Bridget and I went down to the bay area with Ron, Chris, Nagisa, Jason, OB, Dustin, and Anya. Our first priority was to run Bay to Breakers as Minions, but I also wanted to run another half marathon in Oakland. And so our running weekend began…

Saturday
This Coastal Trails run started in Joaquin Miller Park, went through Redwood Regional Park, and then came back. The “Cinderella Run” was gorgeous. We setup early, Jason cracked an iPhone without many four-letter words coming out, and we were ready to start.

Only Jason and I were going to run the full 13.1 miles, while Bridget/Ron/Chris were signed up to do the 10k. Bridget then muttered how much this must suck to have to run through so much elevation. If only she knew what was to fall upon her.

The run started with a few rolling hills, while being blanketed by the large redwoods around us. I had hoped to finish this trail with a better time than last month’s, and I had been making good time, 8 to 9 minute miles for the first half.

But then we got to the fork. I had been racing back and forth with one guy, and we didn’t know which way to go. We stopped to figure out the best way. But, then another runner came booming down one path and said that was the wrong way. So… we followed him up the other trail. This one had a steep incline, but I kept following him up and up. Until… well… until I realized the guy that I was racing with wasn’t behind me.

I climbed up the hill a bit more, but then decided to fall back. And suddenly I’m back to the fork, with another runner with their map out with the same dilemma. Crap.

Well, we picked the last trail and ran through this for about a mile and a half without any ribbons to guide us. But luckily, we finally found one. We were on the right trail!

The run then ended up with a steep incline for the final few miles, and I couldn’t be more happy to get to the finish line. About a quarter mile before the finish, I see Ron. “Have you seen, Bridget?” “No, Ron. She ran the 10k” “Well… she’s must be lost. So I’m going to look for her.”

Are you kidding me? She should have been finished an hour ago. I quickly finished and then caught up to Ron to back track. And so we did, for about two miles. And then I see her come around the corner, looking a bit exhausted, raising her arms, “I ran the 10k; I ran the 1ok.” Maybe she was a bit hallucinogenic as well, with her knee issues.

So… if you ask Bridget what happened, she’ll deny that she got lost; she’ll just tell you she went a longer route. She also took a wrong turn at the fork. (Come to find out, someone had vandalized the trail and removed all the ribbons before we started. Coastal Trial Runs gave us a coupon and apology which was nice.) So, with her bum knee, she ran the entire half marathon, expecting to only go 6 miles. And this was not an easy run to jump into. Exhausted, sore, and beat up… we prepped for the next day’s race… by drinking beer and watching the Red Sox game.

Sunday
The next morning, we woke up at 5am to get our Minion on at Bay to Breakers. We hopped on a bus, in our yellow outfits with overalls. Jason, looking as much as Forest Gump as Forest Gump does, got a few second glances as well.

We started the morning trying to find our corral, and then we began to throw tortillas around like it was nobody’s business. After accidentally nailing some guy in the face, we started our race…. err parade.

Bay to Breakers was quite the experience. We saw Salmon trying to swim against traffic, perfect Oompa Loompas singing on the way, and a giant centipede to name a few. Surprisingly, there were too many black swans. Funny to think that people thought this was  an original idea only to find 1000 other people dressed in the same way. (As if we all needed to be reminded on how crappy of a movie it was. )

Either way, it was a fun event. Bridget limped the entire 8 miles, but luckily it wasn’t much of a race. Good times in the bay area.