I was hoping to take some pictures capturing the experience, but then I realized that I wouldn't be able to do it and run at the same time. Things happened so quickly, like the six pairs of bare bottoms that flashed in front of me right before I past them, there was no time to take the photo. And then there was the danger of coming to a stop and causing a pile-up behind me. Twice I witnessed close-calls of people tripping over each other because the person in the front dropped something and stopped suddenly. Running in a race is much like driving on the highway; you can't just stop dead in your track, gotta pull over first!
It also occurred to me during and after that this was one race where the race itself wasn't the point at all. Anyone not in the elite category who attempts to set a personal record is doomed to fail. I spent the first half a mile just trying to navigate through walkers who either decided to start way in the front of the queue or had joined in after the starting line. Then there were all the "distractions" of people in costumes, people offering beer and food and bands playing at various points. It just seemed pointless to focus on running given all these factors. Next year I'm going to start at the end of the line and take my time to enjoy the distractions.
Besides the awesome costumes and bands, here are some of the highlights, for me:
1. Tortillas, or rather, people throwing tortillas. Apparently this is a B2B tradition to kill time. I got nailed a few times while waiting for the race to start. It hurt man! When the thing slaps you at just the right angle it actually can hurt. Yeah I nailed a few people too so we're even. Karma baby.
2. The 11.15% grade hill at mile 2.5. It's my first San Francisco hill and I conquered it! Sounds a bit silly but it made me feel more confident about running the SF Half Marathon in July. I'm still going to keep hitting the Dish once a week until the race. After the hill it was smooth sailing all the way to the finish line - flat/downhill with no more human roadblocks.
3. Human centipede. I saw a number of those on the course. Normally this would seem like fun, but all I could think of was the horrible, horrible movie that I read about and wished I had never seen the trailer of. Oh yeah I'm sharing this. Don't say I didn't warn you.
4. I was running up to a naked man, which by then I've grown accustomed to seeing. Right before I moved to the side to pass him, he turned around and gave me a full frontal view of his package. I kept my eyes straight ahead but damn my excellent peripheral vision.
5. The Evangelists. Or more accurately, people who have nothing better to do but to spend a Sunday morning yelling at everyone they're going to hell. They stood on the side walk and yell at the runners about how evil we were and needed saving. They got a lot of fingers. I was tempted but I kept my fingers where they were. One of them was speaking through a speaker and a runner sneaked up behind him and turned it off. We all howled in laughters and cheered for the runner. HA HA HA!
6. Hot hot hot naked man ran past me around mile 5. Perfect runner's body. Talk about motivation!
7. Despite still suffering from a cold and a week of bad sleep, I actually did pretty well. I made up for lost time in the last three miles going faster than my usual pace and finished strong. With the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon I remember the parts of the race where I struggled with fatigue. With this race there was none. Sure it's a shorter race but I did feel that I was in much better shape than before.
8. Met and chatted with several people before and after the race. One woman told me that it was her 24th time running the B2B! How wonderful is that? It was a friendly, fun social event that's unlike any other race.
If someone told me a year ago that I would be up before 5am on a cold morning to drive to San Francisco and run 12 kilometers, I would laugh in his face, hard. This had been an awesome experience and I plan to make it an annual tradition. I'll be sure to soak it in even more next time, starting with a better costume!
The hill. Push push push!
After the race
My friend Michele
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