Race Recap: My First -- and Last -- Bay to Breakers 12k

Today was the 100th running of Bay to Breakers. To call it a freak show would be an understatement.

I have nothing more to say about this race than that.

(Who am I fooling, I always have lots to write about.)

The expo was pretty lame, EXCEPT WHEN I GOT TO MEET THIS GUY.

The Ultramarathon Man himself, fresh from running across the United States
in 75 straight days, Mr. Dean Karnazes

I went to the expo on Friday to pick up my bib and shirt, and even made a special trip back on Saturday JUST to get this guy's John Hancock. Nothing else. Done. Boom. Out of there.

Riding on the tails of meeting Dean, Katie came over early, early, early on Sunday morning where we ran from my house to our starting corral downtown (5 miles with the California Street hill as a warm-up!). Transportation to the race was a logistical NIGHTMARE, and we figured this was the safest and best way to get to our corral on time.

And in one piece.

(Plus, who can't stand to use the extra mileage when you've got another marathon coming up in 11 weeks?)

Then we stood around in the morning chill, where Katie got hit in the jugular with a tortilla. There were lots of naked people, the port-o-potties made me want to vomit, and we were ready to get this over with before it even began.

Katie reenacting the accident (incidentally by the Alcatraz swim team)
A really disgusting naked man walked by as Katie tried to take this picture

Looking ahead at Corral A & the sub-seeded runners

Looking behind to the rest of the corrals
Katie and me before the madness
Crossing the starting line
Smurf cheer squad
Just a handful of the many, many nakeds. The arm warmers confuse me.
This was supposed to be looking up at the Hayes Street hill. Of course, pictures of hills never turn out.

50,000 people were officially registered for this race, but it was estimated that more than 100,000+ showed up. I had one goal in mind: Make it to the finish in time to get that once-in-a-lifetime piece of centennial bling.

That we did.

Bling bling!

5-mile warm-up (43:27): 8:12, 8:24, 8:33, 9:08 (California Street Hill), 9:07 -- 8:41 average pace
Bay to Breakers 12k (1:02:04): 8:19, 8:22, 8:35 (Hayes Street Hill), 8:20, 8:15, 8:12, 8:07, 3:55 -- 8:14 average pace
1.03-mile cool-down back home/to Starbucks: 9:32 (would not recommend running with a biodegradable swag bag)

Total mileage: 13.56 miles
Total time: 1:55:03
Average pace: 8:29 min/mile

Bay to Breakers stats:
Official Time: 1:02:04

Average Pace: 8:20 min/mile (7.3 mph)

Overall Place: 2,199 out of 43,403

Gender Place: 380 out of 23,855

Age/Gender Place: 107 out of 4,713

Air Temp: 51F