I love the Bay Area. I’ve loved it since the day Sean and I moved to Menlo Park two years ago. This outdoor playground is the home of challenging running, stunning cycling, feisty adventurers, thriving intellectuals, great food, wine that’s just as good, grown-up hippies,
do-gooders, and Silicon Valley gazillionnaires. It’s a place where people with old money, new money, and no money live together…not always in a state of bliss, but almost always in a state of mutual respect, altruism, and progressive energy. I love the Bay area for all of this, coupled with its stunning natural beauty and bright spirit (and most importantly, I love my wonderful friends here).

Yesterday and today, I felt like the Bay Area loved me back. Our Blue Planet Run team – fresh off the plane from Japan – has spent the past two days running throughout San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley and Oakland soaking up the rare August sunshine, clean streets, gorgeous running routes, abundant smiles, and inquisitive passerby. The city has welcomed us, the media has been interested in what we’re doing, and my hairdresser Bradley even made time in his busy schedule to cut my hair on a few hours notice! Our team thrived running in the fresh air surrounded by enthused and supportive locals cheering us on (in a language we understand to boot)!

I arrived at the exchange point at Market Street and the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco (my first in this portion of the U.S. run) yesterday to find my team onstage telling stories about our time abroad. Sean shared stories of the nomad family we met in Mongolia and their long travels to find safe drinking water, Lansing talked about the incredible gift of fresh water at Lake Baikal in Russia, and Sunil touched on the safe water issue by talking very personally about the serious crisis in his home country, India.

For me, sharing these recent experiences with a local crowd made the run feel cohesive. I feel us transitioning from bonding and training and learning into the fundraising machine we need to be to make this run a success (remember, just $30 provides someone safe drinking water for life). It was inspiring to look out at San Francisco yesterday and feel like people were engaged and listening. As much as I’ve loved the diversity of places we’ve experienced on this journey, being back in the Bay Area reminded me that there’s no place like home. Now that we’re home, we’re ready to pour it on!