Running a 5k before a free museum day

Early Sunday morning, Track and Feels gathered in Yerba Buena Gardens for a 5K run and art tour called Run to the Arts. T&F is a Bay Area-based run group that partnered with SF MOMA for this event, hosting a structured yet self-paced route that began and ended just outside the museum. Runners could choose a comfortable pace by choosing between several of the pacer groups, each of which were led by runners moving at a set time. Groups were separated by speed, with some participants opting for a walking pace, slower 13-minute pace, or a challenging 9-minute pace.

Here is the Run to the Arts route.

1) Run towards Market & 3rd

This was a quick run down to the main Market Street. Some people watched from a distance to witness the runners filling the sidewalk.

2) Down Market towards the Ferry Building

Throughout this part of the run, we passed by the Montgomery and Embarcadero  BART stations, while catching a view of the skyline The surrounding buildings offered shade to our groups and the route was occasionally marked with stop lights, offering a quick break for runners beginning to warm up.

3) Hit Embarcadero, take a right towards Oracle Park

Away from the shadows of the towering skyscrapers, runners emerged into the sunlight. We got a quick glimpse of the Ferry Building before turning right and heading down a stretch with an ocean view. We ran past Rincon Park with a massive bow and arrow sculpture, went under the Bay Bridge, and breezed past several of the piers lining the water’s edge.

4) Loop Oracle Park and head back to 3rd St

Approaching Oracle Park, we began our journey back to SF MOMA by turning right back onto 3rd Ave. All groups began to merge together coincidentally, making the journey back feel like running in a pack.

5) Run down 3rd St and back to Yerba Buena East Gardens

Our group returned to SF MOMA and made a final right on Howard Street towards an alleyway with a side entrance to the museum. We finished our run with water, bananas, and canned Vietnamese coffee. The Track and Feels team began to set up shop soon after, screen printing branded posters for sale and later screen printing items that runners brought from home, such as tote bags, shirts, jackets, and hoodies.

Visitors are able to obtain free admission during Community Day in conjunction with new exhibit openings. My favorite part of the new exhibit had to be the unique ping-pong table designed by Gabriel Orozco in 1998 titled Ping Pond Table which you can actually play a game of ping-pong on. For more information, learn about SF MOMA’s Community Day for their new exhibit opening: Get In the Game.