The Bay to Breakers

This May 15th, 2011, will be the 100th anniversary (that's right, the Centennial) of the San Francisco Bay to Breakers. The first, and only, time I ran the San Francisco Examiner Bay to Breakers was in 1984. That was twenty-seven (27) years ago! I cannot freaking believe it has actually been that long. Wow.

This was the design on the 1984 t-shirt. Everyone in my family agreed the design was quite ugly. I proudly wore my t-shirt when I had to run in P.E. in Junior High, which was every flipping day during the school week; one (1) mile daily. The shoulders quickly turned brown and the whole shirt faded considerably after just a couple of weeks of this. I was very disappointed.

At the time, I was also studying Tae Kwon Do at the local YMCA [now defunct in Modesto] with my friends. We were all geeks and nerds, and played Role-Playing Games (RPGs) on weekends. [Yes, even Dungeons & Dragons, among many others.] That is, when we were not participating in Boy Scout hikes and camp-outs. One of the new members of our group ran with his parents quite often. His father was an avid jogger and participated in many running events around the area. This friend and I had made flags so we could try and find each other on race day. With the crowd as large as it was, that was entirely improbable. Indeed, I never saw him that day, though I think he mentioned seeing me, but was not able to get my attention. I did see my Scoutmaster, though.

One of the really nice parts of the race was entering Golden Gate Park and feeling the wonderfully cool fog wash over us; that really helped. With all the climate change over the years, I wonder if it will be like that this year. Anyway, now I feel I have a goal to shoot for I want to register for, and run in, this year's Bay to Breakers. I downloaded a Beginner's 10K training plan from NewBalance.com, here. This should give me a base to work from. I have the shoes, although maybe I should get some road-running shoes instead of trail runners, since the last time I ran this it was all pavement: asphalt and concrete. I should also get a physical and let the Doc know what I'm planning since I have not done this sort of thing in almost thirty (30) years.

Looking forward to picking up my bike later today.

-Lancer!!

Update: Wait. If the race started in 1912, how exactly will this be (100) years old? I count only (99) years.