Owner of Lee's Comics Has Action-Packed Bay to Breakers

Connie and I traveled to San Francisco for the Bay To Breakers weekend. This time we took our daughters, Hannah and Sophie. We rented a hotel room on the Great Highway, very near the finish line. We arrived on Saturday at around 3 pm, so we had some extra time to kill. We hiked up the beach to the Cliffhouse. We went into the Camera Obscura, a reflective projection system dating back hundreds of years. They capture live images of the surrounding area up close and project them onto a large convex surface that people gather around. This particular one has been in use since 1945. I've visited it before, and it's very pleasing way to see the majesty of the surrounding area from a unique vantage point. We could see the beach, the crashing waves and the surfers in the water up close. A unique, vantage point, that gave one an awesome feeling.

After that, we hiked down to the ruins of the Sutro Baths. This used to be a massive building, right by the raging sea. The ruins are enormous. I was surprised that you could walk all around, unencumbered by fences or rules. There is plenty to see here, and even a little adventure if you wanted it. We walked around for a while on some narrow remains of walls that were sticking out of the water. They didn't have anyone there blowing a whistle, telling you not to. That was nice, and unexpected.

After three hours of waling by the ocean, we turned in. I was awoken at midnight by the whistling of gale force winds, and rain hitting the windows. That worried me a bit. Weather like that could make running miserable.

Connie and I got up at 4:30 to prepare for the race. Happily, it had stopped raining. It was still a bit cold. We had to get across town. Our hotel was at the finish line, now we had to get to the start line. We were planning on looking for the shuttle, but as we were walking down the stairs of the hotel, there was a man in running clothes walking down right in front of us. I asked him how he was getting to the start line. He told me that he called a cab. I asked him if we could share a ride with him, and he said it would be fine. That was a nice break for us, as we got to the start in a hurry, plus we got to split the fare. Our half, with tip was just fifteen dollars.

We arrived near the start line. We sequestered in the coffee houses, for a while to avoid the cold. The race started at 7 am. Connie and I were in corral A, right by the start line. They gave us chips for our shoes, which later showed that we passed the start line 45 seconds after 7 am. The race is seven and a half miles, and includes a steep San Francisco hill; Hays Street. It was my hope to finish the race in under an hour, as I've done three times in previous years. I started pretty strong, but I realized that I was getting tired fast. I couldn't keep up that fast pace of a seven-minute mile. I settled into a good rhythm, but I knew I didn't have the speed to quite pull off my goal. I finished in 1 hour and 46 seconds. I guess I did okay, considering I only run 3 times a week these days, and weigh 10 more pounds than I did when I got those better times. Also, I'm over 50 now. I'll try again next year!

Here are my stats:

1 hour 46 seconds

1,884 overall of 43,398

660th Male Masters of 10,244

Connie had an enjoyable run and finished at 1:12:28

Because of the placement of our hotel room, we both got to take a shower and change before heading off to "Footstock" the after-race gathering place. This is the first year that we've been able to have that luxury. Normally we just head off in our running garb. That can get uncomfortable, because you will be in shorts, and you will be covered in sweat. If the weather gets cold, and in San Francisco it usually does, you'll get cold very quickly. Footstock took place at the speedway meadows, about a mile or two away. After running Bay to Breakers, this seemed like a long way to travel! There was a lot of free packaged food samples and drinks being given out along the way, and this was a boon for us, as we were quite hungry and thirsty.

We brought the camera, but the battery doesn't hold a charge very well, so we only got a few shots. I'll put some shots up of the actual race when I get them. Here are 3 pictures. If you want to see four more pictures, check out my web page.