A moody little scene at Land’s End & Sutro Baths in San Francisco today as the fog started rolling in.

Beautiful morning for a race!

Sorry for the delay on posting this. I got caught up yesterday!

So Bay to Breakers was great! It was much calmer than previous years, which I am sure the race organizers were thankful for, however some participants weren’t thrilled. I myself had a great time! I ran the 7.46 miles in 1 hour and 23 mins, which was one minute over my goal time, but hey, I’ll take it. You can see a video of me crossing the finish line as well as all the timing info here.

The weather was supposed to be horrible, but as you can see from the picture above, it was not bad. It rained for maybe 10 minutes about 6 miles in, but it was actually pretty refreshing. I saw a lot of naked people, per the usual, and tortillas were thrown everywhere at the start line which is an ongoing tradition.

Tossing tortillas is tradition.

Waiting to start.

All in all it was a great race and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Sunday is the 100th Annual Bay to Breakers. This is not your ordinary race. B2B is notorious for craziness in the form of costumed revelers, sometimes intoxicated, sometimes naked trekking the 7.46 miles across the city of San Francisco (hence the name, you start at the bay and end at the breakers). I am not one to partake in the debauchery or even dress up, but I love this race for the people watching and that fact that it is the perfect distance.

If you did not know, I am a runner or a jogger depending on your definition. I’m not super fast, but I love to get out there and train for a goal. I did to do half marathons, but I think those days are over as I am really enjoying the 3-8 mile distances. This is why B2B is a perfect distance for me and a quick, fun run.

I will post a follow-up on Monday with pictures from the race and the craziness, as well as how I did, so check back! Too see how I have prepared with fun gear and tunes, see below.

I have prepared this fun playlist for the race. I prefer music with a good beat when I run, so I usually end up with dance music, but I tried to mix this one up a bit. Shaun of the Dead fans will know I Monster’s “The Blue Wrath” from the intro credits to the movie. It’s my victory song

As for my gear, I checked the weather and it is looking like rain, so I will be sporting my cute rain and wind resistant Headwinds Jacket from Athleta. Additionally I’ll be in my Saucony Kinvara minimalist running shoes. I have been training in these shoes for a while now, and am really loving them, except I am wondering if my current ankle woes are a result of the reduced sole (less impact support). Either way, I have cut my per mile time down and have a more natural movement in these shoes, so I think I’ll stick with them.

Image: Athleta.com

Image: Nordstrom.com

Very interesting article and viewpoint about how our brains learn to be “lucky”: Fashion Copious

Image: Thom Sempere

New art photography book about Alcatraz Island: SFGate.

Having shot there behind the scenes myself, I can tell you it a wicked location. Many of the photographers featured in the book shot there over night. I don’t know if I’d have the nerve to spend an evening on that island.

Image: Amazon.com

This book is more editorial design (from what I have read so far), and it gives a great overview of the general anatomy of magazines and newspapers. Additionally Zappaterra covers this history of publications and major players (mainly designers) in the field. Once I got into this book, I went out and got a few of the magazines based in San Francisco and dove into them. It was interested to see things Zappaterra discussed in action in current publications (since the book was published in 2007). The book doesn’t talk much about online publishing, so if anyone can suggest a good title that covers that I’d be grateful.

Amazon: Art Direction + Editorial Design by Yolanda Zappaterra