Running for a Better Oakland

Make sure to apply for our Communications Director by tomorrow if you're interested! Email [email protected] to apply.

Seeking a new Communications Director! RBO Communications Director: part-time, flexible hours, remote independent contractor position. $25 - $30 / hour depending on experience. Deadline to apply: June 15, 2021. Members of the RBO community of volunteers, families, parents, and former students are encouraged to apply. Email [email protected] to apply! RBO needs a Communications Director to disseminate critical information to volunteers, families, and students about practice...Continue reading

In our final scholarship ceremony post, we wanted to thank all of our donors, supporters, and friends this past year who made running RBO and our scholarship program possible. Scena Performance The East Bay 510k - 5k/10k Run & Walk Oakland Turkey Trot... Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders Blistering Pace Race Management Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon, 10K and 5K Pamakid Runners Oakland Running Festival The Olympic Club Foundation The Give Back Yoga Foundation Boon Equator Coffees Allbirds GU Energy Labs Oiselle Ultimate Direction lululemon Deckers Brands HOKA ONE ONE Impala Racing Team Arete Women's Running Club & Community Wicresoft Cherry Creek Mortgage, LLC Decathlon USA thredUP See more

When talking about this year's scholarship ceremony, we must thank our 2021 guest speakers: Adam Ray, Lauren Wall, and Magda Boulet. Thank you all for inspiring and motivating our seniors this year and always supporting RBO. A special thank you to our other scholarship ceremony speakers: MCs and coaches Diana Leon and Corey Devore, teacher and RBO volunteer Jacqueline Wohlers Arnoldy, and Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders President Edmundo Vito Cruz. Slides 1-2: Adam Ray is t...he CEO and founder of Siberian Unicorn, a full-spectrum marketing and events company with strengths in learning, outdoors, sports, and food. His partners include Bellwether Farms, Cisco, The North Face, Pearson, and WWE. Adam's company creates its own portfolio of classic events including The Bay Race, Healdsburg Turkey Trot, Mendocino Running Festival, Napa Valley Endurance Run, Skyline Endurance Run, and the Sonoma Women's Triathlon. Adam created the Three Bridge Challenge especially for our seniors this year, and we are so grateful! He is also the dad of Zoe, Julie, and Theo. Slides 3-4: Lauren Wall is an RBO coach and 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher accredited by the Yoga Alliance. Lauren has completed additional courses for her work with nonprofits, including "Yoga for Self-Regulation and Trauma" with Off the Mat Into the World and "How Can I Serve?" from The Give Back Yoga Foundation. Lauren is currently completing her 95-hour Registered Children's Yoga Teacher training with Yoga Alliance for Youth. She is in her third year of volunteering with RBO, which she started doing soon after moving to Oakland from Washington, DC. Lauren spends her weekday working hours running the University of California's Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia. Slides 5-6: Magda Boulet has many titles: she's an Olympian; accomplished trail and ultra runner; vice president of innovation, research, and development at GU Energy Labs in Berkeley; and is a local Oakland resident and mom. She represented the USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has competed in and won many races, including the 2002 San Francisco Marathon; the 2014 North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile race in the Marin Headlands; 2015 the Western States 100 mile race from Tahoe to Auburn; the 2018 250 km, 7 day Marathon Des Sables stage race; 2019 Leadville 100 mile race; and the 2019 Nine Dragons 50 mile race in Hong Kong. She ultimately tested her endurance in 2017 when she climbedin less than half the amount of time typically requiredthe 22,615-foot summit of Ojos del Salado, the world’s highest active volcano, located on the northern end of the Chile-Argentina border.

Since we're talking about scholarships this week, we'd like to thank two RBO alumni who we were able to award and recognize at this year's ceremony as 2021 alumni scholarship winners. Chun is a 2020 RBO scholarship winner who joined us as a blue shirt volunteer after graduating. Chun went above and beyond by helping out Program Director Edward at all our in-person events this year. Chun also served on the scholarship committee this spring, working extra hard to support and recognize the 2021 class of high school seniors! Luis is also 2020 RBO scholarship winner who became a blue shirt RBO volunteer this past year. You can always find Luis with a smile on at RBO races and events. Thank you and congratulations!

Register for RBO’s free, virtual Spring 2021 season by 11:59 pm PT TOMORROW, January 6! You’ll get to participate in weekly Zoom practices Saturday mornings, follow a training plan, run 3 virtual races with us (Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon, 10K and 5K; Oakland Running Festival; and Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders 4th Sunday Run), and get fun gear from RBO, our races, and our sponsors. Most of all, you’ll build community with us, stay moving during shelter in place, and set and achieve realistic goals. We hope you’ll join us! Register online at rboakland.org.

Happy New Year from the RBO coaches and staff! Thank you all for a fun, successful, and meaningful 2020. We’re looking forward to a new year with more practices, races, friendships and mentorships, PRs, and smiles. If you haven’t registered for Spring 2021 yet, you can do so online at rboakland.org. Register by January 6 for our first practice on January 9! See you soon (Collage made by our incredible head coach, Christine.)

Register for RBO’s Spring 2021 Season! RBO’s FREE & VIRTUAL Spring 2021 Season will run from January 9 - April 25, 2021. It’ll feature weekly Zoom workouts led by our coaches and volunteers, RBO gear and race swag, plus free virtual races, including the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon, 10K and 5K, the Oakland Running Festival, and the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders Fourth Sunday Run. Register online as a K-12 student or a volunteer or parent at rboakland.org by January 6! (***Anyone who registered for the Fall 2020 Season does not need to register again.)

Sharing a few unposted photos of our stellar RBO students, parents, and volunteers out running the @oakturkeytrot 5k. We’re so proud of everyone’s hard work during our first virtual seasonwe know it’s hard to get out and run without in-person practices with the whole RBO community! Continually impressed by our committed and resilient RBO family During this break between the Fall and Spring seasons, keep running and sharing photos of your adventures with us at [email protected].

Belatedly sharing some photos sent to us by RBO families over the last month or so. Did you know you can send photos of you running, practicing, or showing off your race gear to [email protected]? Our first virtual season is coming to a close, with only TWO Zoom practices remaining! We’ll finish the season by completing the Oakland Turkey Trot. Keep up the great work by getting outside for runs, walks, hikes, and bike rides, and continue showing up each week to virtual practices. Let’s finish finish the season strong!

Drum roll please ... the East Bay 510k is complete and the numbers are in: we had over 115 RBO runners complete the virtual race!!! We’re so proud of our students for adapting to the virtual season, showing up week after week for Zoom practices, building community (online!), and getting out there to complete our first virtual race on their own. Congratulations to all our students, volunteers, and parents for this feat of resilience, hard work, and determination! And thank you to @runlocalevents for fundraising for us and providing free race entries for our runners Way to go, RBO!

On Halloween, RBO held a race medal & t-shirt pick-up event for our students and volunteers who ran the virtual East Bay 510k. We combined the event with an optional Halloween costume contest. Enjoy these photos of RBO families, volunteers, students, and friends coming together for a moment to celebrate Halloween, running our first virtual race together, and getting through six virtual practices so far! Thank you to Run Local Events, Hustle Clean, and GU for the medals, t-shirts, and race goodies.

More East Bay 510k photos and results are rolling inand some spooky ones at that! Keep pushing, everyone! You have through November 1 to run the 5k or 10k virtual race. Medal and race t-shirt pick-up tomorrow (check your emails)!

More RBO volunteers and families sent us photos of their East Bay 510k virtual racescheck them out here. We’re especially proud of Inika for completing her first 5k Congratulations to everyone who has completed the race so far!

Boo Bay Area! We have a fun Halloween-themed event to share for kids and adults alike. GU Energy Labs is inviting anyone who can safely get to GU HQ in Berkeley on Friday, October 30th to pick up a free bag of GU treats (meaning tasty sports nutrition!). This is great chance to stock up for your holiday adventure plans or upcoming races... not to mention see the place where GU gels are created! To help keep everyone safe, please wear a mask and practice social distancing. Reg...ister for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/no-tricks-just-treats-20-free-. The event will take place Friday, October 30 from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm PT at GU HQ, 1609 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710. Don't live in the Bay Area? That's ok you can enter to win a GUdie bag that we will mail straight to you! Winners will be tagged in GU's IG story on Friday 10/30.

We’ve got a few more photos from this week’s East Bay 510k Runners, please fill out our Google Form with your race info after you run. Remember that you have until November 1 to complete your race. We’ll see you October 31 for virtual practice and a special Halloween-themed medal and race t-shirt pickup!

More photos from this week’s East Bay 510k are rolling in! We’re loving all the dedication and community spirit our RBO runners are showing by participating in this virtual race Keep going, everyone! You can run your 5k or 10k through November 1.

Some photos of our RBO runners participating in the virtual East Bay 510k today! Great job and congratulations to everyone who has run so far This morning we saw some of our runners out at Jack London Square and Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, with other families running in their neighborhoods or hitting the trails. We’re so proud of everyone getting out therekeep racing and sending us your photos!

An encouraging message from Wale Forrester ahead of the East Bay 510k this weekend! Who’s ready to race? #repost Run Local Events Oakland Fire Fighter and HustleClean co-founder, @un_a_pologetic, welcomes and congratulated @rboakland youth on taking part in the East Bay 5k and 10k.