“Here’s your routeprofile, starting from the SoMA near the bay going all the way to the breakers of Ocean Beach. See that big incline just before mile marker three? That’s the vaunted Hayes Street Hill. (And actually, the highest part of Hayes Street on this part of the course is near Pierce, not “at Fillmore and Steiner“ and not ”between Fillmore and Sutter.”)
Now, here’s your winner. It’s the 270-something foot high saddle on JFK Jr. Drive betwixt Prayer Book Cross and Stow Lake / Strawberry Hill, where ”Kennedy” is written:
“Race organizers and media have reported that the course records set by Sammy Kitwara in 2009 and Lineth Chepkurui in 2010 are also world records at the 12 km distance;[31] however, the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for the sport of athletics/track and field, does not recognize world records or world bests in either an indoor or outdoor 12 km.[32] The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, a non-regulatory group that collects road running data, does recognize world records in the outdoor 12 km provided that the race course meets certain criteria.[33][34] In order to rule-out the possibility of wind assistancein point-to-point courses, the ARRS stipulates that the course must have “not more than 30% of the race distance separation between that start and finish”, or 3.6 km for a 12 km race.[34] Given that the Bay to Breakers is run on a point-to-point course in which the start and finish of the event are approximately 10.5 linear kilometers apart, the ARRS recognizes two other marks as 12 km world records: Kenyan Simon Kigen‘s 33:46 in Portland, Oregon on May 19, 1985 and Chepkurui’s 38:10 at the 2010Lilac Bloomsday Run.[33][nb 2]
“The Bay to Breakers is known for the large number of unregistered runners, or “bandits”, who participate in the race. Ross Mirkarimi, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reported that over half of the 60,000 participants in the 2010 Bay to Breakers were unregistered.[19]San Francisco MayorGavin Newsom was among the runners in 2010 who did not pay the registration fee to obtain a race number.[19][22]Registered participation was 24,430 in 2010,[23] 43,954 in 2011,[24] 23,072 for 2012,[25], and approximately 20,000 for 2013.[26]“
One car gets away in the nick of time, but three others aren’t so lucky:
Ted and Al’s had like ten yellow tow trucks ready to go late Saturday night, in the driving rain. (Note how Bank of America is protecting its windows – the IndyBay crowd got to them, smashy smashy, about a year or so back, unrelated to Bay to Breakers.)
Now, speaking of prêt-à-porters, this is the main body, this is the largest array for the Golden Gate Park Panhandle:
And here’s the second-biggest grouping, along Masonic:
And there are some on the other side of Fell, typically in groups of six on some of the blocks.
But that’s it.
Not sure where B2B is hiding their 1000+ portable toilets claimed for 2011, at this point, just hours before the Kenyans take off on their winning runs.
Oh well.
And there’s no sign of the fencing neither, except for what they have every year.
We’ll see.
The Great Fence of B2B100 is supposed to have upon it either images of Christ hand-selected by P. Anschutz or photos of people who ran the race before white NIMBYs moved into the Western Addition. (You’ll have to tell me about it…). Anyway, here’s the baby fencing they have on scene already along with, and isn’t this cute, a message from San Francisco Natives for a Fun and Buzzed Bay to Breakers. Apparently, the cops can’t arrest for an open container in San Francisco…
And doesn’t this just break your heart – this Vespa scooter has been forgotten on the slopes of the famed Hayes Street Hill, the second highest point on the “racecourse.” Will Auto-Return charge $700 for its return?
Oh, you are a sucker. Well, then be my guest – pay $48 for a number. And actually, and you’ll enjoy this, sucker, it’s already too late to get a good deal on registration for 2013. Prices be higher now.
Most people who aren’t professional runners don’t pay and here’s a good reason not to pay:
How many bibs do you see? Every year they say they will eject all these people and every year they don’t actually do it.
Now the San Francisco Nike Womens Marathon is different. You see, they give out coveted awards and people just can’t help themselves. And then stuff like this happens; “NO BIB NO BIB NO BIB!”
But B2B aint like that.
One difference this year will be a limit on the size of the bags you might carry.
I didn’t take these photos, but I’ll tell you, I’ve seen a lot of corruption regarding free parking for SFGov employees in the SoMA area, so I believe them.
Here’s a photo essay with captions from Jim, who went on a walkabout yesterday.
Take a look:
“There are the People who pay up front to park in a lot, $25-$70. There are the people who feed meters but many of those wind up paying $72 to the City long after the last pitch. And there are those who play the system and possibly cheat and pay nothing for parking in a “red zone” with the help from “winking and nodding” SFMTA Parking Control Officers.
All these photos were taken within a 50 foot circle near 2nd & Townsend at 2:15 P.M. on Sunday April 7, 2013 during the Giants/St. Louis Baseball game.
1) Number 1 shows what the average slug must pay for parking for the Giant’s game at 2 in the afternoon, i.e. $70.
,
2) Number 2 shows a Handicapped placard vehicle getting free Giants game parking in the “red zone” of the SFFD at Second & Townsend. Handicapped placard holders may not park in “red zones.”
3) What appears to be several private vehicles of S.F. firefighters parked in the “red zone” claiming to be working by their Official Papers on the Dash. Is it mere code for “don’t ticket a fellow City employee?”
4) Several motorcycles getting ticketed (TC27, 219) for expired meters by the PCO who just drove by the “red zones” without seeing cause to stop.
5) Photo of SFFD Headquarters at 9:30 A.M., Sunday April 7, 2013 in case you think a lot of people work there on a Sunday.
“According to the 1/24/13 Park Station Newsletter, in that week they recovered 11 shopping carts, describing it as misappropriation of property. An example entry from the report:‘Officer Diskin recovered a misappropriated shopping cart and admonished the culprit who had misappropriated it.’”
This is what it looks like.
Stage left – officer Diskin nabs yet another shopping cart in the Western Addition / Upper Haight areas, his fourth shopping cart collar of the morning of January 29th:
Click to expand
And stage right:
Park Station didn’t confiscate shopping carts like this before.
“According to the 1/24/13 Park Station Newsletter in that week they recovered 11 shopping carts, describing it as misappropriation of property. An example entry from the report:‘Officer Diskin recovered a misappropriated shopping cart and admonished the culprit who had misappropriated it.’”
This is what it looks like.
Stage left:
Click to expand
And stage right:
Park Station didn’t confiscate shopping carts like this before.
