Wednesday, August 30, 2006

More races

Doug asked about Bay-to-Breakers, and if I had ever done the bolder boulder.

Bay-to-Breakers is San Francisco's version of the City-2-Surf run. It's 12km long, and goes from the financial district straight west to the ocean. I've done it 4 times - from 2000-2003, but I've never actually done any running (Although one year I had to run down Hayes Street Hill trying to steer our shopping cart that had a keg in it). Basically, Bay-to-Breakers is just a huge party where everyone dresses up in costumes, and a good time is had by all. The course is kind of a poor-stepchild of the City-2-surf course - It starts off up Howard St, which isn't exactly the nicest part of san francisco, and you wouldn't want to walk some of those blocks without being surrounded by thousands of other people. The last half of the course winds through Golden Gate Park, which is pretty, but it really gets to be a slog towards the end. Ocean Beach is always cold, so we never would stay there very long. The weather is always iffy as well - it will usually rain at least once out of every 3 years. It's still a great time - but not in the same category as City-2-Surf.

I did the Bolder-Boulder once, in 1998. I can't recall many details, other than I hadn't really done any running, and it was hard. I do think I finished in less than 50 minutes. Youth does wonders. I think the Bolder-Boulder is a great race, but the logistics are kinda hard if you don't live in Boulder. The race starts early, which usually means a 5:00 or 5:30 start from Denver, and you always have to walk a couple of miles back to your car after the race. That, and it's usually right around my birthday, and it just never seems to be very convenient.