Bay to Breakers 2011

[starlady]

Happy Constitution Day, Norway! At my alma mater there will be cake for everyone today.

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So on Sunday morning I got up ridiculously early to bike to the BART and get my butt on a train for downtown San Francisco to run the 100th annual Bay to Breakers 12K. I finished in 1:24:57, well within my personal goal of 1:30:00. The Bay to Breakers race is notorious for many things, among them the Hayes Street Hill between mile 2 and 3, which rises at about a 12% grade. Looking at my split times, I actually sped up on the second half of the course, after the hill; at the top of the hill my split time was 11:45, but at the finish line it was 11:24. Compared with the 8K I ran last year (split time 7:19), there's a lot of room for improvement, but I was pleased that it wasn't, on the whole, anywhere near as much of a challenge as I thought it would be. If anything, I took it too easy. (Fun fact: when I was at the crest of the hill, the winners were already at the finish line.)

The other thing about Bay to Breakers aside from the hill and the rather lovely course through the city's microclimates to the finish line on the Great Highway, with the Pacific slamming onto the shore in front of you, is that it's basically a giant excuse to have a citywide party. Those of us who actually ran it got a bit less of this, and this year the city also enforced the alcohol regulations and barred floats from the race course, which I understand put a bit of damper on things. Still, I have to tell you, it was one of the most awesome things I've done: the weather was perfect, if just slightly on the chilly side, the sun shone bright (except for the 2/3 of a mile that it rained in Golden Gate Park), and the people flinging tortillas at the start, the Elvi (plural of Elvis), the sharks (they run the course backward), the people running naked, the tons of people running in costume, the people cheering us on from their houses as they blared music and drank at 8am--it was all really, really fun.

Comments

[ellen_fremedon]

Happy Constitution Day, Norway!

It is! I had not even noticed, but now I want lefse.

At my alma mater there will be cake for everyone today.

Did you go to Luther College?


(Also, shouldn't the plural of Elvis be Elves? It looks like it should go like civis, civis.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Or it could be Elvides.

[starlady]

I thought about it and concluded 'Elves' was correct strictly speaking (it would be third declension, yeah), but I've heard other people say 'Elvi,' so I went with it on the basis of localism.

I went to St. Olaf. :P

[serene]

Wow, you're awesome!

[vito_excalibur]

I could not run it this year, but Mr. E did, and I dropped him off and picked him up and saw many lovely people in lovely costumes! B2B is always the best; glad you got to do it, and congratulations!

P.S. The people running the course backwards are not sharks, they are salmon. They swim upstream to spawn. :)

[starlady]

Ah, okay. But I saw sharks too!

Though no caterpillars, sadly.

Thanks! It was great.

[via_ostiense]

Sounds like B2B was fun! Congrats on making your time!

except for the 2/3 of a mile that it rained in Golden Gate Park

Oh, SF microclimates, never change.

Btw, do you have any interest in doing a half-marathon? C and I signed up for the Lake Merced one in September.

[starlady]

Thank you! It was seriously the most fun I've ever had at a race.

I thought of you and the microclimates! Other than that the weather was remarkably consistent.

I admit I am sort of interested in a half marathon now, because I definitely had a good pace going in this race, and I know I could have kept going. Send me the info?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I sort of feel like Bay to Breakers would be fun to do, but I am so very much Not A Runner that I doubt I ever will. (Bad ankles, marginally better knees, no cardivascular endurance to speak of, and mild exercise-induced asthma: running is not and never will be my sport.) But I so very much approve of the fact that people run in costume, etc.

Maybe some year I will gather friends for a leisurely Bay to Breakers stroll, in which we will all costume in fancy dress and sip tea along the way, or something.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

You would fit right in!

[olewyvern.livejournal.com]

Sounds very much like the Bolder Boulder - the one race I run every year, since I am not really a runner either. My goal is always just to finish the race without a) walking the last mile or b) dying.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I know part of the reason for the extension of my split time is the hills, despite the fact that I made the attempt to add some into my running routine. Colorado would be even more nuts, due to the whole 'oxygen deprivation' thing.

[olewyvern.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced the only reason I can run 10K is that I go home to 7500 feet for a couple weeks beforehand.