B2B 2K7

No, it isn't a postal code. B2B 2K7 refers to the Bay to Breakers 2007 race in beautiful San Francisco, California. Don't let the name confuse you though. It is only a race for the choice few (1000 people or so) who come out to race the 7 miles from the Bay to the Breakers on the west end of Golden Gate Park. For the remaining 50,000 to 90,000 people, it is a 7 mile alcohol induced haze. You can learn more about the Bay to Breakers event at the following two links:

Official Bay to Breakers website
Bay to Breakers (Wikipedia)

For your viewing pleasure, I have added some links at the top of this blog to some of the media content that came back with us from this "event". I plan on using that top section to add more media content as I experience more and more of California.

So what was my involvement in the event? Well I was part of the Mozilla group! A good crowd of us Mozilla folks pushed, pulled, and dragged a Firefox float through the thousands of people. I am quite proud to say we made it to the 3 mile mark after 2:24:50. We didn't make it much farther than this however. Overall, it was a fun time had by all.

Initially, I was very skeptical about going to this event. I really wasn't looking forward getting up at 5am to walk 7 miles on a Sunday. Boy was I wrong! This was bedlam from the get-go.

Myself and a few other Mozilla people (mainly interns) made our way to the Caltrain, half asleep. We woke up pretty quick getting on the train however. The train was full of people going to Bay to Breakers, 99% of which were already drinking or drunk. This was at 6:15am by the way.

After the Van Wilder train ride, the mob made their way to the Bay. All the Mozilla folks congregated together and we eventually made our way to the start line.

As pitas rained down upon me, I thought to myself, "What the hell have I got myself into?!". After about the first hour, that feeling subsided and I really got into it. There were some great sights to see along the way. Some amazing scenery and architecture, and lots of "interesting" people. The procession snaked it's way through the streets of San Francisco, played on by multiple bands along the route. Once we climbed the hill near mile 3, the mob kind of died. Us Mozilla folks worked I way farther up into the hills and eventually rested at Meister Burger.

It was a long day, but an interesting one. I have no regrets whatsoever for going to this event. In fact, I definitely would have had regrets if I had not gone. The lesson I learned that day: Do not be afraid to jump into anything, you never know what you might find. There were some real interesting floats too: Chuck Norris, Sesame Street with a Snuffleupagus, Life guards, a Fish tank, the salmon swimming upstream (aka. walking the opposite direction), and last but not least Jonas the Fox!

I look forward to many more events to San Francisco and exploring more of California as the weeks go on.

Oh, and on a closing note. As crazy as Bay to Breakers was, I thought, "OK, that was insane, but that can't be normal. That was like just a yearly thing right?" Wrong again! Reading the news this week (only 1 week later), I discovered another event unfolding that was just as crazy, if not crazier: A mob of people dressed up as zombies harassing people in the downtown area (Disney Store, Apple store, etc). I am starting to think this kind of thing is commonplace in San Francisco. I clearly have a lot to learn.