I did get in to the lounge, but I picked up more that 2 bottle water.
I recalled I took 4-5 cans of soft drink, some snack, etc. Put all of them in my computer bag and I met Mrs Snowmilky outside. They just watched me doing all these. Ha ha. BTW, it is the KA lounge.
Right after that I called MPC to complaint about this rule. The supervisor said they will review the policy. I bet it won't get changed soon.
Going back to whether it worths the time and money to do a mileage run to get to the gold status, it really depends if there is any additional listed beneifit that you can take advantage of. If you simply hope that you will be op-upped (unlisted beneifit?) more often after you reach the gold tier, you may be disappointed.