Seeing an old friend on race day

Somewhere along the way I’d lost the narrative of the Across the Bay 12k. Maybe I found it again Sunday.

By Andrew Pridgen

The Across the Bay 12k was re-booted Sunday under a canopy of cloudless sky and above the uncharacteristically still waters of the San Francisco Bay. The meat of the race, which starts on the shores of Marin County at Fort Baker and finishes where the neoprene-skinned swimmers chase one another in Aquatic Park, happens over the best current example of why man exists: the 2.5-mile Art Deco span of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Whether you’re a runner, the opportunity to traverse such a landmark—the horizon’s violin bow bend of the Pacific to your right and the approachable San Francisco skyline on your left—is everything. The run reminds me there is no other metro offering the apparent accessibility of San Francisco. LA is for careerists and Uber drivers…