Back in elementary school, I had a good friend named Bill. He lived down the street from me. It was to his house I'd run if I had forgotten the key to my house. It was at his house that I got scared by Poltergeist, learned how to do a front flip on his trampoline, and acted out plays his older sister wrote. (Irony alert: his sister went to the same very small liberal arts college that my husband attended.) Bill and I played "Star Wars" and he gave me chicken pox. Bill was my first kiss. But we were just kids at the time. Believe me, I was a little envious when he got a real girlfriend years later, named - appropriately - Carrie.
Yes, Bill was a great part of my life when young.
Every year, Bill's parents put on a spooky haunted house for the neighborhood. Also every year, Bill and his dad ran the San Francisco Bay to Breakers. Or at least, that is what I recall. (I also recall that he was good friends with Huey Lewis, but maybe it was just that he went to a concert, not sure. However, I'm very sure that Poison's tour bus was parked in our neighborhood during one of their concert series.)
At the time, I thought the Bay to Breakers went across the Bay Bridge. Yeah, I know, the name Bay to Breakers tells it all, and that there are no bridges involved, but I thought "breakers" referred to the act of being physically broken. After all, who but only super-crazy folk would want to run?
So - years later, I've gone off and done the unthinkable, and started to run.
Meanwhile, the Bay Bridge is going through renovation such that my very favorite span of the bridge will be torn down shortly. (Hey, I bet you never heard anyone talk about having a favorite span of bridge before! Seriously, I learned the short "a" sound as a toddler by going "aaaaaaaaaa" at the "A" shaped structures on that initial span. "exexexexexex" didn't have the same ring, so the "X" shaped second span is not a fav.)
So. Still under the mistaken impression that the Bay to Breakers goes across the bridge, I signed up. I soon learned the truth that the course has nothing to do with bridges. (The half-marathon I'm doing in July will go over the Golden Gate twice, though.) I saw that the last part of the race would be on the Great Highway, which was sort of my nemesis earlier this year during my first half-marathon. So, I wanted to face it again, but stronger. I also wanted to do the race because of the costumes, of course. And because of Bill (super-puffy-heart! Um, don't read that Husband.)
Armed with my Team Sparkle skirt and Mominatrix shirt, I joined the beach-ball-and-tortilla-throwing crowd Sunday morning. I was pretty nervous because it would be my largest race (though not longest) and I hadn't really run much since The Relay. I knew there was no pressure - most people walk the 12k course - but I still wanted to put on a good show.
I nearly cried with gratitude when the elite women started. I've never been in a race where "real" elites compete, so it seemed "important." Five minutes later, the elite men began at the recorded clang of a cable car. Of course it took a few minutes for me to get to the start, but I'm glad I was in "corral C" and therefore waaaaaaaay ahead of the majority of the pack. Naturally there were doofbuckets who lined up in "corral A" who should have been back in "E" where the walkers were supposed to go, but that happens at every race. Watching the television coverage later, it appeared that it took over an hour for some people to begin the race. I'm super-lucky to have crossed START about three minutes in.
Not surprisingly, the first couple miles were duck-and-weave. Serpentine, baby! Sure, there were naked people. And drunk people. And many people smoking pot. I think I became high by association after awhile. There were people tied together as centipedes and folks with quadruple strollers. There were costumes to admire and strange spectators and runners to avoid. Some people were armed with water cannons that I hope contained just water.
The "Hayes Street Hill" was a 200 foot climb in a little less than a mile. It really wasn't the big whoop that people make it out to be, but I walked most of it all the same to "conserve energy." (By way of comparison, the trail 10k I did last month had 2500 feet worth of elevation gain. Obviously, I walked most of that.) The rest of the course was essentially downhill, which was a bit unexpected and definitely welcome.
During parts of the course, preachers on the side of the road told us how horrible we were for living in San Francisco, dressing up in costume, and even how terrible it was that we care for our environment (because we're supposed to care only for Jesus.) What a sad thing. They were missing the point of who Jesus was and how he treated others. As irony would have it, my old friend Bill is now a minister - but I'm guessing he's of the type who is respectful.
The bit through Golden Gate Park and finishing on the Great Highway was, um, golden and great! I felt happy with my effort during the latter-half of the race, and it is always a joy to push at the end.
Next year will be the 100th running of the Bay to Breakers. Of course I'm going to be there! with Bill (totally kidding.)
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Disclaimer: The Mominatrix link contains my Amazon-affiliate code, so I get a few cents if you purchase something after clicking the link. I have the shirt because Kristen is my friend and where else to wear a Mominatrix shirt than San Francisco? Team Sparkle gave me a skirt for free for The Relay because they are awesome people and wanted us to be the best-dressed team; which, of course, we were. There was absolutely no expectation of review, although they knew that we'd fall in love with the skirts so much that we'd wear them running over and over again!
