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Bay to Breakers
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Bay to Breakers - Run
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Comments: The first 2.5 miles to the Hayes St. hill is just a free-for-all. Its flat and fast--as people who have no concept of pacing just go for it. Its hard not to get caught up in the initial drag race--so just be prepared for your HR to go off the charts for the first 1.0-1.5 miles. Despite multiple signs and announcements over the PA for "runners to the left" and "walkers to the right"--non-compliant (read=idiot) walkers were all over the left side of the course. And then you just have the idiots who don't care to run in a straight line, cut you off, or stop for no reason right in front of you. Be prepared for a game of dodge-left and dodge-right for the first 2.5-3.5 miles. The Hayes St. hill is often mentioned in the lore of the Bay to Breakers. Well, its really not that bad. The 11% grade (over approx. 1/2-mile) is a challenge, but not as brutal as its been made out to be. If you've done any hill-training, it will feel very familiar. The trick is then to find a way to thread through all the slow runners and walkers that come to a near standstill. I just found a line on the left-hand sidewalk and ran up that ways almost without interruption--as a bonus its shaded, so a little cooler too. What would you do differently?: Not much. Perhaps actually truly taper for this race instead of just resting the day before. Do a little tempo work. But, this race was for fun, and my training week was not going to be altered for it.  Post race
Warm down: Walk along the finish area, and to Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields where the "Footstock" post-race exposition area takes place. This is also where you pick-up your Race T-shirt. It was a long walk, perhaps 3/4-miles or more. Along the way, you'll pass the Sportphoto "free" photo section, the water stations, and the complimentary food stations (Lava Bars, Soyjoy, etc.). Note: I wish I could've stayed for Footstock, a huge party with live music (big name bands) and real food. But, alas, I didn't have time. What limited your ability to perform faster: No tempo work. No race taper. Running on slightly tired legs. Event comments: This race is a must-do. There's really "two" Bay to Breakers races being run--the first is the actual footrace and the second race is the one with the pageantry, costumes, and freaks show. If you line up at the front like I did, you don't get to see much of the "second"-race; as you're running well ahead of it all. Anyway, I'll check out the "second"-race (costumes, naked runners, and freak show) on the post-race highlights which I've Tivo'd. I had to get back home to entertain guests this afternoon, so I hopped on the MUNI bus which took FOREVER (almost 50 min.) to get back downtown. By the way, you don't even need to pay the $7.00 special MUNI bus fare (which gets you a special little MUNI sticker to ride the entire MUNI system for the rest of the day; including, of course, the special buses to the starting line). I bought the MUNI sticker, but was able to walk right on the bus even with my sticker covered up by my windbreaker--and there was no one checking for it anyways. See ya at the Starting line next year! [Note: Official "finishing contestants" numbered 23,692--that is racers that actually registered and crossed all three Start, Hayes St., and Finish timing mats. There were reportedly 35,000 registrants. And most media reports indicate participation on the order of 65,000+.] Profile Album Last updated: 2006-11-09 12:00 AM
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 2007-05-20 2:36 PM |
Expert  755    SF-Bay Area |  Subject: Bay to Breakers |
| 2007-05-20 3:17 PM in reply to: #808603 |
Extreme Veteran 445 pinoy city | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers great job, did the race a couple but walked it just to get afeel. You didnt miss anything a lot of weirdos, people peeing and exhibitionist. |
| 2007-05-20 3:47 PM in reply to: #808603 |
Expert 755 SF-Bay Area | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers |
| 2007-05-20 3:54 PM in reply to: #808603 |
Pro 4612 MA | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers Nice race, great pace with that hill. How long was that 11% upward? How did the crowdedness compare to the Standard Chartered when we merged with the 10k walkers? The MUNI is $7 now? It was only $3 the year I went to SF States for summer school. Ocean Beach is b e a u t i f u l!! |
| 2007-05-20 8:52 PM in reply to: #808603 |
Master 1862 San Mateo, CA | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers Nice job, Ron! |
| 2007-05-20 9:27 PM in reply to: #808655 |
Expert 755 SF-Bay Area | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers Thanks, everybody! Celeb_ithil - 2007-05-20 1:54 PM Nice race, great pace with that hill. How long was that 11% upward? I dunno, maybe 5-6 city blocks. Enough to make you suffer, where recovery even on the long downhill afterwards takes a long time. How did the crowdedness compare to the Standard Chartered when we merged with the 10k walkers? Very comparable, but I'd say the crowding in Hong Kong's Western Harbour Tunnel was actually a bit worse! |
| 2007-05-20 10:12 PM in reply to: #808603 |
Veteran 226 | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers Great race!! Smokin fast time for this course. |
| 2007-05-22 6:22 PM in reply to: #809069 |
Pro 6582 Melbourne FL Gold member | Subject: RE: Bay to Breakers Sweet race, no wonder your feeling the fatigue setting in! Man I can't remember the last time I walked, more or less walked a ran, up a hill like that! |
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United States
ING Bay to Breakers
58F / 14C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1114/23692
Age Group = M30-39
Age Group Rank = 266/3112
Set the alarm for 05:30. Re-checked the weather report (High 62F, Low 50F, Clear & Breezy). Got all my gear ready (see below), grabbed a breakfast bar and hopped in the car. Got into downtown SF around 6:20am, parked near Union Square.
Logistics Note: Knowing that the finish line near Ocean Beach is often cold, fogged-in and windy--I wanted to bring a windbreaker and sweatpants to the finish line. So, I packed them in an lightweight, empty Camelbak water-carrier (perfect size) which I wore the entire race. In my Marathon'r Lite belt, I placed my mobile phone, license/cc/cash, car keys, digital camera, and 2 Gu gels.
Just the fast walk to the Start line. But, being almost 85 minutes early to get a good starting spot, there was almost no point, as you got cold just standing there for that long. And with runners filling in behind and all around you by the minute, there really was no place to go to warm up.
I wore my windbreaker until about 20 min. before the Start. In hindsight I should've been wearing my sweatpants too.
The racer's starting area is cordoned off on all sides, and manned by Race Staff and Security. Your Bib is color-coded, and you're only permitted to enter in your colored-gate. At the very front is the Elite area, followed rearwards by the Orange (seeded [time-qualified]), Blue, and Yellow.
As I registered late, I was assigned the rear-most gate (Yellow), and proceeded to enter there. It didn't take me long to figure out that once inside the racer's starting area, security did not really prevent you from moving forward the next area. So, I just walked forward and got to about the middle of the Blue area to start.
About 1 hour before race time, the tortillas starting flying. Before you know it there were thousands of tortillas filling the air--both the flour and corn variety. I had read about this recent phenomenon (starting about 5-6 years ago); and it was a good way to break the pre-race tension. Soon after, the beach balls started flying too. There were actually "official" ING Bay to Breakers beach balls being tossed into the crowds by officials.
At 8:00am start the race started.