May Madness, I'm Gunning for You

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Yesterday I signed up to do next year’s Bay to Breakers, the craziest 12k you’ll find in what remains my favorite city: San Francisco. I wanted to take advantage of the 48-hour low pricing (under $40); generous refund policy; and expiring airline credits. I’ve wanted to return to this event for more than eight years … and now I will if all goes as planned. 

I’ll be running or, more likely, walking with my daughter and son-in-law, both B2B regulars. We’re already coming up with costume concepts and deciding which breweries to hit in our version of carbo loading. I’ve also been assured that seeking a position within Corral A doesn’t mean we need to maintain a 6-minute-per-mile pace, or that we get passed and cussed at the entire time. 

 

Bay to Breakers is weird and wild, but the year we did it was weirder and less wild than others due to a bombing at the Boston Marathon just weeks before. That led to lower attendance, probably as much due to a stronger police presence and alcohol ban as it was fear of terrorism. It was my daughter’s first time too. She’d only moved to the city eight months prior and didn’t have the strong lay of the land she does now. I remember our group of seven starting with stragglers because someone was still in line at Starbucks when the gun went off. Instead of dodging thrown tortillas, we tried to avoid slipping on grounded ones. There were still plenty of people, naked and otherwise, to keep us entertained. The raves heading up  Hayes Hill were in full swing instead of just launching, which was a nice bonus. Golden Gate Park was quiet and the finish a little underwhelming. We were late and rushed to catch a bus to a Muni stop that would take us back to our Noe Valley AirBnB. (Interesting sidenote: Our neighbor was the CEO of Netflix, according to our hosts.)

 

This is a big step because I haven’t yearned to run or even walk in official races for several years now. I signed up for exactly one event last year, with expectations it would be in person by February but, alas, it wasn’t. And it was a good thing because I would not have enjoyed a trip to Hawaii under such sorrowful circumstances. 

 

I thought “the fever” was extinguished for good, with me just happy to do short runs in the neighborhood when the spirit moved me. But I’ve come to realize the role formal races still play in a running life. And how running remains central to my own well-being. There’s the structure and consistency of training to look forward to, and the reward if race day goes well. I suppose if I’m being honest, I am also trying to recapture a little of the excitement races provided when I was younger and healthier all around. And I sometimes wonder if I’d actually be in better shape now had I not suffered persistent injuries back then. 

 

Regardless, I am starting to look forward to being around other people – especially women in my new age group next year who will give me a run for my money. I just have a lot of work to do between now and then. And a costume to make for next May when we hit the streets of San Francisco along with tens of thousands of other free-spirited, possibly inebriated pedestrians all dressed up or wearing nothing at all.


Photo is a random shot I found during a climb to Coit Tower many years ago. I'm not sure what happened to all the pictures I took during my last Bay to Breakers.

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