping cart. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the famous Bay to Breakers Tiki Hut, which Luna and Joannie described as a moving Tiki Hut bar where people mix and distribute cocktails to fellow runners. Apparently, they get quite a following.

The last few miles of the race through Golden Gate Park were beautiful. Local bands were set up along the route, playing music and generally cheering everyone on. My favorite was the Meshugga Beach Party, a band of Orthodox jews playing “songs of the chosen surfers“.

To add to the randomness of the race, we also ran past a herd of dozing buffalo surrounded by flourescent orange traffic cones.

As we made the final turn, we had an amazing view of the ocean. The finish chutes were right along the beach, and the breeze was really nice. LightningSpeed “I may walk most of the race” Luna booked it at the end, and dashed ahead towards the finish line. Woohoo! An excellent way to finish a race!

And just when I didn’t think the race could get any better, they were handing out FREE samples of Salon Pas at the finish line. rawk.

Despite several walking spells, it was an excellent race. I would definitely do it again. Luna had the excellent idea of incorporating a wine/sake tasting tour into the next Bay to Breakers experience. I think that qualifies as carb loading.

After the race, we went out for some excellent dim sum where I stuffed myself into food coma. A trip to the best bubble tea in San Francisco for dessert definitely woke me up. mmmm…..