We went to San Francisco this weekend to take part in the
Bay to Breakers 12K. The infamous road race was in it's 97th year. It is a wild and crazy event that is notoriously San Franciscan, complete with costumed runners and "uncostumed" ones, too (a.k.a. naked participants). Seriously. Our first sighting of a nudist, was actually a bouncing male spectator near the start. A weird sight for sure and we found it kind of hard not to stare. As the race progressed and we saw more flesh, we got mostly used to it. Not to mention that all of the streakers (that we witnessed) were older men who really should have kept their clothes on in my humble opinion. Oh well.
We ran as a family and were fully clothed, thank you. In fact, we all dressed up in costume: me as Wonder Woman, Mike in drag (just kidding, really as a cow), Lucas as a lion and Emily as Elmo.
Mike, my seriously strong husband, pushed the kids in a double jogging stroller for the entire 7.5 miles, even up a really steep San Francisco hill. And he didn't complain once. What a guy!! He and the kids were huge fan pleasers, too. Everyone was yelling "Hey cow!" and "moo" and telling the kids (who were just along for the ride, mind you;-) that they were doing great. Even giving them high fives. And me,
nothing, except one drunk guy who beckoned me with a "Hey Super Girl!" I even went to slap a five to a person that had just given one to my husband and they pulled their hand down just before we connected. I was overshadowed by a cow and a couple cute kiddos. Perhaps next time I will push the stroller and get more support.
We saw some interesting sights, like a straight looking guy on our train into town wearing pink hotpants and a fuzzy, cropped sweater and a care bear headpiece (he was going to the race). A team of people dressed as salmon walking the opposite way of the racers (swimming upstream). A masked Hillary and Obama arm in arm waving at the crowd. And a shocking "Save the Boobs" float that was promoting breast cancer awareness.
Tonight, I received my race photos and noticed that a naked guy and I finished at the same time. Great, weird naked guy stole the thunder in my finishers photo, too. Dang it!
All in all it was a great time, despite the 2 hour bus ordeal where the driver got lost, being cold and exhausted and unable to nap afterwards like I always used to do following hard races. It makes a difference doing these things post kids.
