Day 63 - Pittsburg, Oakland, Milpitas

BPRF founder Jin Zidell speaks to the crowd with David and Emmanuel at Jack London Square in Oakland.

Clearly one of the biggest days for Blue Planet Run!

Dow's Pittsburg facility organized a big function for the 9am exchange point with several local companies sponsoring food and drink. A music band started at 7 and a 5k run started at 7:30. The Blue Planet Runners came in around 8:30, with Richard, Mary, Victor, Taeko, Sunila, and Lansing taking the stage. Richard charmed the audience and Mary connected with her Dow colleagues; telling them how their support kept her going through tough times in Siberia and Mongolia where she often 'wanted to curl up in fetal position and not move again'. Heiko ran in surrounded by kids and, with none other than Dean Karnazes - the ultra-marathon man nominated as the fittest man on the planet. Heiko was star-struck as Dean volunteered to run the last 10 miles with the Blue Planet Run runner. Sunila ran out and his team carried the baton through the picturesque Berkeley hills with their fabulous views of the San Francisco bay, while the Dow party continued till 11am.

In Oakland, the exchange point was at Jack London Square where the local band 'Mud Daddy' kept a light audience occupied for a couple of hours. A few other water NGOs, including East Meets West, Engineers without Borders, and EPA of California joined and set up booths. Emmanuel and David invited kids on stage and David ran out after Shiri ran in.

Emmanuel and David present Emily Katerina Steele of Mill Valley, CA with a sticker on the exchange point stage at Jack London Square in Oakland.

A mile down, the students and staff of Beacon Day School stood outside at 4pm with about 70 kids screaming 'Daa-vid' 'Daaa-vid' 'Daaaa-vid' as soon as they saw him about 500 m. away. Lansing, Sunila, Brynn, and Sean autographed the BPR map for all the kids who mobbed these new celebrities.

Jason and Sunila reach approach the Jain Center in Milpitas accompanied by a large crowd.

The day ended at Milpitas, where the Jain Center of Northern California hosted a dinner and a large interfaith prayer ceremony that involved Jain, Hindu, Sikh, Swami-Narayan, Kannada, and Christian prayers. The entire Indian community was energized and wanted to make Sunila at home since he would not run this time on his motherland. The mayors of Fremont and Milpitas welcomed the runners Sunila, Dot, Laura, and Simon in the auditorium. When Jason ran in at 9pm, a crowd, even ladies in sarees, ran the last bit with him as he circled the temple and came in. The runners were presented with gifts and Jason and Laura, the incoming and outgoing runners got a painting which was created from the contribution of each guest. The US and Indian national anthems were also sung followed by Q&A and the 300 person crowd stayed till 10:30pm asking questions to Sunila and Rajesh. It was clearly the most amazing grassroots community organized event for BPR.