For the Love of the Bay 5K - Oakland, California - Running

The For the Love of the Bay 5K is a Running race in Oakland, California consisting of a 5K.

Excited about 510 Hikers inaugural 5K at beautiful Lake Merritt!!

The Bay Area is one of the most beautiful places to run in the world and the running community is as strong as anywhere in the country. You can find a 5K or 10K with a fancy theme name practically every week of the year if you look close enough. Unfortunately, in these events, too many groups are left underrepresented at the starting line. When I line up at the start line of a run in the Bay Area and 90% of the participants are of the same ethnic background, I believe somewhere, somehow, the community is failing. The narrative of who participates in these events is one that we need to play an active role in changing. This race will aim to do that by reaching out and encouraging a diverse crowd filled with people of all walks of life, talk and short, thin and wide, white and black. Diversity reigns supreme in the Bay, why can't it be in these events as well? Let's be serious, this is the Bay Area and our diversity is what makes us strong and unique. We encourage everyone who believes in unity in the community to join in this change. This event will attract the best of content and character of the Bay Area.

We have worked to make this event as affordable as possible to help encourage all walks and people with all levels of bank accounts to attend. We don't want lack of funds to be the reason anyone stays home, even if it means taking from our own pocket so please, reach out to us if you have children especially you want to attend but may not have the budget for. We also want to be especially encouraging to get these kids out, off social media and off the couch. I can guarantee you they will NOT forget the Saturday morning they got out with mom or dad or both and went to an event at the lake with all sorts of people, all connecting, all in the name of unity in the community. It's why we offer special pricing for kids (kids UNDER 8 are $2. kids 8-15 are $14 under the special pricing tab). In the end, we want to see as many people smiling as they are sweating, kids included.

For our first timers, allow this be an activity that helps motivate you get to the gym to prepare for. We want hitting that register button to be an incentive for you to get active!! New to the Bay? Great!! Please join in!! If you come to this event and do not meet 3/4 new people by the time you get back in your car, you will have missed out on the best part of the event, the people!! Our aim is to have everyone going back home safe and feeling accomplished while marking their calendar for next year after this inaugural event!!

We will have water and aid stations on the course. Prizes for top finishers, ribbons for all the children and a huge raffle for everyone who shows up and pins a bib to their running shirt (so far, we have 30 bottles of wine, wireless headphones sets and some great running swag already collected!!) from the likes of Under Armour, KIND Snacks and the Oakland Athletics to name a few. We also have medals for all adult finishers who cross the finish line!!!! In addition, we have a great race shirt lined up!! With help from the City of Oakland Parks Department, Kind Healthy Snacks, Sports Basement, Pinpoint Training and others, the Run/Walk for the Love of the Bay 5K will be an unforgettable event created by people from the Bay Area, for the Bay Area.