Race

Cappy and I were corralled by our friends to not only get up at 6.45 a.m. on a Sunday, but also get on the bart and get ready to run by 8 a.m. This is no small feat! For the first time in the six years I've lived in the Bay Area, I participated in San Francisco's traditional Bay to Breakers Race.

I've realised that running on a treadmill four times a week does not afford you the fitness to run concrete streets with inclines and dips a plenty! I was generally the last person of my crew to jog into our frequent pit stops, but it was hard to concentrate on running when there was so much to see.

The Fandangers (pictured above) were my 2nd favorite costumes of the day. (Thanks Chronicle, I couldn't be asked to bring any electronic gadgets with me.) We caught up with these people at mile 6 or 7. My first favorite were four guys dressed all in red with frizzy blue wigs. They had tags on them that said, "Thing #1, "Thing #2, and so on..." We saw them downtown, but not after!

We crossed the finish line at around 10.30 a.m. We skipped the festivities at the Polo fields, and hopped on the extremely packed N-Line. We headed to our favorite breakfast restaurant around 9th and Irving. Egg scrambles, hash browns, and toast never tasted so wonderful. Cappy's NY steak and eggs was well-deserved. This girl ran like there was no tomorrow.

Bay to Breakers was a lot of fun. I had one of those, "I love San Francisco and all the funny people," days. I've not had one of those days in a long while. It was perfect running weather--sunny, yet overcast. Everyone seemed to be in a jovial mood, including myself. Despite Sandra's near fatal tortilla incident, we were thankfully all injury free.

And speaking of all those tortillas, I couldn't help thinking that it was a pigeon dream come true. Whole streets blanketed with mushy maize! There must have been a binge increase of ounces of each pigeon in San Francisco.

So anyway, with the help of something little, orange, and different, I was feeling no pain by the afternoon. One of us had the great idea in the late morning to make reservations at Piedmont Springs. At four o'clock that afternoon, we were happily soaking in an outdoor hot tub.

Favorite announcement of the day, shouted out at the hill section of the race: "All racers please stop to party! Fail to do so, you will be cited!"

Notes to self:

1. Eat more than a banana before attempting to get through a 12K
2. When you're up and moving at 6.45 on a Sunday--3 p.m. can feel like 8 or 9 o'clock at night!
3. Try to wake up earlier on Sundays to get more out of the day
4. Try to remember point #3 in the future
5. Post-race hot tubs greatly reduce muscle cramps
6. Bands shouldn't play songs by the Killers. A bad cover version can interrupt running flow...
7. Remember to use wrist wallet for next year's race! (We'll be back...)