Our USA MAGAZINE

Photos courtey of www.zazzlebaytobreakers.com

My nerves were shot as the day approached. In my mind’s eye, I saw my mother’s face. A conservative, religious woman, I could see her mouth pursed in disapproval. Costumed freaks, naked people, I could hear her echo scornfully. The question of why I would want to participate in such an event hung in the air like the odor in the neighborhood on a sweltering hot garbage day.

Thunderstorms were predicted to hit San Francisco the evening of the 100th Bay To Breakers Race, and to continue throughout the next day. The impulse to cancel jabbed at my psyche. The will, the curiosity and the need to perform what I had trained for months to do, squelched the most unwelcome argument.

Our brains are a funny thing. They can be our greatest mo- tivators, our best cheerleaders and our worst enemies. When training for a run, or any fitness regimen in general, the brain tells us at first all of the reasons why we shouldn’t do something. Why it’s easier to sit on the couch and chomp on a doughnut. How dare we change, how dare we dream, how dare we run with costumed freaks and naked people.

Would you run with naked people? Find out what lessons can be learned in such an irreverent competition - only in the pages of Our USA Magazine.

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