Yesterday John, Jessica, Nathan and I got up at 6.30 am to participate in the nth annual Bay to Breakers run. It was a massive event, shutting down traffic throughout the city for the whole morning. How massive? When I signed up late Saturday, I was given number 52,681. I saw only one person with a higher number the whole day.

As we exited the Embarcadero MUNI station and approached the starting line, we saw from a distance small white objects flying through the air, which, as we got closer, turned out to be tortillas. Hundreds of them, being thrown every which way, picked up, and thrown again. The street was covered with them, as were the awnings along the side of the street. The soles of my shoes became encrusted with tortilla goo.

The race started at 8, and we surged ahead, walking at first, then jogging, and finally, at about the one-mile mark, breaking into a run. We went through SoMa, past City Hall and up Hayes Street (which is a really big hill) then down through the Panhandle and then through Golden Gate Park to the ocean. (Hence the name.) It was a very San Francisco event. There were all sorts of crazy costumes, and more than a few naked runners. People stood by the side of the road drinking; one guy was offering a bottle of champagne to anyone who would take it.

The race was 12k (7.5 miles). I finished in about 1:14, which was good enough for 3,644th place. (I could probably have shaved 10-15 minutes off that time simply by arriving earlier and being closer to the starting line.) Afterward there was an event called 'Footstock' in the park which seemed to involve lots of waiting in lines, so we opted out and retired to John's apartment to take a nap. All in all, it was a fun day.