Text: Please tell us about the Oakland Marathon and why you fought so hard for it to be at the forefront of Renegade’s spring programming. What was the weekend like for you, what are you looking forward to next year?
The Renegade community run club takes on our hometown race. Here's a quick recap of the programming that we put on this spring leading up to the 2025 Oakland Marathon.
Spring long run training was a labor of love. Many marathoners will tell you, the weekly long runs are the most important part of preparing for the 26.2 mile event. Beginning at 8am on Sundays along the Bay Trail, Victor, Jacob, and Hannah herded us and shared words of encouragement from their bikes. As expected of an East Bay spring, there were milder days and rainy days too, an extra test of grit. As the miles progressed each week, many reached their new longest runs, making steady gains.
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On the Friday before the marathon we held a shakeout run to the Morcom Rose Gardens, one of the gems of the East Bay. The shakeout is a short, easy run before the hard, long one, moving the lactic acid as some might say, science! After, along with Run Local, we enjoyed pizza and beverages, and other goodies. The mood was celebratory, for all the hard work the runners had already put in. We made posters for race day : “You R Loved”! “Si se puede”!
Just having completed my first major marathon at Chicago last year with Project Renegade, I know the way the waves of cheering voices and cowbells can chase away the doubt and fatigue, and how seeing your people, if only for a turning glance and half breath, can help you find another gear. For our hometown race, I knew we had to go all out at the cheer station.
On Sunday, we set up our cheer station at mile 8 of the half and full marathon, and mile 2 of the 10k and 5k races. I asked our Strava community
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I made my way over to the finish line to meet friends while other runners made their way back to Renegade to enjoy coffee and our runner’s lounge and Miya took finisher portraits. We partnered with our neighbors at Kinfolx to round out the celebration - they cooked up a special marathon cocktail menu and brought a DJ outdoors to continue the vibes.
To Oakland: you inspire us to do what we do, and to see you bare your hearts and we’d do it all again, and again.
