Oakland Running Festival

Unless you live under a rock or really slept in, you probably know that yesterday was the 2nd annual Oakland Running Festival. By all accounts, it was a big success. Even the Chronicle had good things to say about Oakland.

I'm not a runner (I bike all over the place, but my knees don't like running), but I took part, too. I volunteered with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. They had a team running the relay, numerous people running and raising funds for the Ella Baker Center as their cause ($28,860 and counting), and the EBC also brought out staff and volunteers to run a water station which is where I volunteered.

at the EBC water station

Some people from First Unitarian Church were out to volunteer, as was a huge group of (very energetic) students from the various Alameda high schools. I've rarely felt that much positive energy around anything. Some of us were filling cups with water or Gatorade, others were handing them to runners as they went past, and every time somebody ran past, we cheered them on.

arch of fire from The Crucible

The course for the full marathon went all over Oakland, from downtown, through Uptown, up Piedmont Ave., through Temescal, through Rockridge, past Lake Temescal, through Montclair, past the Mormon Temple, through the Dimond, through Fruitvale, along International Blvd., through Jack London Square (where Saturday's 5K Twilight Run was) to West Oakland, back over to and around Lake Merritt-- pretty much all over Oakland except 'deep east' and the southern hills. Oakland businesses and organizations were out in force, providing food, drink and music options to participants and spectators alike.

There's great marathon coverage by the Tribune's Sean Maher, with some nice photos. For more photos, check out yourwaitress.com (aka Valerie Cochran's photo site).

coverage and photos:

• Oakland Tribune
• SFGate
• yourwaitress.com
• Oakland Daily Photo
• Oakland Local
• Raiders.com
• Brown Sugar Kitchen
• Living in the O
• Ella Baker Center blog
• EBC (photos)
• Pavement Runner
• Contra Costa Times
• Fusaro Photography
• Planes, Trains and Running

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If a day full of Oakland and positive energy wasn't enough, the EBC post-race party was at SomaR in Uptown. I got a chance to catch up with old friends and new from the EBC, and as an added bonus, some of my favorite Oakland blogs were representing, too: A Better Oakland, Living in the O, Future Oakland, the DTO. And a shoutout to Oaktown Art, who ran in the Saturday 5K event and raised funds for EBC.