Bay to Breakers Race Recap 5/15/16

Last Sunday I ran in my first Bay to Breakers 12K race with some friends and what an experience it was. From flying tortillas at the start to oompa loompas, nude guys, Hayes Hill and care bears, the run was fun and wacky! Just thinking back on that day makes me smile. 

PACKET PICKUP: The expo was at Pier 35 on the Embarcadero at Bay Street. It was easy to find, however when we got there the line was crazy long. We ended up having to walk past Pier 35 all the way to Pier 39 to get in line just to get into the expo. 

Once in line, it went by fairly quicker than I thought. It was easy to lose track of time, talking and playing with the Bay to Breakers App.

When we got inside, grabbing our bibs and shirts went as good as it could with the amount of people. The space was big and there was lots to browse. Some booths were crowded, while others not. We decided on getting a pair each of Sparkle Athletic's rainbow striped race legs. Best purchase at the expo since many complimented on them later on IG. :)

We also had fun at the Clif photo booth. If you check out my Instagram, they made it into a fun animated GIF. 

RACE DAY: It was really nice staying at the race host hotel because it meant we could sleep in longer and we were very close to the start. We were up around 6:30am to give us time to get ready, eat some breakfast and head to the start. We were in our corral, corral B around 7:30am which gave us about a half hour until the race began. It was so much fun checking out all of the costumes! We even spotted our first group of nude guys in our corral. It would be the first of many on the course. 

We also had to watch out for flying tortillas since they were being thrown every so often. I'm not sure how tossing tortillas became a part of the Bay to Breakers tradition but it is and I was nicked in the arm and I just laughed. :)

We had to get a shoe shot with our new rainbow striped race legs.

After the elites and corral A took off, we started our run from the bay to the ocean. No goals for me in this race, but to have fun and enjoy it.

The run was so fun! Even with the numerous amount of runners it was great! It was so cool to look at all the different costumes. I was also surprised to see so many nude runners. I knew there were going to be some, but I didn't think I'd see so many! :p

I felt pretty great the entire race. Here's fun selfie of us while running. 

We even got a selfie with Ape Hasbury while on Hayes hill. That is probably the longest hill I've ran in a race. It was quite a challenge. 

Here are more cool costumes I saw during the race. It was really neat to see the salmon running up stream. They started at the finish and ran towards the start. We stopped at the porta potties at one point and while there I got a selfie with the fire crew.

It was also great that the pictures were free for the race. They got some good shots. Free photos are always an awesome perk for races.

It was fun to see this Jack in the Box head running and the windmill was cool to see as well. We were getting close to the finish at this point.

We finished with arms raised! Such a fun run! My pictures did not capture the bands along the course but the music added to the excitement of the race. It was also fun when we heard Journey played multiple times.

Upon finishing we were given our medals and I got a carton of chocolate milk and water. There was also bananas and some of the same vendors that were at the expo also at the finish area (GH Cretors, Clif, Harvest Snaps, etc.). Zappos even handed out bean and cheese burritos. Let's just say I was pretty full by the time we left for the shuttle bus back to the start. I did see fellow #runderfulrunner Ross from Twitter, in the finish area.

And I also got to meet up with my cousin, Chris.

Had to get a finisher's pic by the beach. Such a fun run with friends, Lenora and Paola. :)

My results. 

The only negative thing I can think of about the race, is that there was no easy way to get down to the beach. The fence blocked you out so you had to go around (which was a longer walk), when it could have easily been done had they opened a section of the gate. I'm not sure why it was closed off since I heard that previous years it was open. Other than that, this is one of those runs I can see doing over and over again. The excitement, costumes, numerous people make it so much fun. Maybe next year we will actually have costumes. :)

Happy running!