Bay to Breakers

May 21, 2006

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Kegs of beer in shopping carts being pushed for seven miles. Tiki bars on wheels. Themed "floats" such as pirate ships, prisoners, outdoor BBQs and beer pong tables. Bands playing on street corners. Continuous block parties. And all part of an organized event.

This is Bay to Breakers, an annual festival of 75,000 people of free expression, limited inhibitions and limitless alcohol. It's quintessential San Francisco, a gathering of gays and and straight people, of the clothed and the not-clothed, of the drinking and the drunk, all joined together for a day of drink-filled fun. They come to walk through the streets of San Francisco in a fog. They come to party in what is basically a morning Mardi Gras. They dress up in costumes, if in fact they dress at all.

This year, our group joined up to form a dodgeball team and be a part of the B2B festivities. We decided to call ourselves the King Stingers - a king sting being a ball thrown hard enough to disable your oponent. Sarah came up with an awesome logo and we had some fantastic uniforms made.

The group was Sarah, Karl, Kirsten, EJ, Linda, Brenda, Craig, Michael and Leslie. We hauled ourselves out of bed in time for the 8am tortilla tossing and we made it a full 5 miles before calling it quits.

King Stingers wait for the train