The Extra Mile Project: Bay to Breakers

I woke up at about 6:30 Sunday morning, and although it was pretty gray outside it seemed like it was going to be a pretty nice day for a run. I grabbed a luna bar and some water and got the rest of my stuff together. I had already attached my timing tag to my shoe and bib number on to my shirt since I was pretty much over excited when I got my race packet from the expo on Friday. When I had everything ready, Lucy drove me down to the start line, which was nice because it meant i got to sleep in a little longer and didn't have to walk about a mile to get there. Here I am at the embarcadero where she dropped me off.

Now Bay to Breakers is not your normal foot race. Its pretty much a mobile party, and is known for its crazy antics especially the costumes (or in some cases lack thereof) As you can see I don't have a costume, but honestly I was still a little nervous about it being my first race let alone trying to run 7.5 miles dressed like a manatee or something. But it was awesome to see everybody all dressed up, it definitely kept things from getting boring. I got to my corral by about 7:00 and then basically waited around for the race to start. I talked with some nice people and threw some tortillas around (another B2B tradition) and finally it was 8:00, time for the start! We counted down....5...4...3...2...1...and just stood there. There were over 30,000 registered runners and I was somewhere in the middle. They send the elite runners first (they finished the course in under 40 minutes) and then the rest of us. So at about 8:15am I crossed the starting line and I was on my way! I had decided not to bring my camera because I really had no where to carry it, and that turned out to be a good idea. I just focused on keeping moving. The first mile was a little difficult simply because the course was still super crowded, there were a ton of people just walking or stopping right in front of me so I did a lot of dodging and weaving. But right after the first mile marker I was at 6th and Howard! My friends were here to cheer me on...Yay! Lucy, Cierra, and Cameron were standing on the corner and we almost got a really good picture until some guy jumped in front of me (Lucy was mad , but oh well...)

See that guy with no shirt on? See that tye-dye sliver behind him? Yeah thats me :0) I even crossed the street and saw a bunch of the kids who were watching the race, they were surprised to see me, but very excited.

I felt really good at this point and tried to keep myself running because I knew the Hayes Street Hill was coming. At about the 2.5 mile mark, the course goes up this pretty steep hill for like 7 blocks. Its really not all that bad until you get the last 3 blocks, which are the steepest, but once I got to the top it was awesome to look over my shoulder and see the street behind me still packed with people. It was so cool to be part of such a huge event. Thankfully the course took a short downhill part and I knew the hardest part was over. I stopped for water a couple times, and by the time I hit Golden Gate Park I had to make a port-o-potty pit stop...which because of lines took at least 10 minutes. That was a little frustrating, but once I got back on the road I appreciated it. The last couple miles seemed to go pretty fast, and the only bummer was the creepy Christians with bullhorns yelling at the runners...definitely not cool, but I won't rant about that now, because this post is long enough! When I came to the finish I was surprised how good my body was feeling, I actually felt like I could have gone more (yay for training!)

Overall my official time was 2 hours and 2 minutes which wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but not bad either.
My first goal was just to finish, and finish feeling good- Which I definitely did! But my real goal was to try and finish in 1 hour 45 minutes. Which I guess I didn't miss by too much if you subtract my 10 minute potty break. Either way, I was happy I did it, I feel like I got some good experience for the big race and learned a little better how I will have to pace myself in September.

When I finally made it back home we went out to Wing Stop to celebrate...I love their lemon pepper wings!