Bay to Breakers

"Are you doing Beta Breakers?" was what I got when someone asked me for the first time. I thought: Why would I want to break anyone's beta (the test version that is released before the actual product)? But as I didn't want to sound like I had no clue what was going on - which was the case - I didn't ask. Instead I googled it - sure enough I was asked "Did you mean Bay to Breakers" and educated about an annual a half-marathon-turned-fun-run-turned-drinking-event leading from the San Francisco Bay to the breakers (waves) of the coast - hence it's name.

Still ignorant, I asked myself what "doing" Bay to Breakers would entail - running the half-marathon? Watching it? None of the above? It certainly involved costumes and drinking - this much I learned before the actual day - but everything else I was to find out on Day X - last Sunday.

It started at around 6 a.m. when I woke up for the first time. There was music and shouting - apparently a party. By 7.30 a.m. there was no going back to sleep anymore as a grown-man in a chicken costume was singing outside my window - bizarro-world had opened it's gates.

So Yana and I made our way up to Alamo Square, which was along the track, just to find ourselves in the middle of a crowd of intoxicated people competing for the most inventive costume and policemen competing for the most cans of beer collected (Note to Germans: Remember we are one of the few countries where you can happily get shitfaced in public). It was before noon, but the average alcohol intake would probably be more like 2 a.m.-ish and reminded me of carnival.

Without loosing too many more words: See for yourself how much fun it must be (if you manage to start downing shots at 6 a.m. on an empty stomach) - and it is almost as much fun being a sober spectator with a camera.