Bay to Breakers 2011

Dave and I got up at 4:30 am on Sunday to run in the 100th Bay to Breakers, an annual foot race in San Francisco.  It is a 12K (7.46 miles although my watch said 7.6 miles).  Basically, you go from one end of the city to the other end.  Really, really cool.

The starting line

We were in Corral C and crossed the start at about 7:05 am. That was only 5 minutes after the elite runners began.  Considering over 40,000 people attend this event, I think that's pretty darn good.  One of my worries (and there were plenty with this particular run) didn't come true as there were lots of bathrooms available. Whew!  We didn't run the whole time and just ran and walked as we felt.  According to my Garmin, I still burned over 750 calories though!

Finishers medal

In the spirit of the event, we dressed as a police officer (me) and a flasher (Dave).  To answer your next question, why yes, Dave wore his running outfit under the trench coat.  Also, even though it was cool and breezy with some occasional rain, we were still warm.

Dave and I wondering why we got up so early!

We saw about a dozen naked men, one naked woman, about another dozen men dressed as Elvis, smurfs, smurfettes, super heroes of all kinds, Thing 1 and Thing 2, cowboys and cowgirls, women in full fake tattoo bodysuits, salmon running upstream on Hayes Street Hill, Harry Cordellos, a small herd of cows, Blue Man group, a bunch of grapes, women in tutus, men in tutus, Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks, lots of bad '80's track suits, a swarm of bumble bees, a cupcake, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, wigs in all colors, Borat in the infamous bathing suit, 3 women dressed as Avatars, President Obama, and lots of Giants baseball players.  All I know is some people are going to have some wicked chafing problems this week.

So many different kinds of costumes and people and colors, young and old.. and everyone having a great time.  

Some of the more tame costumes

Between mile 6 and 7, an older gentleman was walking near us and he asked us if we knew what 26 times 7.46 was.  "Huh?" we both thought.  Turns out the man had run or walked in 25 other Bay to Breakers and this was his final one.  His knees just can't do it anymore.  We pulled out our phones and brought up the calculator.   He was beyond thrilled when we told him he had run 192.4 miles.

Hayes Street Hill... it really is really steep!

Just as you make it past the 7 mile marker you see the ocean.  What a sight to see!  I didn't take any more photos as I just wanted to soak it all in and enjoy the moment.

It was a great race in a great city.