as promised, our bay to breakers tale

first of all, i'd like to post a link to someone that took a lot more pictures than i did. she seemed to be focused on the naked people, so be warned, but she was within minutes of us, and i saw all the same stuff as she took pictures of, except, well, she took a lot of pictures, and, well, uh, i didn't. here's the link to sansanparrot's flickr slideshow
here's a link to another slide show by honan. i was probably right out of frame on many of these pictures. i might even have the photographer in a shot on hayes street hill myself.
that said, let the story begin.

click on my pictures for access to larger images.

as i posted the other day, we got up way too early for a sunday. drove to vallejo, and caught the ferry into san francisco, which let us off just a couple of blocks from the starting line. here is what the gathering place for "zone 2" racers looked like. zone 2 was "walkers and strollers". ayup, that's us. i tried to get a picture of the flurry of tortillas and beach balls that filled the air, but i think i must have snapped the camera during that 5 millisecond period of time where none were visible.

here's my long suffering spouse and me, snuggling together waiting for the race to begin. i joked with her that we didn't need costumes. we already were the bear and the chipmunk

alcohol seemed to be the morning git up and go juice, not coffee. some folks were a bit classier than others. no getting picked upside down and drinking beer shooters for some. here's a nice guy we met while waiting for the race to begin. he and his family fly up from southern california every year and make a week of it. they were wearing something approaching penguin costumes, with "March of the Drunken Penguins B2B06" on the back. They started the day with champagne

we crossed the starting line with our fasted time yet. this year it only took us 17.35 minutes to cross. usually the first runner is crossing the finish line in 35 minutes or so before we get across the starting line.

we wandered along, finally getting to the bottom of the hayes street hill. looking straight up the middle of the picture, you will see almost 1/2 a mile of street packed with people, with most of the participants BEHIND us.

san francisco is famous for hills, and in the world of distance running, hayes street hill is one of the ugliest. we were walking, and it was still a trek. we made it to the top, and looked back down the hill. this is what we saw

the top of the hayes street hill was also a natural collection point for some of the most interesting, bizarro, or funny folks around. this guy was my favorite of all. his mugging was hilarious. i called him the moaning lisa

we boogied on. like an idiot, i stuck the camera in my backpack, because it looked like it might start dumping rain all over us. so i missed more damned funny/weird/interesting folks along the way. the two links above show many of the shots i would have taken had i actually had my camera out. idiot.

getting towards the panhandle area, i pulled the camera out just to take this shot. i would like to make a public service announcement if i may: ATTENTION! Just because the cops won't arrest you for being naked does NOT mean the vast majority of naked people in this event should be. Please refrain from doffing your duds unless you have had at least one glamour or sex magazine approach you for a photo shoot. Thanks for your cooperation. end of announcement

along about 7 1/2 miles after you start, you see
and we did it in our best time yet
i know, 2 3/4 hours to walk 7 1/2 miles is pathetic, but when you are sharing space with 70,000 other crazies, it takes a while. hell, it took us until the 40 minute mark to get to the 1 mile marker. now THAT is pathetic.

but, crossing the finish line isn't EVEN the end. it takes another 1 to 1 1/2 miles to hike to "footstock", which is really the end of the line

we hung out here, got our tshirts, grabbed some chow, and then got in line to ride the bus back to the starting line. that took almost an hour. then the less than 7 mile bus ride back took an hour. i was a whipped puppy by this time. the ferry ride back to vallejo was a lot quieter than the one we took in the morning. the skies opened up and a deluge hit the area as we were pulling away from the pier. good timing.

i'm already thinking about what i'm going to wear next year.




and here was one of our favorite costumes. i didn't get the picture, so i had to hunt through flickr until i found him. i knew there would be at least one picture out there.

so, here's a safe for work picture of a nude male with his cock out. sorry.