Jason Loutitt, 32, ran down Los Gatos Blvd. Thursday night near midnight carrying a lightweight baton. He passed Office Depot, Los Gatos Hardware, Rotten Robbie and McDonald's, all dark. There were few cars on the road, and Jason ran behind a van with a yellow emergency light on its roof. He had run 10 miles from Milpitas to reach Dot Helling, who was waiting outside Nob Hill Foods.
After a brief ceremony in which both held the baton tightly and pledged to raise awareness of the need for safe drinking water for everyone, Dot took the baton and began running toward downtown Los Gatos. Unaware that the creek trail closes at dusk, the relay planners had to shuttle Dot to Lexington Reservoir in their van. Her course took her up Old Santa Cruz Highway to Summit Rd., then to the next runner and on into Soquel.
The Blue Planet Race started June 1 at United Nations headquarters in New York City. 20 international runners, in five teams of 4, have logged over 10,000 of the 15,000 mile course. After New York and Boston, the group ran through Europe, Russia, Siberia, and Mongolia. They ran on Aug. 1 in Japan, crossed the Pacific by air and ran on Aug. 1 in the Bay Area. There are 14,200 exchange points along the route. Team Green ran through Los Gatos--each person runs 10 miles and, every 4 days, each team gets a day off.
Simon Isaacs, 26, of Team Green waited for Jason outside Nob Hill alongside Dot. Simon has lived in Kigali, Rwanda--sent by Bill Clinton to deal with problems such as lack of safe drinking water. He can discuss global water policy in depth (like the Sam Seaborn character on The West Wing TV show) and he is moving to Seattle after the 15,000-mile race is complete. His Blue Planet business card, like Dot's, identifies him as a Global Messenger.
The message is that unsafe drinking water kills 6,000 people a day and 1.1 billion people live without access to safe drinking water. The race is the brainchild of Mill Valley industrialist, philanthropist and environmentalist Jin Zidell. Dow Chemical is the presenting sponsor of the unprecendented run.
Water is life. Pass it on.
To learn more about the Blue Planet Run 2007 and contribute to the cause, visit the website.
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