Bay to Breakers 2009

Last Sunday was the 98th annual Bay to Breakers, a classic 12km (7.5m) run in San Francisco, from the Embarcadero through downtown and Golden Gate park, ending up at the beach.

Tradition dictates wearing something goofy and unorthodox. Emily has a bunch of old dance oufits that we rummage through to find something to wear. I wore a black skirt thing with green, pink and orange ruffles, a orange headband and high pink arguile socks. Emily wore blue sparkly stretch pants, a red top, a white bandana and aviator sunglasses. Sweet!

My dad always comes out and walks the course. He always gives us a report of the craziness he sees from the sidelines.

It was warm from the start, and we were in the last group, group E, with the walkers and "wheeled objects." This means we spent the 30 minutes before and 15 minutes after the start gun crammed in our corral with hundreds of drunken 20- and 30-somethings partying with their friends, and letting YOU know about it. After finally starting, we began our weaving our way out of the back and into the group of more serious runners.

A couple miles into the race, we were finally moving at a good pace, and hit the Hayes Street Hill. This hill provides a good challenge, and gets the blood pumping, but Em and I were passing people left and right. We came into Golden Gate park, me dragging a little as it was warm and I had a little too much wine the night before. Emily was bounding and I was trying to keep up. We were both enjoying the sights and sounds of the run.

The finish was right on the water, and the run into it was cool and refreshing. We crossed the line in 1hr 17 minutes, not quite a 10 minute mile, which is slow for us. However, we were dragged down quite a bit and didnt push to finish quick.

After the race, we met up with my dad, and went out for lunch, trying to reflect on the better parts of the race. Overall, we were disappointed by the race. It was too crowded, crazy and drunk to enjoy this year. We may or may not run next year.....

-Brian