Bay to Breakers is one of the San Francisco’s hallmark events — a 7.5 mile road race that goes from the San Francisco bay to the Pacific Ocean. This race attracts tens of thousands of people and is known not for the competitive runners, but for the vast array of wacky costumes, open consumption of alcohol, the house parties all along the race route, and (being San Francisco), people wearing no clothes at all.
After missing it two straight years while at Stanford, I finally made it out to see the spectacle. I went with Dan and Wendy to the house of one of Wendy’s former roommates, who lives right along the race route near the halfway point. There was a brunch with plenty of food and drink. We watched the crowds roll through (even spotting Troy and Steve, plus some other friends in the crowd) and then later went down to the street ourselves. Here’s what the race looked like from that point at around 9am (about an hour after the race officially began):
As the more serious runners waned, the wackier the costumes got. Here was a group going as synchronized swimmers:
Tetris blocks:
This is the scene three hours after the race started:
Big floats being pushed along, many with DJs blasting tunes causing a huge moving dance party.
Some Tea Party mockers. “God Hates Fog”, hah.
A game of curling, why not?
And bringing up the rear was a line of street sweepers and power washers that did an amazing job at cleaning up after everyone. It was the cleanest anyone had ever seen Fell St.
Having seen glimpses of the Krispy Kreme Challenge and then the zany Stanford Marching Band for the past two years, I wasn’t that taken aback by crazy costumes. What was incredible was the sheer scale of the event — it went on for 5 hours straight with the roads just packed with people. Next year I’m gonna join in! Need to think of a cool theme though.
