This is my post-race report after the 1997 run. After taking over an hour and a half (ugh) to finish, i decided i _had_ to do it again, next year, because i know i didn't push myself has hard as i could have. (i was a little worried about how i'd hold up, with the hills and all, so i definitely coasted much of the time.) i'm happy to report that in 1998, i got to the start line bright and early (that makes a major difference of probably at least 20 minutes), got to cut to the front of the line thanks to a KGO Newstalk Radio promotion (i had to wear their hat and t-shirt to the start line), and ultimately, finished with a time of 1:06:53, number 3,297 out of an estimated 75,000 runners. Woohoo! i got in the paper! (Only the first 10,000 finishers get their names printed, but everybody gets on the web.) i felt a lot better about how i did this year. Still got huge blisters though. Duct tape. Gotta try duct tape.

But be sure not to wear the wrong shoes

Tip to those of you planning to run the Bay to Breakers. Don't wear cross-training shoes. They don't have enough arch support.

Or, well, i've already got flat feet, so wearing "all-purpose" shoes didn't help much. Should've bought a cheap pair of running shoes, i guess.

After an amazingly _slow_ walk to the starting line, we finally got to run a bit. But between miles 1 and 2, my legs really started to cramp. Sucked, because i wasn't winded at all. i walked through it though, and ran the rest of the way.

Most of what you've heard is true: crazy costumes, _tons_ of people, a lot of fun. This year though, according to the newspaper the next day, there were many more walkers and first-timers, a lot of whom didn't know that if you're walking, you're supposed to be on the right. Hence, if you actually wanted to _run_ this race, you had to do a lot of traffic negotiation.

It was especially bad going up the famed Hayes Street Hill. This was big deal, the hill that's supposed to kill ya. Well, i was really looking forward to attacking it, but ended up walking most of it because there were _so many people_. Major drag.

When all was said and done, i had run a little over 7 miles, in (according to the official postcard i got back), 1 hour, 49 minutes, and 39 seconds. Of course it took us about 20 minutes to get to the start line. Kind of a bummer, since i ended up finishing 23,281st out of around 75,000.

Oh well, i still got my t-shirt (i'll put a picture up of it later), and my picture taken with free All Sport drinks! (i could only drink one of them...they were warm and pretty yucky. The Crystal Geyser water was _much_ better.)

Anyways, here's a couple of the photos from the race. The organizers plant photographers on a platform between miles 5 and 6, and then at the end, at little stations. (Heh, these are the proofs they sent me, scanned and blown up. Like i'm gonna pay $5 for a 5x7 of me lookin' foolish.)
Argh, get that boy a haircut!
Stop! Or my mother will
shoot
Oooh, the new All Sport poster boy Poster Boy


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