The Predicate

As I stood among the thousands of runners to run Bay To Breakers in San Francisco, a couple of guys next to me were pushing a shopping cart filled with beer kegs. Yes, the beer was flowing at 8 am! That’s the kind of “festive” race that Bay to Breakers is.

For the uninitiated, B2B is a 12K foot race that goes from one end of San Francisco to the other end. Unlike other races, here the motive to run is only for a few. For the rest of 60,000 runners, it is just a fun time to wear a costume, indulge in partying and start drinking all day. B2B is the ultimate frat house party.

The event was won by a couple of Kenyans, of course who finished in 30 odd minutes. By that time, I was probably just starting to climb the dreaded Hayes Street Hill. By the time I finished, the Kenyans must have caught the next flight back home.

B2B’s unique tradition is the numerous nude runners. These are guys who are usually over 50 and are the last ones that you would want to see naked. Sightings of nude female runners are few and far between. Still, the race had enough girls wearing next to nothing to keep me going. My favorite was the one who had dressed up as pickle relish with this message written on the back of her really tight knickers: “Relish your buns”!

There were the usual Elvises, girls running with wedding gowns, super heroes, Spartan warriors, Viking soldiers, Lightning McQueens. A trio were dressed up as “Britney over the years” - One from the Mickey mouse club, One as a vamp from 2002, and one all freckled and old with the tagline “Oops”. There was a “Ho cumming queen”, “Miss Match” and one that proudly announced “My Bush is for sale”. A couple of guys were signing petitions to name the sewage plant in SF after George W.Bush. One girl had this on her chest: “Don’t stare, I am barely legal”. There was a “Save Boobs” campaign going on in the sidelines, which looked very funny but was actually for breast cancer research.

As I crossed the finish line though, all I could think of was that I should do this in lungi and banian next time!

San Francisco Chronicle reports that the next big earthquake along the Hayward Fault may be round the corner and will cause massive destruction.

The next major earthquake on the Hayward Fault - inevitable anytime now, experts say - will be the Bay Area’s own Hurricane Katrina, affecting more than 5 million people, causing losses to homes and businesses of at least $165 billion and total economic losses of more than $1.5 trillion, scientists warn.

Records and geologic trenching show that five major quakes struck along the Hayward Fault between 1315 and 1868 - an average of one every 140 years. The 140th anniversary of the last big one falls on Oct. 21.

The situation itself is pretty grim. Given what is happening in the real estate industry, such an earthquake will wipe out whatever is remaining of the economy here.

As I was thinking about what are the things I hold dear and must keep safe and whether I must keep an earthquake emergency kit handy, the comic relief in such situations are usually found in the comments to the article (as any avid Rediff reader will agree). Some guy here had written, “Seems cheap compared to the Iraq war”. That’s one way of looking at it!