Posted on 05/13/2022 6:24:26 AM PDT by artichokegrower
San Francisco’s famed Bay to Breakers footrace is perhaps best known for its zany, welcoming energy. Participants making the 7.5-mile trek are dressed in elaborate costumes or in the buff, power-walkers and stragglers are encouraged to join in and even inebriated runners (though not officially encouraged) can partake in the festivities.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I am now totally confused. I thought these odd folks went from man to woman or visa versa but now they are saying that they are both. Could have a top three weirdos catagory.
I refuse to run!
its required you drop your pants before you can be given an award.
I’m glad my association with this race is long over. Frankly I’m surprised it took anti social leftists this long to politicize (& destroy) this tradition.
BTW does anyone know what the awards given are? I was unaware of any other than fastest male & female, centipede & perhaps minor categories. I suspect this is another contrived controversy.
Pretty freaky, even for SF.
I ran the B 2 B four times in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
Then it was a great event.
I am not surprised it has been messed up today..
I ran it a handful of times in the early/mid eighties.
Gotta admit it was fun, although once or twice I had to walk-run all the way back to the bay to my car afterwards.
Or would it be Running Burning Man?
Perhaps Burning Man Running.
“””Gotta admit it was fun, although once or twice I had to walk-run all the way back to the bay to my car afterwards.”””
In other words you forgot to put a quarter in your pocket in order to take a MUNI bus back to downtown.
I ran the Bay to Breakers a few times in the 80’s-90s, before I aquired the “dad bod”.
It was very funny. I think it was the 1992 race when a team out of some college ran it in Greek costume with a chariot, some girls, flowers in their hair, riding on the chariot and the boys pulling it. At one point one of the boys stumbled and fell, and the crowd yelled “sacrifice him!” . Wild laughter.
SF in those days was very charming.
Heh. If you could get into a bus. Everybody wanted a bus at once.
Heck, no way would I take that mess. Not in my eighties short shorts.
San Francisco's special peculiarities, all wrapped into one TOUGH road race.
We lived up in the Bay area several years ago, and ran that race at least 3 times.
It starts on the inside of the Bay, and goes to the West "outside" of the Bay. But it isn't exactly a straight line. You start out in the streets, lined up, packed in tight like sardines with probably 23-25K (yes, that's 23 THOUSAND) other runners... I think I timed it taking about 15 minutes just to reach the STARTING line after they officially start the race. Yeah, you are THAT far back from the start.
You are literally running shoulder to shoulder, well, at least your feet are moving, with the whole "mass" of humanity for about the first 2 miles or so. In those days, DMSO was a standard treatment for inflammation, and you could practically TASTE it, you were that close to the other runners...Anyway, the race proceeds, stereos blasting from every corner, people flocking their wares, runners in the nude, yeah, NOTHING on but running shoes, the "centipedes" several people chained together to form a big lines of runners, and all sorts of really different costumes, the stranger the better. I saw three guys running as a 747 Jumbo jet. It was great.
Then, the crowd of runners make a big turn, and they take you up this HUGE hill. You are trudging up this hill, barely moving, you get about halfway up, then someone inevitably shouts "Look behind you!", and you do, and you see about 15 thousand people behind you struggling, almost "pushing" you up the hill; and you are in front of 'em. It's surreal.
You keep moving, now you can actually "run" without bumping into the 25K other runners. You finally make it to the Polo field on the shoreline side, and there the party REALLY starts....Now as all Californians know, since it's that time of the year, it is usually a bit foggy and chilly on the beach. If you don't have friends waiting for you on the polo field with gear to change into, you run with a backpack with some extra clothes so you won't shiver for the next 2 hours. Hehehe I had the backpack-best thing I did for that road race.
And it is quite a road race. DON'T plan on winning it, unless you are an ultra-elite runner; male or female or whatever pronoun you chose. You won't even get a CHANCE to be close to the starting line. You'd have to run at LEAST a sub 4:30 minute mile or better to even be CONSIDERED a contender.
But then again, most people don't plan on trying to win. Most of us just run for the San Francisco experience.
And boy oh boy, I can promise you, THAT you will get.
I did Bay to Breakers three times in the early 2000’s...as the thousands crowd behind the start line, the air is filled with flying tortillas - and as you SLOWLY approached that start line, you trampled over piles of smashed tortillas and discarded clothing. Only on the third run did I realize that all those discarded clothes were from the naked runners who stripped as they approached the start line. I was never one of those!
The way I read the SF article it looks like BtoB is upholding reason. Awards go only to guys or gals. Anything can run, but if yah ain’t a biological boy or girl yah ain’t gettin’ a prize.
sounds about right. Which, since this is that ‘Ellhole Frisco has become I am confused, too.
I’ve tried it, but my body refuses to let me run.
The year I ran Boston (a seeded start, based on your qualifying time, reflected in your race number) it took more than three minutes to reach the starting line, the first mile in 9:20. Never did get up to my planned pace but managed to break the three hour mark anyway, and beat my seed by over 300 places. The fun part was the Wellesley girls near the top of Heartbreak Hill commenting on our buns...makes a middle-aged guy smile!
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