Team Bruce: Aaro Landr came in from Minneapolis, rabbit from Chicago, and FLuffy and Britt both recently moved to San Francisco.

Britt Crawford:
I came up out of the BART and there was a group of 6 or so people standing near the exit to the street. One of them was holding a broom and he was clearly not a sanitation worker. (It turns out he was person at the park checkpoint) I thought they were probably sf0 players but felt a rush of shyness and just walked on by. I headed on to the registration area. People had started to gather.

During the registration period I announced that I was here alone but was looking for a group and Team Bruce was good enough to take me in. [Team Bruce? Austrailians?] We talked about our strategy and plotted some routes between the checkpoints. We weren't going to run much and try to conserve our energy. Ian announced the start of the event and we took off running.

Our plan was to head up Sacramento instead of California. It was a lot of other groups' plan as well. The whole way up Sacramento we could see three or four other groups. Periodically one group would start to run, the other groups would notice and all of a sudden 20 people are running flatout up the street. Three quarters of the way to the top of Nob Hill Aaro split off from the group. Fluffy, Rabbit and I arrived at the Fairmont without interference. Aaro arrived a few minutes later. He told us that he had had a close call with a chaser and had relied on his tradecraft to blend in with a crowd at a bus stop.

The couple at the Fairmont were brilliant. They blended in perfectly with the high class crowd at the hotel, and dealt with the sweaty panting SF0'ers with poise and grace.

We headed out from the Fairmont and decided to split. Aaro and I went one way and Fluffy and Rabbit went another. The trip from checkpoint 1 to 2 went without incident. Except...that despite taking completely different routes we all arrived at point #2 at EXACTLY the same time. After we left the diner (checkpoint #2), we were all standing on the corner planning our next move when I was suddenly slapped on the back. So, were Rabbit and Fluffy, a chaser! Aaro was the only one quick witted enough to escape. However, when she got us we were still in the safe zone and during the course of his escape Aaro had wandered outisde of the zone, where he was quickly captured.

Rabbit, Fluffy and I were able to make check point #3 but the 10:45p deadline kept getting closer and closer, so we gave up and headed straight for the beach. We are quitters...but I had a great time at the beach.

rabbit:

FLuffy Bananachunks:

Aaro Landr: First off, before the event even started I had a very strange feeling overcome me soon after I flew into SFO. Riding the BART and seeing the Sutro Tower in their physical reality again after playing in the space of SFZero weirded me out a bit... like I was jacking into the game in a new way... although most of you actually live here. Here meaning... SF, not SF0... I think. :-)

Fast forwarding to registration on Saturday, Bananachunks, Rabbit and I decided that it might be helpful to recruit "a local" primarily for help on navigation throughout the city. Britt rounded out our team.

After we started running at 19:45, I immediately started debating if running the whole time was really was going to help anyone for this kind of race. :-) I noticed Nicole and her team waiting at a MUNI stop while our team joined the others running up to Nob Hill. We also thought that running up Sacramento instead of California would be sneaky but that seemed to be everyone else's idea too. I split off from the group at around Miles Street and snuck up California alone. One of my favorite parts of the evening was seeing a silver helmet in the distance and then ducking into a side vestibule of the Fairmont Hotel to find that the door was locked. I hid in there with my back against the wall for about 30 seconds and right before I was going to duck back out on the street, I saw that same silver helmet with a shit-eating grin sneaking around cars going down the street. He never saw me although he walked within a couple feet from where I was breathing (I was almost caught!) After he passed, I quietly walked up into the hotel and met up with the rest of the group.

I loved the juxtaposition of our group of sweaty SF0'ers with the classy wedding gathering in one of the nicest hotels in San Francisco.

We ran around the north side of Huntington Park and most of the people in the park perked their heads up to watch us running and sneaking behind cars, not knowing what was happening. It was a lovely scene.

Britt and I ended splitting with Rabbit and Bananachunks and we walked all the way down to Market Street. Britt and I kept trying to find a bus but never found one. After trying to come in behind point two and finding we were stuck in a weird spot due to the highway, we ended up meeting up with Rabbit and Bananachunks again and snuck in to get a signature.

As the four of us left, we stood outside and tried to determine where to go next. We also saw Piratey Monkey hop into a car! Right after, Eris, who was a chaser, ran to tag our group. She nabbed our entire team except for me while I fled. I ended up crossing Market on the far side of Laguna watching the aftermath of the tagging. Apparently, we were all in a safe zone and the tagging didn't count. At this point, I realized I wasn't in the safe zone and Aynne sneaks up behind me and tags me. She followed it up with maniacal laughter. She owned me.

Now that I'm with the chasers, we debated riding the bus with the people still in play (including the rest of my team) but after a long wait I decided to go off on my own to point four. I picked up a bus on Haight and took it to Parnassus just south of Golden Gate Park.

Wandering around alone in Golden Gate Park without a flashlight isn't recommended. My only real chance to nab someone was when I saw a guy dart from around Seventh Avenue into the athletic fields. I assume he was taking a shortcut but I also wasn't sure if he was in play! I took a long walk through the park looking for players and I don't think I saw any. I saw a couple groups of four but I didn't feel like attacking them as I wasn't sure if they were in-game or not.

I ended up at Highway 1 and took the 29 to Fulton and sat at Park Presidio for the 5. Waited for 20 minutes and a woman came by and sat with me. After a little small talk, I started telling her about SFZero and the game. I gave her my player business card. I kept joking that "it must be weird for you to hear me saying all of this..." especially as I admitted I came here from Minneapolis.

When the bus finally arrived, it was humorous to see other chasers. Some were hiding in the back, I talked with a few near the front, and at one stop a couple people still in-play... with logs... got on the bus. It was hilarious seeing them sit down and look around to see themselves surrounded by chasers.

To the girl I had met at the bus stop, I said, "See? I'm not bullshitting you."

The chasers made a bargain with the two guys in-play that we'd give them a head start when the bus stopped at La Playa. We all got off the bus, chatted for a few seconds and then as the bus was about to leave, we realized the players decided to stay on the bus even though we were at the correct stop. Ha. Sneaky.

We walked down to the bonfire and the winners, taking a longer route, joined us soon after.

The bonfire: Awesome. No need to go into great detail here, but we ended up safely getting a Taxi around 4:30am.

Thanks to everyone that put this together, everyone I met, everyone who gave me wine and vodka as well as the SFPD who busted the party but left us alone after we came right back. I had an excellent time. Cheers.

s4xton's photos
Rabbit's photos
Britt's photos