bay to breakers

bay to breakers is a race i've wanted to run for a while: run from the san francisco bay to ocean beach, through one of my favorite cities, in a costume with 50,000 other fun seekers. this year, i got to run it with my sister by my side. it was super fun! but first, i got to spend a day with her family in her home in bolinas, north of san francisco.

my late night arrival got me there in time for some sleep, and awaking to a house full of school-morning commotion with my nieces. they are such an adorable pair of curly headed munchkins. we got lila onto the bus, and then wandered home slowly along the beach. out on the ocean horizon, we could see the flukes and blow holes of migrating whales. quite a friday morning.


 
 

back at home, elsa got very busy moving water from cup to cup.


 anna and i had a little run/walk adventure on this jagged beach. it was gorgeous.


 the next morning, i awoke to find a new accessory: black cat scarf. this little cat is the best.



we got ourselves over mt tam to the other side of marin county for a little brunch.


 next, we adventured ourselves into the city! over the bridge,


up and down the hills,


and right down to the super touristy waterfront to get our race packets. BUT FIRST. we had to say hi to these guys.


we found our fancy hotel downtown. when we got there, i said "make your fancy hotel face" and this is what we came up with. clearly, we don't have a lot of experience in fancy hotels.


once inside, we decided to just stay put. i mean, look at the entry way. those peonies mean business.


 we swam in the swanky pool,


we used our in-room bidet (we did, because we could, and it was wonderful) (also, photo not included),
and we had these fancy little oysters as part of our hotel dinner.


the next morning, we donned our sequins and walked a few blocks to the start line. it's a crowded, crazy, high energy start line. there are so many people, in so many costumes, twitching with so much pre-race energy. it was so fun.

here we are, getting ready to enter our race corral.


once in the corral, we discovered we were terrifyingly close to a landshark.


we saw some purple rain
 

we were cheered on by this group of rooftop marching band "musicians" (they all had marching uniforms and instruments, but no experience with either. believe me--i can spot imposters) and their pirate friends. so much costumed cheering folks with music and fun all along the way!

i'd always heard about this group, but it was such a joyful occasion to encounter the group of salmon "swimming upstream" by running the race course in the wrong direction. it was salmon high-fives along the whole group.

here is the giant crowd, stretched out ahead of us climbing the one big hill of the run

and here we are, happy at the the top of the hill. behind us are the famous painted lady houses, but who cares about that when you've just run up a hill in sequins with your sister?

 anna jogged alongside this guy down fell street. it made me giggle.


 in golden gate park, we found this guy, running with a giant totoro costume on, complete with a car horn.


we also found lila and elsa!!!


finish line happiness!

 

 finish line reunions, hugs, and hot dogs.

 what a wonderful time. so much joy! so much quality time with people i love! so much thrill in a short adventure away from home! thanks miottel family for an awesome time.