2011 Bay to Breakers in SF, CA

This will probably go down as the biggest event I've ever or may ever be a part of. Official participant total was 43,927 (55,000 paid). I was 6172nd, It was originally forecasted to rain, but we only got a short shower around mile 6. It was a wave start so others probably missed the rain altogether. As you can see in the photo of a DM meetup after the race, I was psyched out by the forecast and overdressed. Sweat pants, sweatshirt, etc. Overheated a little by mile 3 on the big Hayes Street Hill. Walked about half the hill to avoid further issues. Managed the rest of the way by taking walk breaks about every mile. That killed any chance of breaking 70 min., but I did finish in 1:12:43, beating my initial goal of 73 min. Started from Corral C. Got up to start line in about 5 minutes, which was impressive. Saw way too many walkers for my taste. So I hopped up onto the sidewalk with other "faster" runners and blew by a bunch of them. Realized that I was going way too fast in the process (7:24 pace, according to my Garmin). I found an opening and got back onto the street and fell back into about an 8:45 pace which was comfortable until I got halfway up the big hill around mile 3 or so. Then realized that I was already drenched with sweat and it was only 7:30 AM. So I adjusted my thinking and used the run/walk strategy to finish. Overall very pleased. Had fun tossing tortillas while we were waiting in the starting corral. Really enjoyed checking out all the costumes, but could have done without the 8-10 naked runners that I saw. That was supposed to be banned this year. Oh well. There was a Footstock area after for food, music, and meeting up with friends so we planned a Daily Mile meetup out there and I met about a dozen of my Daily Mile friends there. That was the highlight of the day. I will remember this day forever. It turned out to be beautiful weather. Great friends. I spent most of the day with my friend Bill from Pleasanton. We met at the BART station near Pleasanton and rode BART over then walked together to our starting corral. We were both in corral C. We took turns heaving tortillas that were thrown our way. We met up about 1/2 mile from the finish where he passed me and then we walked over to Footstock together, got our medals and free food and then I introduced him to my DM friends. All in all a very memorable occasion.