Hannah Clark: This is an oral history interview for the South Carolina Honors College thesis project, More than the Mileage: Finding Community and a Sense of Place through Recreational Distance Running, documenting the perspectives and experiences of recreational distance runners. This is Hannah Clark, the date is February 12th, 2024, and today I’m interviewing Dionne Bryant virtually via Zoom. I’m in Columbia, South Carolina, and Dionne is in Cleveland, Ohio. Would you start by giving me your full name and spelling it for me?

Dionne Bryant: Dionne Bryant, D-I-O-N-N-E B-R-Y-A-N-T.

HC: Perfect. Okay. We’re going to start with some background. To start, how old are you?

DB: 36.

HC: Awesome. Where were you born, and if different, where do you currently reside?

DB: Cleveland, Ohio and (laughs), Cleveland, Ohio.

HC: There you go. If you don’t mind, tell me a little bit about your family.

DB: So as in, okay. My immediate family- well I have three brothers, of course, mom and dad. I’m the only girl. I have- I also have three children, two boys and one girl.

HC: Awesome. What is your current role or occupation?

DB: I am a preschool teacher.

HC: Nice, okay. And now into the running. How long have you been a runner?

DB: Three years.

(Laughter)

DB: Three years? Not that long, but seems long. Three years.

HC: What or who inspired your start into running?

DB: My brothers. My brothers. They run together and do runs, so my brothers.

HC: Got it. Can you describe a particular memory, or something that stands out to you from your early experiences with running?

DB: I hated it. (Laughs). No, I kind of started off- I started really running three years ago, but my first experience ever running, I hated it because I felt like I had to keep the pace of the person I was running with, and I didn’t enjoy it at all. No. So when I did it on my own terms, I enjoyed (laughs) it much better.

HC: Got it. How did your brothers inspire your start? Was it just that you saw them running or how did it happen?

DB: They- so I saw- also, I’m the only girl, so it was hard for me to do things with them anyway, because they guys and they go off. So I used to see pictures on social media of them doing races, and I just kind of feel left out. So every time I see these pictures I’m like, ‘I want to do this too,’ you know. I want to get [closer], it was for me to get closer to them, so, and that’s exactly what happened. I just started to run, and now we do races together and everything and it’s fun running with them and being able- they call us the family, ‘the running family’ now because we all like on RunWithTheWinners, we all run together, do races together. So we like ‘the running family.’ It’s four of us, so it’s pretty nice.

HC: That’s awesome. Well, speaking of that, can you tell me about the group that you run with?

DB: RunWithTheWinners? I’ve been with them for- when I first started running, three years now. I just love it. They always there for you, cheering you on every race. If they’re not running, they have signs, and cheering you around for a race. They’re like family. A lot of us is really close and we do things outside of it, it’s not just the running, just running, we have fun, and I just love them. And that’s a big- yeah, without them I probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy it now, too.

HC: How often do you meet with the winners?

DB: On Tuesdays. I try to do mostly all Tuesdays, and once in a while on Saturdays. So it’s Tuesdays and Saturdays.

HC: How do you feel connected to others when you run, whether it’s with your brothers or RunWithTheWinners? Can you describe to me what that’s like?

DB: (Pauses at 4:45). How do I feel connected? Just- I don’t know, it’s just running, just bonds people together. Just when we run, even when we together running, we are talking and we chit-chatting and we running and we got a goal to achieve, and we are training together, so I train with some of them. So it’s just, bring us close and bring us a bond, and it makes me- we’re friends. It’s more than just running. It’s a friendship with a lot of them as well, so yeah.

HC: Definitely. And you mentioned training. Can you tell me about a few events that you’ve trained for and your experience with that?

DB: The Cleveland half marathons, I’ve always trained for my half marathon, which I have coming up in May. So I kind of start training, now, yeah.

HC: Nice.

DB: I just really train for the half, halfs. I haven’t done nothing major, major, but my goal is to do a marathon one day (laughs).

HC: Can you describe to me how you feel when you run? This is kind of connected to the last question, but I guess more for you.

DB: Free. Free. Like I can achieve anything. It’s a stress reliever for me. If I have a bad day, I would just go out and run, clear my mind. It just- happy. It makes me- it’s like my happy place, my happy place. I even just posted a picture and me- it was a really good picture, I was smiling. I’m like, ‘oh my goodness, this is the best picture’ that somebody just took of me just smiling, and people say, ‘you’re running, you’re smiling?’ ‘Oh yes!’ It’s like my happy place and it makes me feel free and, yeah.

HC: No, I definitely get that. Kind of in a different vein, but how do you feel connected to your surroundings when you’re running?

DB: (Pauses at 6:52). It helps me, just to see the scenery more, look at the scenery, see how beautiful things are. I would take- if I run into something I haven’t saw, I instantly take a picture, and it just makes me very aware of my surroundings and what the world actually looks like, and yeah.

HC: Can you walk me through your feelings when you run alone compared to running in your group?

DB: Depends on the days I’m running alone (laughs). So if I’m running alone, I always have my music, I have my music, and I’m really pretty much running to the beat of the music. There’s days that when I’m had a stressful day, I would run faster (laughs). Then when I normally run, or I need to get home and cook, I run faster. If I need to get home to do something, I know I want to go for a run, but I seem to have a goal that I need to get somewhere, or I just need to relieve the stress, and just run as fast as I can, and that’s it. And for the group, I sort of slow in my pace, and a lot of times I run with the other crowd, like other people, so it’s shorter, and I’m communicating with them, and I’m talking and I’m laughing, it’s like, ‘I don’t care what my goal is, I don’t care what my pace is, I don’t care-’ anything. I just don’t care, pretty much about what’s my pace going to be, how fast I’m going to do, what miles I got to do. For myself, when I’m running by myself, I’m like, ‘I know I need to do these many miles. I know I want to have this pace.’ Yeah, so it’s different.

HC: No, yeah. Thank you for that. How has your relationship with distance running changed throughout your time participating? And I know you started three years ago, so I guess just any sort of changes you’ve felt even in that amount of time.

DB: With the group. Is this with the group?

HC: Just either with the group or with your own journey with distance running.

DB: Okay. Repeat that question! (Laughs).

HC: Yeah, you’re good. How has your relationship with distance running changed throughout your time, participating?

DB: So, you know, starting off, distance wasn’t it for me. I probably did one mile, two miles, three miles at the most. Now, I’m 10 miles. I could easily do a 10 mile [run] on a Sunday. When I’m training, I try to do 10 miles Sunday, 10 miles Sundays- I call it 10 miles Sundays. So it’s become more easy for me to do, and when I first started off, not so much. It was a struggle. Yeah, I think that’s pretty much it.

HC: And again, you said three years has been your journey with running, so I guess if this applies to you, how did the pandemic or the consequence of the pandemic affect your running journey? I’m trying to think back, I guess this…

DB: This is where I started!

HC: Okay, perfect, perfect.

DB: Yes! I had all the time in the world, (laughs), so instead of doing nothing, I got into working out and running, like every day. So I was running literally every single day. Every day. And that’s exactly- so I didn’t have no problem with the pandemic not running. I was outside, because that’s all we could do! It was nothing to do. You go to the store, or you go get some fresh air by yourself. So I’m like, ‘I can go running by myself.’ (Laughs). So that’s exactly- so I loved the pandemic. (Laughs). I loved it because I was able to run every day, and actually started my running journey then.

HC: Nice. If this applies, how has distance running impacted your mental health, if at all?

DB: Like I said, it has impacted my mental health. I feel like it makes me sane, when I’m having a stressful day. I deal with kids all day long, whether it’s at work or at home, like I said, I would go run. That’s how, it helps me deal with stress. Anything I’m feeling emotionally, just go run. My thing is just go run. (Laughs). So just go run.

HC: Can you tell me about a time that you felt proud to either be a runner or participate in a running group?

DB: All the time. I get back- well, for me, I get recognized when I do races a lot. When I see my photo in one of their advertisements, I’m happy. A lot of people know that we’re RunWithTheWinners, so sometimes they’ll snap our picture, and we’ll be in one of their advertising photos or their flyers or something like that. So I just love that. I was just in one of the St. Patrick’s Day ones from last year, I was on a flyer. So I love seeing myself on a flyer and I love to see the other runners from RunWithTheWinners on a flyer. It’s a happy feeling. I’m like, ‘oh, that’s me. That’s us. That’s one of you.’ So I love seeing that.

HC: Yeah. Getting recognized for hard work.

DB: Yeah.

HC: I know you mentioned a marathon, but how do you foresee your running journey progressing as you move into the future?

DB: Hopefully, I would do- run a marathon. Or do more half marathons out of Ohio, Cleveland. I would like to go to different states and do half marathons. I would like to at least run my first full marathon in Cleveland, hopefully next year. Next year, 2025.

HC: So how do you feel when you’re training for events like that? Can you walk me through your process of preparing for your half marathon?

DB: My training is horrible. I don’t really have a training system. I don’t follow training apps or anything like that like I should do. That’s funny. My thing is I at least run every other day, no less than three miles, and on Sundays, sometimes it depends. I do a three miles, six miles and 10 miles. Sundays is my 10 miles, you know, it has to be my longest route. Like me and my brothers have this 10 mile Sundays, when we’re training, so every Sunday we’ll go out there, do 10 miles, and post about it, ‘hashtag 10 miles Sunday.’ (Laughs). So that’s my training process, just make sure I run every other day, at least three, six to 10 miles. (Child talking in the background at 14:42).

HC: So it sounds like for most of your 10 mile Sundays, that’s going to be with your brothers?

DB: No, it’s by myself. (Laughs).

HC: Okay, okay, sorry, sorry. Just wanted to…

DB: Yeah, it’s by- for the most part, I train by myself, or I train with another person because we live kind of close, and she’s also with RunWithTheWinners, I train with her, ’cause she’ll be also training. So she ask to do extra miles, I do extra miles with her, or something like that. Before- like on Saturday, we just did a run with RunWithTheWinners, and she’s like, ‘somebody want to come do extra miles with me?’ And I’m like, ‘yeah,’ I need to come because we have a run, but we’ll go. So we did almost eight miles that day, ’cause we ran by ourselves, and then we ran with the group. So that’s another way I train too, I try to- if somebody asks, ‘do you want to do extra miles or something?,’ then I’ll do the extra miles with them.

HC: Got it.

DB: So yeah, for the most part, my 10 miles Sundays, it’s a lot of times by myself though.

HC: Okay, okay. If you have any that you can think of, what advice would you give to a runner just starting out?

DB: Do not worry about your pace. Do not worry about your distance. Don’t follow nobody, just do what you can do. If you can only take 10 steps, take 10 steps. (Child talking in the background at 16:07).That’s it.

HC: I love it. And then the last one that I have is, just overall, how has running impacted your life?

DB: It definitely changed my health, and being healthier. Just made me meet new people, build friendships with others, come out my comfort zone, because I’m a very shy individual, but just being a part of a group, and just meeting people. I just love when I’m running and I see other runners and we instantly got this thing that we just wave at each other, and I love it. So it’s just coming out of my comfort zone and interacting with others more, and just having fun.

HC: Well, I love that. Thank you so much for your time, that’s all I have question wise. But again, thank you so much for…

DB: You’re so welcome!

HC: …taking the time to help me out with this project.