Nudes, booze, and penquins: Another Bay to Breakers morning

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/22/6 | C. W. Nevius

[SmithL]

Until this Sunday I hadn't hit the Bay to Breakers since the days when I could trot out of my San Francisco apartment, run the course in under an hour, and consider it a fun way to spend a morning.

Those days are long, long gone. Now it takes me just under an hour to find my running shoes. And by the time I've located them, my knees are already warning me what will happen if I try to run seven miles.

. . . There are changes, however. For one thing, the number of rolling bars, boats, and beer kegs on wheels have decreased. And those who attempted to brave the route with their beverage containers were often stopped by security and asked to step away from the keg.

However, it should be pointed out that did not mean that many of the runners/joggers/strollers/sightsee-ers were not pretty toasted. One guy jogged by with a large, stemmed wine glass full of what looked to be an amusing little Chardonnay. Pretty festive for 7:45. a.m.

As for the costumes, it was another banner year. Lots of pirates, Viking helmets, and busty blonde gals (many of whom were neither busty nor gals in everyday life). There were, however, almost no Da Vinci Code references that I could see. I thought surely someone would do Tom Hanks' hair.

Now, a word about the nudes. I am afraid they were, in every sense of the word, a disappointment. First of all, they were the gloomiest group of nudes we had ever seen. (OK, granted, not a wealth of experience there, but still.) Perhaps it was because of the constant refrain of "ewwwwwww.'' For, as is almost always the case when someone does something daring and risqué, it is never the someone you'd hoped.

[SmithL]

A camera-phone photo of some of those puzzling penquins.

[SmithL]

What could be better than a naked crazy person than a whole bunch of ugly naked crazy people from San Francisco?

Put me on your list, please.

[Fintan]

 

This is getting out of hand. I need to start a newsletter...

[martin_fierro]

Mrs. F & I "ran" the B2B a few years back.

At first it was kinda novel seeing naked people walking around in broad daylight in a major metropolitan area.

But it soon became obvious what it was -- a pathetic cry for help.

[Fintan]

But it soon became obvious what it was -- a pathetic cry for help.

 

I'm hoping you got over it. Several times...

[rlmorel]

Why am I not at all surprised to see you on this ping list...:)

[Slings and Arrows]

Depressed Running Penguin ping!