michelleann68's write up of the Bay To Breakers and pictures are HERE and These are the naked people.
I love Bay to Breakers, along with Halloween and Gay Pride, it's the thing that makes me feel most like a San Franciscan, and I think we've established how much I love being a San Franciscan.
Neither of our alarm clocks went off, but I do have a fairly good mental alarm and I was able to get us both up in plenty of time. We got dressed, drank Odwalla protein shakes, and watched about 2/3 of Three Stories. Oh David Shore, you used to be such a good fucking writer, what the hell happened?
We walked down to the BART station which was full of Bay To Breakers people including some pirates and pirate girls. The train arrived basically jam-packed with B2B'ers, and of course when we got down to the Embarcadero, the crowd was phenomenal.
One of the tricks I've picked up from my years of B2B participation is to avoid the Porta-Potties and go to the Ferry Building for your last trip to the loo, before the the race starts. The line moves pretty quickly and you get to see more costumes, including a girl who was part of a larger "Pity Party," so I gave her a hug.
Then we joined full-on mad-house that is the start at Spear and Howard Streets. We went in on Spear and after the big funnel into the starting area, joined the thousands of people who were tossing tortillas, drinking, etc.
I've been doing this so long, and by myself the last few years, that I might have gotten a little jaded. It was real joy to be with someone who was getting a kick of the costumes. Pirates, Vikings (lots of Vikings), Brides, Shriners, Elvises, aliens, crayons, cheerleaders, and of course naked people. Lots and lots of naked people. None of whom you would ever really want to see naked, but hey, it's Bay to Breakers and that's what people do.
We made really good time along Howard to Ninth street, passing my old digs at Ninth and Mission, then crossed Market and began the notorious Hayes Street Hill. I hate that hill. It gets more brutal every year, but it's where the street really turns into a party and it's where you get the best view of exactly how many thousands of people you're actually doing this with. There's no way to describe that feeling.
Once we finished the hill, we each put on our Ipods and attempted a bit of jogging for the last four miles which go through Golden Gate park. It was fairly cool, since the heat-wave had broken, but in honesty a little too cool is better than collapsing from heat exhaustion.
You know you're almost done when you see the windmill and then the Ocean comes into view. That's an exhilarating moment as well. It really sets in that you've gone from the Bay to the Breakers.
We jogged across the finish line, grabbed water and had pictures taken.
Then began the second part of the adventure-Getting Home!
Unfortunately the city's transportation services are not well-equipped to get 65,000 people from one side of town to the other. My usual option is to skip the shuttles provided by the race and go for the N-Judah. This kind of worked. It took a while for one to show up, and when it did, there was a mob mentality run for the doors even before it had made the turn and was officially heading the right direction. This was a wise move because it meant we actually go to sit down for what turned out to be a VERY LONG RIDE. The doors were being wonky and Muni cars don't move when the doors are open.
There were two older (as in older than us) women in close proximity and there were like nightmares of what I might be like when I get to that age. Nothing but LOUD whining and kvetching rather than just shutting up already. OMG! KILL KILL KILL!!!
So we got back to Church Street and basically had to bulldoze our way out of the car because the entire crowd of people on it were blocking the door and NOT MOVING.
Which brought us to the last chapter -- getting food. So by 12N on B2B day, there's about 65000 people trying to eat at more or less the same time. We got a table at Crepevine on Church as I had a craving for a crepe. Hubby said he'd meet us at Aardvark, which is a used-book store across the street. In a bad sit-com maneuver, he had earbuds in and couldn't hear me calling and I had sun glasses on and couldn't see him. I left rude messages on his cell-phone and he finally found us.
We walked back to the apartment and realized it was also going to be pretty hard to get a cab for
michelleann68 to get to her hotel. (Sorry, folks, there's a two night maximum stay at Chez Karaokegal.) I was in bad need of some sleepy-bye, so hubby very graciously accompanied her downtown on BART, and made sure she got to her hotel safely.I went to sleep, and when I woke up, stiff as a board and in all kinds of pain, because like an idiot, I didn't take any ibuprofen, hubby had come home with a brand new 40 inch flat screen plasma tv.
Since Monday was the Hosue finale, we couldn't NOT have a final night together for the first ever Live And In Person House Party, especially since we had the new TV to watch it on and hubby safely at work.
You already know my thoughts on the episode, but it was fun to watch it with a real person, who was more or less on my fannish wavelength as opposed to say Hubby who basically accepts whatever the show throws at us, regardless of character assassination and stupidity as long as it's a "fun" medical case with good House-snark. (Hell, he likes the Newbies. All of them.)
We finished the evening with Bones season finale which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it, but which also produce a large amount of WHAT THE FUCK!
I did the walking back to the BART station this time and we said our goodbyes, except of course being Internet Addicts and Gmail buddies, we were talking again within the hour.
I think 2009-A Squeeeee Odyssey is going to be a smashing success.