It's a little weird to post a pre-race report after the race, but I will post it anyways because I had such a fun time in San Francisco.

Tony and I left San Jose around 2:30pm after my dance team practice. It was not raining at the time, but it started sprinkling on the way to San Francisco and by the time we arrived at Castro Street, it was pouring and wind was blowing steadily. I have never been to Castro District, the epicenter of gay male culture, so I was excited to go there before meeting up with Dr. Jorge Wong at his condo by Twin Peaks.


Less than 5 minutes on Castro Street, I found a really cool-looking jacket I would probably never find at a mall. Of course I had to get it!


It was raining in Castro, but that did not stop us from exploring the area.


There’s a celebration of male beauty.


There’s a bit of erotica on street corners.


And only in San Francisco will you see a train that goes to nowhere in particular!


My friend Tony. He got hit on by an Asian waiter at Orphan Andy.

We ate had late lunch at Orphan Andy's. According to Tony:
“…Orphan Andy's has great pancakes...and a good atmosphere to pick up in Toshi's actual words 'A pair of good looking guys' - and he has the pictures to prove it! Judy - you sure Toshi doesn't swing both ways?"


Don't worry Judy. Toshi does not swing both ways!


It was getting dark, but the rain did not stop.


But the rain made the Castro District even more memorable.

On the way to Jorge's place, we got lost and somehow ended up on the top of Twin Peaks.


Market Street is the bright street in the middle.


South of downtown San Francisco

When we finally arrived at Jorge's place, I realized I left my bib at home and Jorge found out he has not received his bib yet. I called the organizer's officer number on the website, but of course the office was closed at 7pm on Saturday. The message said to go to the race site around 6:30am if we had any issues regarding our registration.

We ate at Brothers Korean BBQ. It has been our tradition to eat at this popular food joint whenever we visit San Francisco, but I really didn't want to eat a lot on the night before the race. The wait here was so long I went outside to look for Hot Pot City, but got soaking wet before I could even find it.

We went back to Jorge's place but the rain never stopped and I could hear the wind rustling through the trees all night.

The weather forecast said there was 90% chance of rain and it was going to be windy too. Not a favorable condition for a run. My girlfriend called me and told me not to worry, but just have a fun, safe race. I told myself that I can't expect a PR, but since I wanted a specific goal to shoot for, I set my goal to finish under 1 hour 25min.