My very own Bay to Breakers
(aka Mission to Sunset, the long way)
<pictures temporarily removed during blog move>
I thought this weekend would be a quiet one. I had finished finals two weeks ago and showed up for the last time to my job of 8 years on Friday. Unemployed and done with classes, I had no idea my Sunday would be so eventful.
Around 11pm on Saturday night, a friend calls me to join her and her family as they walk/run Bay to Breakers. Thinking that it would be great to experience the craziness of B2B, I accepted. Even though this meant getting up early on a Sunday morning (7am), I foolishly stayed up until 2am doing nothing useful except half-heartedly looking for my tennis shoes. Did the dog eat them?
Getting out of bed the next day was miserable. But by 7:30am, I finally left my place in the Mission and started walking to the starting line. I didn’t make it all the way out there as group’s rally point ended up being 4th and Howard. Though I missed the tortillas and stripping runners, I did get to see the race cut through the American Thoracic Society meeting at Moscone Center. Since there were a few naked runners and couple of Borat look a likes, I wonder if anyone would have been willing to recreate the hotel chase scene in the movie. Sexy time!
The two runners in our group took off shortly after the seeded people passed up. I hung around with the others, walking at a brisk pace. The first couple of block of chatting and snapping pictures was fun, but once I reached the 1 mile marker, I was feeling at bit competitive and restless. Too many people had been bumping to get past me. So I told my group I’d meet up with them at the lunch and joined the runners in the spirit that is Bay to Breakers!
One little problem: I HATE running. I had never run for more than 1 mile at a time (and the last time was probably high school). Though I’ve been on a bit of a fitness craze lately, it’s either weights or 30 minutes on a wimpy elliptical trainer. I was so not ready for this at all.
Off I go, making the turn onto 9th Street, zooming down to Market, and then burning up Hayes. Yes, I’m (slightly) exaggerating my speed, but I’m keeping up with the crowd and feeling pretty good. The next thing I know, I hit the Hayes Street hill. Except it didn’t seem like a hill to me; it was more like running smack into Muni bus.
I try to start running again, but it’s just brutal. As I huff and puff all the way up, I get passed by friend/coworker M – she’s a bit of a fitness/running nut. What are the odds! She didn’t notice me on the hill, but I manage to catch up and wave “Hi”. Just as I was about to come across as horribly out of shape, the grade changes and I take off downhill towards the Divisidero turn. This moment of glory would not last. Shortly afterwards she passes me, never to be seen again.
As I was trying to recover the remnants of my pride, I make it to my friend’s place on the Panhandle. Much to my surprise, he was in his garage setting up a BBQ/beer party. So I stop by and promise to crash the party once I finish the race. I figure I’d be back in a bit over an hour, but in actuality, I didn’t arrive until three hours later. (More on that later.)
The rest of the race went pretty straightforward; I managed to run about 2 or 2.5 miles total and I made it to ocean beach finish line around 9:50am. Though I was sore and tired, I couldn’t find any Muni bus to take me back. So I started walking and made it all the way to UCSF @ Parnassus before I couldn’t walk anymore. Fortunately, lunch time had arrived and I rejoined my group for great tasting and greasy Chinese food. No better way to recover from 12.5 miles of walking/running.
After lunch, I went back to my friend’s place at Panhandle. It took another mile of walking because I missed the Cole stop on the N-Judah and had to walk there from Duboce Park. (Grrr, I’m never going to forget the stop before the tunnel again.) I was a bit worried since city workers had already started cleaning up Fell, but the party was so awesome that nobody was ready to stop. I was “convinced” to do a celebratory kegstand and we partied/chilled/slept at his place until he made us a late dinner. (Thanks man!)
There’s no way I could have planned a Sunday like this. Totally awesome (and exhausting)! If I’m still in SF next year, I might actually do this again; even though it’s a run. However, I will be better prepared with
(1) running shoes less than five years old and (2) a CamelBak filled with Gatorade and vodka. How else are you going to cover 13.5 miles in the city?
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