Bay to Breakers
Started: 2025-06-23 20:58:04
Submitted: 2025-06-25 20:07:35
Visibility: World-readable
Every spring we run from the bay to the breakers
In the middle of May I ran Bay to Breakers, San Francisco's favorite annual seven-mile-long party run. I headed into the city on Saturday evening, after watching the Eurovision final (where Israel suspiciously swept the televote but Austria pulled out a win in the end). I checked into my hotel in Union Square then saw R-Evolution on my way to catch the twilight ferry to Oakland, then took BART back to my hotel in San Francisco.
On Sunday morning I woke at an almost-reasonable hour to walk from Union Square to the starting line in Soma. As I walked down Market Street other runners gathered on both sides of the street, heading the same direction I was.
Normally for me running is a solitary experience: I get up early in the morning before anyone else in my household and run along quiet suburban streets and back along the paved paths along the river. I see other people on the streets: running, walking their dogs, leaving for work or wherever else they need to go in the morning, loitering near encampments because they have nowhere else to go. Bay to Breakers is a different experience: just about everyone was heading the same direction I was, mostly dressed the same as I was (some wore elaborate costumes; some wore nothing at all) as we reached the entrance to my staring corral on Spear at Mission the crowd grew until it crowded across the street, a solid mass of people waiting for a common purpose: to run (more or less) through the streets of the city to Ocean Beach.
I arrived at my starting corral with plenty of time to spare before the race started. I dodged the tortillas thrown as frisbees and the beach balls as we waited for the start. The PA announced the start of the first corral and then my group shuffled towards the start, turning from Spear onto Howard in a light run, then bunching up again as we approached the starting line at Main. I crossed the starting line in an awkward speed-walk, too fast for walking but too slow to run, then picked up my pace as the crowd accelerated into the race course ahead of us on the long straight section down Howard through the steel-and-glass canyons of Soma.
The race let the centipedes start before my group so I had to watch out for groups of runners tied together, expanding and collapsing as they tried to pace themselves as fast as their slowest runner and navigate the same crowded course as everyone else. The first mile down Howard was crowded and packed with centipedes; I had to carefully plot my route through the crowd to make a decent pace. As the course passed Moscone Center convention attendees stopped on the glass-enclosed bridge above the road to watch us pass. The crowd thinned somewhat after the first mile; the course turned to cross Market Street then continued west on Hayes.
As soon as I turned onto Hayes I could see straight up the hill to the highest point on the course. The hill began slowly and I tried to maintain a steady sustainable pace. I slowed down as I approached the top of the hill but so did everyone. The last block to the top was long and slow; then I reached the high point and the hill flipped to a steep decline. I was too tired to take advantage of the descent, though it was steep enough that it felt hard to cruise down regardless of how I felt.
Past the hill the race course zig-zagged onto Fell Street on the north side of The Panhandle. People clustered on the barricades on the south side of the street, at the edge of the green leafy park, to watch the race. I continued west, entering the main body of Golden Gate Park and following JFK Promenade through the rolling hills of the park. We had run so far getting across town but we were barely half the distance to the finish. I stopped to walk for a stretch descending towards Crossover Drive, then resumed running the rest of the way to the breakers. In the last mile I ran near a blind runner escorted by two other runners: one running in front to ensure clear path and the other running attached to the blind runner's hand with a short tether, narrating the course ahead so the runner could adjust.
I found some extra speed on the final stretch, as the course makes a series of abrupt turns to exit Golden Gate Park then turns towards the finish line on Great Highway. I finished the race with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes, which does not rank among my best times; but I had finished and that's what was important to me.
I picked up water and snacks at the finish, and collected my finisher's medal, then made my way back across town. I crossed the race course and caught the N-Judah line to my hotel in Union Square. I ate breakfast then headed home after experiencing and enjoying a San Francisco tradition.
