Bay to Breakers 12K - RunOther

Last time running this (2008), I was in the top 500 out of about 22,500 official finishers and I hoped to improve on that a bit...figured I could take my PR of 54:29 down by a minute or more and get into the top 400. Didn't reckon on the organizers throwing the race open for the 100th anniversary to 20,000 MORE entrants. Wow...quite the pack. First time B2B had not only starting corrals, but starting waves. Everything basically seemed to go off without a hitch.

First time in the sub-seeded corral was a nice luxury...lots of elbow room at the start and the ability to run my own race from the get-go. Planned to go about 7:10 for mile 1 and 7:00-7:05 for mile 2 and then see how I felt after the relatively epic Hayes St. hill (1/2 mile grade at about 2 1/2 miles in, maxing out at over 11%).

Hit mile 1 just a bit sub-7:00, but felt good, so I didn't sweat it. Looked around for likely pace partners...the naked chick ahead of me was an inviting target, but damned if she wasn't faster than I was...ended up settling in next to a "centipede" entrant (13 runners tied together), a dog sled team--10 runners with husky dog hats and 3 "mushers" in fur caps with bullwhip. Turned out they were aiming for a 7:00/mi pace and I ultimately stayed with them for the first 3 1/2 miles (and finished within 30 seconds of them).

Race was comfortable and uneventful. I know that mile 4 is actually a false flat, but still always fret that my split for that mile is slower than my target pace. Last 3 1/2 miles are mostly flat, then downhill through Golden Gate Park, so I kept pressing, knowing I'd hit deep negative splits in the latter stages of the race.

Somewhat younger guy pulled alongside me around mile six and asked about my Boston shirt. He was someone who'd not managed to get registered for this year's race. He said he'd gotten another qualifying time recently, so I wished him luck getting in for next year. Then he gradually pulled ahead.

It looked early on like I had a shot at my stretch goal of 52:55-53:00, but by mile 6, I knew I just had to stay focused on my main goal of sub-54:00. Other than a little tightness in my left calf, there wasn't any reason to think I wouldn't make it. At the last downhill with about 0.75 mi. to go, I really tried to kick and began to think I might still get to sub-53:00. On the final 1/4 mile straightaway along the beach, though, we were going into a headwind and that put that out of reach. Ended up with 53:20 on my Garmin, a PR by about 1:10.

Nothing...this was a good race all the way around.

Walked around and waited for Liz to finish...knew I'd have a 15-20 minute wait. Started to stretch and suddenly big raindrops started to fall...dug out the emergency poncho I brought and put it on. Liz finished pretty much right when I figured she would and we walked the 3/4 of a mile to the post-race expo, picking up our finisher's medals and some freebie food along the way.

The city and the race organizers had made an effort to curtail alcohol consumption on the course and it definitely made for a less...shall we say...debauched event overall (nothing against debauchery, mind you). But that and a one-hour earlier start (and perhaps the threat of thunderstorms) all probably held down crowd support.

On Muni bus ride back to financial district, we had a nice chat with a couple from the UK who'd come over just to run B2B...their first time in SF! Made our trip from LA seem much less of an excess. :)

Lots and lots of recreational and costumed runners and thousands and thousands of walkers in B2B, so placements are really less impressive than they might seem at first glance. Still pretty happy with results: In addition to top 1.4% O/A and top 55 finish in 50-59 AG out of more than 3500, I was also top 2% among over 10,000 masters men.


Nothing really--I finished essentially right on my goal. I've been nursing a chronic abdominal strain, but it doesn't really affect my running. Also have been dealing with lower leg issues. But all in all, I was about the healthiest for this race that I've been since Long Beach Marathon in October. Definitely fully recovered from Boston Marathon four weeks back.


Bay to Breakers is one of a kind. There's a $25,000 challenge prize for the elites and so you do have a bit of a serious pro field (not that many big money 12K's out there), but this is really a community celebration. If you like to run and you value the spirit of a place like San Francisco, this is a race to do some time.