bay to breakers race recap

So yesterday I ran in the 100th Bay to Breakers 12K. It was much tamer than in previous years, according to some of the people I met and spoke with. My race time was 1:43. It was really difficult to keep running the whole time--there was just no space to do it! By the time I got to the start line, at least 25,000 people had started in earlier waves. There were so many people walking that they took up nearly the entire road. I had to weave around a lot and nearly crashed into several people who suddenly stopped running. The race starts right by San Francisco Bay and runs west across the city to the coast.

It was such a crazy day! It started out on Caltrain. The brakes went out on the train I was on and it took an hour for us to transfer to another train. The train I was on was packed with costume wearing people on their way to the race. We had to jump from one train to another (though there were people there to help us cross). Then we finally arrived and I still had to walk about 1.5 miles to the meeting point. I was so late that the "corral" I was supposed to start with had gone 30 minutes before. So I went in with a later group. The later the group, the more people were walking. I'd have had an easier time running if I'd been in my own start group.

I counted 15 naked people running the race. Only in San Francisco! Not that I was seeking them out or anything, but they are hard to miss! And if I passed one, I did NOT turn around to confirm. I'm sure there were many more than 15 though, since there were 50,000 people there.

It was fun to see all the costumes people wore. There weren't any floats allowed this year, so it was less interesting to spectators. But I'm glad I got to run in the infamous race before we leave the area. The weather was great and it was extremely entertaining.