Friday afternoon the Dread Pirate Rackham rolled into town with an “Avast Ye Scurvy Dog!” and a “Hardy Har Har”.
Okay – she rolled into town looking totally adorable and excited for a fun weekend on the Left Coast where she was slated to run the famous and whacky Bay to Breakers 12K on Sunday. She gave me the most excellent shirt I’m wearing in that picture just for lending her a bed and towel – sweet
We sat around for a couple of hours chatting, drinkng water and lemonade and eating cherries and then headed out to a paved trail for a run. We started out running together which left me panting and puffing and thinking I might just die and her thinking ‘hmm… this is a nice recovery pace”. After a mile of that I told her it was time for her to take off, go up to the 2 mile mark and turn around and that I would go to the 1.5 mile mark, turn around and wait for her to pass me on the way back. She didn’t, but worrying about it was excellent for my pace which was:
10:18, 10:03, 9:16. (confession – the trail is all up going out and all down coming back). !
After returning home and showering we ate homemade pizza that I made, chicken curry that my son made and spent more time chit chatting until it was time for bed.
Saturday she had a swim on her schedule so we headed to the pool for 100m warm up, 8 x100 alternating pulling by 100s and 100 cool down. I’m happy to say we are pretty evenly matched in the pool but I let her lead for most of it. I then took her back to the train to go meet up with another friend and we made plans to rendez-vous in the morning.
This morning we all met up and joined the steady stream of the crazy people as they headed for the start of the Bay to Breakers. I took my camera with me and got a few shots like this one of the Brides of Bay to Breakers
but I failed to capture any shots of naked people although there were some out there. Not nearly as many as usual but some and most of them fairly fit in contrast to years past when the course was littered with fat, jiggly people who would have done well to keep their glory under wraps. This official shot from San Francisco Chronicle gives you a sense of scale for this event – it’s HUGE!
I also got a shot of this angel who ran the entire 12K in this little get up. Lots of people run this race in big, outlandish costumes that just can’t be comfortable 
My very favorite part of the Bay to Breakers, though are the people who put on Salmon costumes and start at the finish line and run upstream. There are quite a lot of them and it is most amusing. DPR and I were still running together when they arrived on the scene and we high fived them all down the line.
I guess if you are really lucky you can see the Salmon go to battle with the Yogi Ninjas
The Pirate and I made a port-a-potty stop at the bottom of the infamous Hayes Street Hill and when we started our ascent it was clear to me that it was time for the Pirate to fly solo because she had a lot more uphill oomph than I did and you know – if you love someone you set them free and by now I ♥ ed the DPR and just watched her back and her totally cool hat as she zipped up the hill.
All 3 of us met up at the finish and took a seemingly epic bus journey back to the start where we bid our good-byes and went on our merry ways. It was a great, great weekend with me running further and faster than I’ve run in a long time. It totally pays to invite a Pirate to your house and then try to chase her down. DPR is a great person and wonderful houseguest not to mention an a$$ kicking athlete.
B2B finish time 1:22:30.
21st-century-mom.com 
OMG! Too funny! Love the bears. Hilarious!! Looks like a good time was had by all 🙂
Wow!! Looks like a really fun weekend.
The B2B is one of the races on my list of things to do. When I lived in the Bay Area I wasn’t running so I never did it. We did, however, enjoy the Bay to Breakdown in Woodside. A rather large group would travel from bar to bar and drink all day in celebration of the B2B. It was fun 🙂
THAT is just crazy!!!!!
Runners are such crazy people! The salmon swimming upstream is just too funny. Fighting ninjas and bears? That is too much!
I’m glad you had an enjoyable visit from the Pirate! Great job with Bay to Breakers!
I LOVE the pictures! How cute!
I LOVE the pictures! How cute!
a friend of mine used to run this race … she always had great stories about it … i LOVE the salmon running “upstream”! that’s hysterical!
ah, sounds like a really great time! loved all the pictures. i’d love to do a race in costume sometime, something about that seems so FUN!
sounds fun! and that’s a nice time! i have some friends who ran it; they’ll have some photos of naked people, i’m guessing.
I’m going to do that race with you someday! How many naked people did you see?
thanks for posting something that lefe me feeling a little more positive about B2B… yesterday left me feeling VERY misanthropic. Not the racers, but the spectators. The ones stepping out from between parked cars into traffic to attempt to hail cabs. and the sheer volume of trash and broken glass strewn everywhere along the route. but your post actually *does* make me less angry.
Man, after Bay to Breakers, the crazies at Sharkfest will seem tame in comparison! San Fran people are one energetic lot!
Sounded like a great time! (You actually TMIED this race? It seemed so crowded!!)
Looks like a great weekend. Those salmon running upstream are hysterical.
Looks like a great weekend. Those salmon running upstream are hysterical.
I have to come out for that some day. That’s my kind of race for fun.
hee hee – so much fun! and so much nudity. Seriously, did naked people seem entirely normal by the end of the day, or what?!
Those pics are GREAT!