Firstly, the race is in San Francisco (SF or just The City). Not only do you get an excuse if you don't already live in SF to explore the many restaurants, bars, cafes, parks, tourist traps but you get to run in The Golden Gate Park (The Park). Secondly, well there is the Firstly.
Last year the weather was perfect for racing with very slight breeze and cool ~58 deg by the ocean. This year, a drought year, it had not rained the entire year ... except on Sunday morning race day. In fact, not only did it start raining as soon as the shuttle bus came to pick us up from The Kabuki Hotel at 6:30AM but it was cold ~45 deg and windy. Yuck.
Luckily, we had gone out the night before to a very nice bar/restaurant called Umami on Webster off Union Street and enjoyed VERY nice Happy Hour 'bar' food. I say 'bar' food with tongue against cheek because this is no ordinary bar food. The Kobe beef 'sliders' are very tender and juicy. The stack of ribs were just perfectly spicy and tangy. And we had several sushi rolls. IF you get there when they open at 5:30PM (highly recommended and/or get a reservation) and order before 6:30PM the prices are excellent.
