This past Sunday, tons of people showed up at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland to voluntarily run. For fun. At 7:00 a.m. on a weekend.
I don’t know why, but running for fun seems to be a thing here in the Bay Area. Give me an hour walking my dog or a light jog for exercise purposes all day, but full-on running for enjoyment? Yikes.
Anyway, as someone who passes along lifestyle options in the East Bay, I feel obligated to stop joking around and share this awfully cool organization with you! It’s called Coastal Trail Runs, and they just hosted the aforementioned Cinderella Run in Oakland.
There was a marathon, half-marathon, kids run, 5-mile run, and more. On Sunday, August 27th, they will be hosting another one on Mt. Diablo. This will consist of similar distances, and like most of the Coastal Trail Runs events, will get each runner a t-shirt and medal, and award the fastest finishers in each gender and age group separately.
The Coastal Trail Runs group’s mission is to share trail running around the coast of California, and many of their events take place in the Bay Area. Though unaffiliated, their organization also brings to mind The Dipsea Run in Mill Valley that traverses the popular hiking trail to Stinson Beach.
Coastal Trail Runs organized more than 400 races in the past 16 years, and according to their website, about 25 percent of runners in a given race are first-timers. And they do have options for flatter, slower runs called “Zoom” and “Zombie.”
Almost makes me want to give running for fun a shot! Almost…