What do he know about the buttery flow?

I've been alternately busy (shit's goin' koo-koo at work, family drama, Memorial Day Weekend) or lazy (Memorial Day Weekend) but given how much pissing and moaning I did about Bay to Breakers, I thought I should post about it.

Well, for shutting it down basically for three weeks beforehand because of knee soreness, I came close to my initial goal that I'd abandoned. Next year I feel comfortable I'll break it--I just really got going again somewhat recently and the IT band problems I had didn't help. I did get passed by a naked guy in the 6th mile, but what're you gonna do? In the sake of honesty, I finished just over an hour, FWIW. I mean, I made cellphone calls while running, but I think I did my best for right now, and it was a good start considering I was 40 lbs lighter than this time last year. I'm already signed up for the Stadium to Stadium next month and the Wharf to Wharf down in Santa Cruz in July.

Anyway:

Hot as Satan's left ass-cheek out there. You don't think mid-70s is bad running weather until you live and run in this town.

First mile or so sucked so bad--I was in Corral C (out of A-E) and the whole beginning I was dodging walkers most of them nude and/or old men and/or unregistered who idiotically or arrogantly jumped in the faster corrals. I felt like I ran 3 miles those first 2 miles what with all the dodging and weaving.

But the atmosphere was awesome. I know B2B gets derided as a Straight Pride parade, or Halloween on a college campus, and I'm sure there was plenty of douchebaggery as the masses of unregistered binge-drinking walkers in the back of the pack came through, but "up front" (relatively-speaking of course--the Ethiopean dude who won could've come close to lapping me but I still finished in the first couple thousand out of 65,000 participants) it was good mostly-clean fun, especially compared to the usual road-race atmosphere of empty sidewalks and lonely park trails. A lot of people lining the course, in a lot of costumes, in a lot of early throes of their buzzes, all cheering as we passed.

The only time I actually heard heckling was as I was going up Hayes Street Hill, these bro-heims that were lining the course were yelling at the runners: "Jeez, that's a long way up! You guys sure look tired! I don't think you guys are gonna make it!," etc etc., buit even that was just dumb fun. And the Breakers to Bay Salmon were coming down as I was going up, and that was actually a HUGE boost. I had fun the entire time, talking with people, singing along to the bands and DJs that were playing ("Uptown Top Ranking" is surprisingly a good song to run to), blah blah blah

Most inspirational moment was shortly after getting in the park: struggling in the heat and with my knees (IT bands again) after passing the Conservatory, a drunk middle-aged woman on the right side of the road yells at me and the fella next to me, "LOOK OVER THERE, GUYS!!!" and points across the road, where we flip our heads and eyeball two young buck-ass naked women--short, about 19 or so, curvy-- waving at all of us runners passing by.

I ran another mile on that alone; thanks, drunk middle-aged woman.

On May 28th, 2009 11:58 pm (UTC),

ardaliz commented:

Most inspirational moment was shortly after getting in the park

I read that thinking "DAMNIT! That's only the most inspirational moment because we were five minutes too tardy to be the most inspirational moment!" But then I continued reading and realized that OH. My ass holding a GO EVERYONE sign isn't THAT kind of inspiration.

Reply · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 12:01 am (UTC),

ardaliz commented:

And what's so secret on the bottom of your shirt that you had to white it out? Don't want anyone to know the brand??

Reply · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 10:48 am (UTC),

alivicwil replied:

I wondered the same thing...

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 05:18 pm (UTC),

seriesfinale replied:

Aha, I just got a little careless with the eraser thingie when blotting out my race #

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 05:18 pm (UTC),

seriesfinale replied:

Aha, I just got a little careless with the eraser thingie when blotting out my race #

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 10:51 am (UTC),

alivicwil commented:

well done, you :)

Glad to hear you were close to your goal, despite down time.
I'm hoping this is my year to do the 14km City to Surf in under 100mins... we'll see!

Reply · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 05:18 pm (UTC),

seriesfinale replied:

"City to Surf" sounds fun.

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 30th, 2009 02:56 am (UTC),

alivicwil replied:

it's good! minorly problematic in that it's in SYdney and I'm in Canberra, and also it's on a sunday so the next day at work is a little painful :)

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 12:12 pm (UTC),

archaica commented:

Man, good for you; I would have died halfway through. Heck, 2 miles in.

And young curvy naked women are an inspiration to everyone.

Reply · Thread

On May 29th, 2009 05:20 pm (UTC),

seriesfinale replied:

Yeah, the thing is, the ratio of young curvy naked women to old scrawny naked men is like 1:10.

I'm not even taking into account the number of dudes wearing Borat's "banana hammock" swimsuit I saw running!

Reply · Parent · Thread

On May 30th, 2009 04:49 pm (UTC),

anoldbruise commented:

Hey hey hey now now I wasn't registered and I took to corral C and I ran. I paid last year and I have ethical reasons for not giving Ing a dime this year. Just thought I'd drop my two cents in.

Meanwhile I did not beat my time from last year, I lagged by 12 minutes, which I was surprised about, I thought I was further behind. I felt like I had to do more zig zagging in the beginning than last year because I started further ahead in corral C last year. It forced me waste a ton of energy before the big hill. If you think about it, it probably forced me to run an additional half mile or so, which made me feel a little better about my time.

And man was it crowded throughout the whole course! Last year I pulled ahead of people and there was a ton of space to run through GG Park, but this year it was packed until the end!

Reply · Thread

On May 30th, 2009 04:55 pm (UTC),

anoldbruise replied:

Oh and I meant to add that part of my not beating my time had to do with knee problems (and as a result of running improperly, hip problems) just like you, comrade!

Also, after I finished and ate a little food I walked back with my friend and joined up with the drunken masses, drank some beer and watched their awesome dance party. They looked like they were having all kinds of fun. I was a tad jealous, all sweaty and dirty and worn out.

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03:25 pm 5/28/09 12 comments Leave a comment	seriesfinale I've been alternately busy (shit's goin' koo-koo at work, family drama, Memorial Day Weekend) or lazy (Memorial Day Weekend) but given how much pissing and moaning I did about Bay to Breakers, I thought I should post about it. Well, for shutting it down basically for three weeks beforehand because of knee soreness, I came close to my initial goal that I'd abandoned. Next year I feel comfortable I'll break it--I just really got going again somewhat recently and the IT band problems I had didn't help. I did get passed by a naked guy in the 6th mile, but what're you gonna do? In the sake of honesty, I finished just over an hour, FWIW. I mean, I made cellphone calls while running, but I think I did my best for right now, and it was a good start considering I was 40 lbs lighter than this time last year. I'm already signed up for the Stadium to Stadium next month and the Wharf to Wharf down in Santa Cruz in July. Anyway: Hot as Satan's left ass-cheek out there. You don't think mid-70s is bad running weather until you live and run in this town. First mile or so sucked so bad--I was in Corral C (out of A-E) and the whole beginning I was dodging walkers most of them nude and/or old men and/or unregistered who idiotically or arrogantly jumped in the faster corrals. I felt like I ran 3 miles those first 2 miles what with all the dodging and weaving. But the atmosphere was awesome. I know B2B gets derided as a Straight Pride parade, or Halloween on a college campus, and I'm sure there was plenty of douchebaggery as the masses of unregistered binge-drinking walkers in the back of the pack came through, but "up front" (relatively-speaking of course--the Ethiopean dude who won could've come close to lapping me but I still finished in the first couple thousand out of 65,000 participants) it was good mostly-clean fun, especially compared to the usual road-race atmosphere of empty sidewalks and lonely park trails. A lot of people lining the course, in a lot of costumes, in a lot of early throes of their buzzes, all cheering as we passed. The only time I actually heard heckling was as I was going up Hayes Street Hill, these bro-heims that were lining the course were yelling at the runners: "Jeez, that's a long way up! You guys sure look tired! I don't think you guys are gonna make it!," etc etc., buit even that was just dumb fun. And the Breakers to Bay Salmon were coming down as I was going up, and that was actually a HUGE boost. I had fun the entire time, talking with people, singing along to the bands and DJs that were playing ("Uptown Top Ranking" is surprisingly a good song to run to), blah blah blah Most inspirational moment was shortly after getting in the park: struggling in the heat and with my knees (IT bands again) after passing the Conservatory, a drunk middle-aged woman on the right side of the road yells at me and the fella next to me, "LOOK OVER THERE, GUYS!!!" and points across the road, where we flip our heads and eyeball two young buck-ass naked women--short, about 19 or so, curvy-- waving at all of us runners passing by. I ran another mile on that alone; thanks, drunk middle-aged woman.
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