100th Bay to Breakers - 05/15/11

LAST YEAR, I wrote about losing to a fuzzy pink gorilla.  This year it was a guy dressed as Raggedy Ann, Batman and a 6' 6" naked guy.  I am not sure, but I may have also lost to a fuzzy white snow beast. It was only in the last mile where I was able to catch and pass Pepe Le Pew.  The bouquet of flowers he carried for the whole 7.46 miles probably put Pepe at a disadvantage.  Not to mention the big tail.  The menagerie that beat me in the 100th Bay to Breakers is not too much different from prior years.  What was different this year is I ran my best race in seven times and it was a better managed event.

Last year's title sponsor, Dutch financial giant ING, was gone.  After five years of booze, boorish behavior and increasingly bad press, ING let their sponsorship agreement expire.  They were very gracious in bowing out -- something about achieving their sponsorship goals and wishing the event many more years of success.  In doing that they were giving a pass to the 100th running of the event and the added hype surrounding the anniversary.  The unofficial word was that they were fed up with the bad publicity in recent years and could not get out fast enough.  There was no replacement in the wings as possible candidates waited to see if the organizer and owner, AEG, could regain control of the race and preserve the support of the community.  At the 11th hour, e-commence site Zazzle signed up for two years.  (Blog reader Cliff P. probably has a unique perspective on this sponsorship turmoil.)  The rumor is that title sponsorship was going for at least $200,000 per year and, the rumor continues, that is about what Zazzle paid.

One of the smartest things AEG did was to bring in Sam Singer as their public affairs and communications consultant. He is the go-to guy for crisis management in The CITY.  He understands the politics and the community dynamics of The CITY.  He always seems to know the right thing to say.  Whatever he charges (and I am sure it is a lot) it is good value for the money.  On the other hand, when someone brings in Sam Singer you know that they realize they are in a world of hurt. 

This year's event had a ban on booze and floats, better crowd control (read: lots of fencing) and a much more serious attitude among the security personnel, whether volunteer or paid.  The police set up "sobriety tents" to detain drunks until they could be released.  Mostly, the police just made participants (including teddy bears) with visible alcohol containers pour out the contents.  At least two floats attempted to enter the race, but they were quickly intercepted by the police and escorted off the race course.  There was still drinking, but it was much more discreet.  The arrests, 25 in all, were reserved for the most out of control.  The race also started an hour earlier: 7:00 AM rather than 8:00 AM.  That probably cut down on the early partying, too.  This is not an early rising town.  From my vantage point at the front of the event, it was the best organized and managed B2B I have run. 

This year I decided to skip the frustration of Muni and slowly jogged to the start of the race.  It is only a little over a mile from home.  I was lucky enough to be a seeded runner again this year.  They made the standards a little tougher compared to prior years, but my better race performances from last year made up the difference.  I saw lots of runners from the local clubs.  Paul M. and George R. were both kind enough to take pictures of me (left and above, respectively).  The elites and seeded runners were together on the street in front of the start line.  It reminded me of the first time I ran in the Crim 10 Miler in Flint Michigan.  That was the first race I was in where I qualified for seeded entry.  I remember looking over and realizing that I was warming up with the Kenyans.  In what other sport can a guy who is lucky to be competitive at the local level warm up with the best in the sport? 

This race has significant prize money and the elites at the front include some world class runners.  One of America's best, Meb Keflezighi, ran this year.  He finished in the top 10, but did not do as well as he had hoped.  There is a male/female equalizer bonus of $25,000.  The female elites start four minutes and 36 seconds before the rest of the field.  That is the difference between the men's and women's course records.  Winning the men's or women's prize is only $7,000.  So that bonus is pretty serious money.  There is also a $5,000 bonus each for being the first male and female over the Hayes Street Hill (provided that runner is in the top 20 at the end).  Both of the winners snagged that bonus.  As you can see from a prior year, even Tommy the Pink Gorilla had to wait for the women to start. 

The race started for the main field right on time.  The elite men were at the front with yours truly about 10 feet back, both in the seeded corral.  The start was crowded, but moved smoothly.  In fact that was one of the differences this year.  Normally, in the first mile to a mile and half I am dodging slower (unregistered) runners who are jumping into the race from the curb.  This year they had much more event fencing and they had the volunteers remain at the cross streets longer to keep people off the course.  The white snow beast was a seeded runner and got a jump on the field.  He is a guy who can run sub-six minute miles without the suit. 

Somehow, I erased my mile splits before I got them written down.  I tried to reconstruct them from memory and I think they are pretty close.  The first two miles were about 6:17 and 6:18.  Given my recent race times, this is about where I wanted to be.  During the first mile, my leg muscles felt a little stressed and weak.  In the second mile that subsided and my legs were good for the rest of this race.  No drama in the first two miles this year. 

The famous Hayes Street Hill was next.  After my hill training for The Relay, it was easier this year -- not easy, easier.  After the hill, I hit the third mile at 7:10.  At Divisidero there was more and higher fencing, this time with screening.  I think this was one of the problem areas and they segregated the problem neighborhood from the race course.  After that came the panhandle.  This is the area that seems to generate the most neighborhood complaints.  There was lots of event fencing to keep the race, neighborhood and park separated.  No stepping away from the race course to water the flowers (or worse) this year.  I was near Jason R., who seems to be known by everyone.  He is a DSE member, but runs lots of other races, too.  People at some of the housing along this section of the course started to cheer for him by name.  Pretty neat having your own cheering section.  The fourth mile, near the point where the panhandle joins the main park, came in at 6:30.

The true high point of the race is around the fifth mile.  Through the East side of the park to that point, I was about 6:25.  After that, it is down hill running through the West part of the park.  The sixth mile is 5:59 and the seventh mile is 6:11.  The seventh mile may be a little off.  I passed the windmill and made the left turn onto the Great Highway.  I turned directly into a strong headwind and it was a struggle to the finish.  The last .46 calculates out to about 2:46.  That may be little off, too.  I finished the race in 47:36 gun time and 47:28 chip time.  I was 240 overall, out of slightly less than 44,000 official finishers.  I ranked 12th out of 3,533 in the 50 - 59 age group.  This was my fastest Bay to Breakers in the seven times I have run the race.

For the first time in modern history, the race had a commemorative finisher's medal.  I went from the finish line toward the expo to get mine.  I was walking next to Raggedy Ann.  I saw that the tall naked guy had put some shorts on.  I commented to Raggedy that I wondered why he felt the need to put on shorts after running seven and a half miles naked.  Raggedy commented "I guess it all depends on social context, doesn't it."  Too true.  In fact, that might be the story of this race.  The race also had a commemorative pin available at the pre-race expo, but I forgot to ask for mine.  After I collected my medal, I headed toward the Fulton Street bus.  It started to rain.  I was glad the weather held for the race.  While riding the bus back to Union Square, I talked with a very interesting guy who was training for the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.  That race is 56 miles over challenging terrain.  After that, I headed home for a warm shower and a snack.  It was a great race.

As far as I can tell, Tommy G. (the fuzzy pink gorilla the last two years) ran as himself this year.  It looks like he was part of the LinkedIn centipede.  A centipede is made up of 13 runners who are tethered together.  The centipede can have a maximum of two floaters who can substitute in while running.  B2B first awarded prizes for a centipede division in 1978.  A LinkedIn employee who is training to qualify for the Olympics recruited a team of the fastest runners around to try to set a new centipede world record.  They succeeded with a 4:58 average pace.  Oh, and this year it was the guy who won the $25,000 equalizer bonus.

Next up is the Marin Memorial Day 10K with the Pamakids.