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Bay to Breakers 2012, We did everything this weekend.

Only in San Francisco will you find a guy dressed up like a bat,
tortillas on the ground,
 and a naked guy with a giant...camera bag in the same photograph. 
We (me, GeNene, Staci, and Jim) returned for something that can only be described as a quintessential San Francisco experience: Bay to Breakers, a 12 kilometer footrace across the city that feels more like a parade than a race with tens of thousands of participants ranging from completely costumed to completely naked. As well as completely sober to completely drunk.

This year we had some special guest stars: My mom and her husband David in town from Indiana to visit, and Allison and her friend Michael, who is from Washington and was seeing San Francisco for the first time. Saturday we hit the expo and lunch before taking off to walk the Golden Gate Bridge (happy 75th, GGBridge).
It's always fun to take people who've never been up here. All agreed it was awesome. 
It was an early night, and before you know it we were in our corral being abused by flying tortillas. Every tortilla I threw seemed to boomerang back and smack someone standing within 2 feet of us. Oops.
Here's GeNene and me. I'm not sure she realizes I've claimed my title as her official pacer. Today, it was for a sub 2 finish.  
Staci and Jim ready to kick some ass.
The event was noticeably tamer and more controlled than last year. There were a lot more fences up along the sidewalks separating the residences from the street, so there was no three story beer bong this year. Sad. There was, however, a group of people pouring shots out of a Camelbak bladder, and just as many people drinking along the way. There were a lot more cops along the course and even one point where race security was throwing people out who didn't have numbers. It was kind of like driving through a DUI checkpoint...even though you're sober, you're still nervous. We ran past people in vests screaming, "If you don't have a bib number, GET OFF THE COURSE...You, Superman, GET OFF THE COURSE...Monty Python, GET OFF THE COURSE." We had bibs, but were a little unnerved until we got past them. I was just waiting for, "Orville Redenbacher, GET OFF THE COURSE!"

Not to say the spectators didn't bring it...because they did not disappoint along the Hayes Street hill. 
There were an obscene amount of tutus. I don't really get that in regular races anyway, so it just bothered me to see tutu after tutu. Why is that a thing? I don't get it. 

We made our way to the ocean. We made it under 2 hours. That was the plan. Now we had a few hours to get back, showered, and eat lunch before the Giants game at 1. Bing Bang Boom. 
My mom and me at the game, the reason I wore my Orville t-shirt for the race. 
The game was fun, I got burnt to a crisp, and then we had an amazing dinner at Forbes Island. If you've never eaten there you're missing out. 
And this is the cat that watched Bay to Breakers in its entirety from start to finish. 


We had a great weekend. We had a great race. We had a time. 

Bay to Breakers 2012. 






Comments

  1. Wow - Bay to Breakers, Giants vs. A's, and then dinner out. What a way to fill a day! I'm exhausted and all I did was read about it.

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