“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.” – Dionne Bryant
“I would say that the running group is probably kind of the first social group I really felt connected to… And so I kind of got to build up and everyone was just so friendly and supportive and so it’s been very fun just getting to know everyone through running.” – Michelle Daniels
“I’ve made probably most of my friends and close friends through or adjacent- things adjacent to running. So it’s really sort of affected who I hang out with, and I guess how I developed socially, just from being a middle school quiet kid to, I’m still quiet, I guess, but being able to talk to people to some degree…”. – Jack Wegmet
“And I will say too, if you pass someone or you’re passed by someone, it’s always nice to hear that, you know, ‘looking good’ or ‘doing great,’ ‘keep it up,’ ‘need anything,’ that kind of sense of camaraderie. But, really for me, the reason I enjoy it, is the before-camaraderie, and after-the-run-camaraderie of just being around, like-minded [people] in the sense that you all enjoy running, but meeting new people, and coming together, because again, at 51, I’m one of the older ones in this group, everyone’s got a different background, so it’s just been a great way to meet some new people and obviously there’s a common interest there, so there’s always something to talk about.” – Kevin Krisle
“Again, my social circles expanded outside of the people that I work with, so the people that I run with now. I feel healthier, and I feel better after a run, essentially.” – Yezan Salam
“So I would imagine if I had to move somewhere, which I probably will, I think the running community would be my quickest way to find friends.” – Katy Hall
“… one big problem about running sometimes is that it could get a little boring, a little lonely, if you’re running every time alone, and so having a community there just helps you to cope better, to keep going and to stay consistent with your runs.” – Javier Rodriguez
“Our goal is 10,000 pairs, which is the number of pediatric cancer diagnoses in this country, that we’re actively working every single day to join as many teams in the fight as possible. Again, using that metaphor of outrunning, and the metaphor of ‘sport to heal,’ and the metaphor of faster every day, building community through that, but we actually live the literal interpretation of it. Our running makes us stronger organizationally, because we’re able to take that and say to them, ‘no, no, no, we actually log these miles’ and when we log them, we log them with you on our hearts and in our heads, for sure.” – Andy Shepperd
“It’s just so hard to get your long runs in, with school, and life, and everything. But having a group of girls with ROTC, and then the trail running club, to support me and motivate me to get those long runs in, it really helps a lot. And then, I don’t know. For me, the easy runs are not hard to get in, just ’cause I like- a 30 minute run is not hard for me to just go out there and do, like I can always find time for that. So, it’s really the long runs, but like I said, having that group to support and get out there and do the long runs helps a lot.” – Caroline Yell
“So anyone that moves to Memphis gains a quick 20 pounds, and I’m like, something has to change here. And you’re starting to reach that age where you actually care about some of that stuff, so I’m like, ‘I have to do something,’ and I was old enough where team sports were out of the question, so [I did] a little bit of running. And then fortunately I was very involved with St. Jude, the charity, the hospital, and they do a number of fundraisers and a number of running events that support them. So I started to sign up for a couple of those events that were supporting St. Jude, which was special to me. So kind of personal health, and then finding some bit of meaning to attach to some of it, is sort of what I guess led to my interest in running and then finding ways to stay involved.” – Kevin Krisle
“I feel like I’m doing something good with the energy that I have been given, and I am very aware of the fact that running itself is a blessing. So it feels really fulfilling to get to use that and to get to be good at it.” – Katy Hall
“So, I started to lose weight essentially, so when the numbers started dropping I was like, ‘oh, this is super impressive,’ and I had this weird podcast that the U.K. has, a ‘Couch to 5K’ podcast, the corniest music in the world, and they’re just walking you through this 5K program and that’s how I started essentially…”. – Yezan Salam
“Running has also been a really big thing for me- just, well, honestly, one of the reasons I got back into running was I had a blood test, and then they said I had high cholesterol at the age of only like 19, 20, which is pretty surprising to me, but that was kind of like the kick I needed to get me out there and start running again to regain some of that fitness.” – Javier Rodriguez
“…I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a runner, and it’s also like, people know me for running, which is kind of good and bad, but it’s been part of my life for so long.” – Caroline Yell
“So then, yeah, I chose my college because of running, and now it’s like, it’s such a big part of my life, and I guess [my] personality, is sort of like, ‘yeah, I run’…”. – George Luke
“Being attached to running as a lifestyle is definitely part of my personality, it’s something I’m proud of, it’s something I like to tell people, like, ‘yes, I’m a runner.’ And people are generally impressed by running, which feels good, but ultimately you kind of remind ’em, like anyone, for the most part, can be a runner.” – Katy Hall
“But yeah, I’m going to continue running. It’s not something I see myself stopping. It’s something that- it’s a conversation starter, so that’s always nice to have, especially when you’re interviewing for a job, for residency or whatever, which I’m going to be doing soon.” – Yezan Salam
“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.” – Dionne Bryant
“It’s kind of the time of the day that you can, you know, just be with your own thoughts, and own enjoyment, and away from- if you can just leave behind whatever stresses or anything else you might have in your life when you go out for the run and just kind of take that time for yourself, whether it be meditative, relaxed, or just get into your own thoughts and keep ’em positive, that’s traditionally what I do. And whether it be daydreaming out there, or thinking of a fun thing that [you] might have coming up, or just gaining a sense of clarity on issues you may have in your life, is usually what I’m thinking about out there.” – Kevin Krisle
“And I appreciate that myself sometimes where, say there’s something I need to get off my mind, I’ll just say, ‘hey, I’ll just go for a run.’ And that’s usually a good way to just either A, think about stuff logically or B, just forget about stuff and enjoy the moment temporarily.” – George Luke
“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.” – Dionne Bryant
“But then once I started going to therapy, and then realizing how valuable mental health is, I became very thankful that I had running as an outlet for that. And then even in the time since then, I’ve just continued to recognize how it’s generally a really positive [thing]. In itself, running is a very mentally strengthening form of exercise. I think you can easily get too caught up in it, and you know, everything’s okay in moderation, and outside of that it can get a little too much. So if you’re constantly down on yourself about your performance, then obviously it’s going to kind of impact you negatively, but the act of running itself is generally a very positive mental form of recreation.” – Katy Hall
“But it’s like, you know, just put your foot to the ground and just pound that stress out, I guess.” – Yezan Salam
“So it’s- it’s sort of I think healthy to me in that it helps me keep- in some ways, it helps me recover as an introvert I think when I need to, and sort of go through my thoughts, but then it also I think keeps me, kind of accountable or good about actually talking to people at the same time if I’m running with people.” – Jack Wegmet
“I don’t know, it is always nice to just be able to go out there and either think things over or just sort of rationalize stuff with yourself, or even just forget about it for 45 minutes, an hour. But then also, what was it, last November, November 2022, I was injured for a month and a half, and that absolutely killed me that I couldn’t be out there running. There was some other stuff into it, but yeah, it was actually kind of interesting how much it actually did affect things I noticed.” – George Luke
“…so I think that running really is a miracle drug for way more things than just cardiovascular health, including mental health.” – Javier Rodriguez
“But the thing that I told him was that ‘you need to know how to silence that head voice and listen to your heart.’ You need to overcome that. You need to understand what’s possible, and I always say that running is a key to that and a gateway to that.” – Andy Shepperd
“I think for me, one of the things I like the most about running is getting out into the fresh air, and so you’re almost guaranteed that for 30 minutes, an hour every day. So I would say it gives you a little bit of a runner’s high.” – Javier Rodriguez
“I guess I feel more grounded, because I’m like- I can feel my feet hitting the pavement or whatever surface I’m on. I can feel the air moving my hair, I can smell the fresh air, so I feel more grounded, I guess, if that makes sense.” – Caroline Yell
“It turns out I’m not actually a local, I only visit here sometimes for dinners. So it was a really good way to get to know my way around, get familiar with my surroundings and start to feel really comfortable, feel like I knew I could navigate where I was if I was walking by myself or driving by myself. So I felt very- a lot more connected. And so even now if I’m driving somewhere with my family, I’ll be like, ‘that’s where we run,’ and it is kind of something I get to be proud of, like this is something that I’m connected to because I run there.” – Katy Hall
“If I’m running on a trail or like in Harbison [state forest in Columbia, South Carolina], for instance, or just here in my hometown where I know the streets, I feel sort of more in tune with what’s going on around me. Whereas if I’m in like an urban or a more densely populated area, there’s almost so much going on that I’m just sort of a small piece of it and I try to pay attention to what I can, but I know that I’m not really getting the big picture, if that makes sense.” – Jack Wegmet
“It helps me, just to see the scenery more, look at the scenery, see how beautiful things are.” – Dionne Bryant
“I was like, one example, we were in Lichtenstein of all countries and I went on this just casual six mile run, ended up being three miles up a mountain, but you get up top and there’s this little village up there with a nice brewery and all these- and just this great view of the Swiss Alps and everything. It was beautiful and it’s like one of those things you’d never see if you were just experiencing the place as a tourist. So yeah, I’d say when traveling it’s more of a, either, if I’m going back home, sense of nostalgia, but if I’m going somewhere new, excitement, I guess to just explore. Because I think that’s one of my favorite things about running is exploring new- being able to explore new areas.” – George Luke
“But here in Cleveland, we have all four seasons, and they’re running throughout all four seasons, which is super impressive, and it’s change of scenery, et cetera, and it’s nice to get to know the city that way. I don’t have a car, so everywhere I go is walking, biking, running occasionally at times. So it’s nice to be able to find places in the city through- with the run group.” – Yezan Salam
“…it almost feels a little surreal, just experiencing everything in that first-person view, running along, there’s cars driving by you, you see the people, you run past the park, you see the kids playing or the, I don’t know, the disc golf course. I think sometimes, especially you find a new site and you can’t help yourself, you have to go back there every time, and you could just kind of look out and you’re like, ‘damn…'”. – Javier Rodriguez
“I feel like it’s a really good way to get to know your area, and feel more connected to the area generally, because yeah, you have to know, ‘oh, in half a mile up here, there’s going to be a weird hole in the ground that I have to pay attention to or else I’ll fall,’ stuff like that. That’s silly, but it does make you pay, I think, more attention. Plus you’re just passing by at a slower rate than you normally do if you’re driving, I feel like you miss so much.” – Michelle Daniels
“We also- and again, I’ve recently moved, but for the previous five years, I did live in just a beautiful part of town, where it was just- the scenery was fantastic and you could just get lost in your own sights and sounds, and I’m adapting to the new place. It’s a little more urban, maybe not quite as scenic, but still plenty of trails, plenty of parks to run in, so I’ve always felt connected to where I am.” – Kevin Krisle
“Run Wild, the run that they do has a loop where two halves are doing opposite sides, so we’re always high fiving each other on the way, and it’s a blast. It’s the best thing that I’ve done in Cleveland, including my job, since I moved to Cleveland.” – Yezan Salam
“I guess being able to step up as an officer and then do my best to have that be an option for other people to give back, and I guess, like, return that and grow the club as best I can so that if people need that outlet, it can be an outlet for them, really matters to me, or it did matter to me. So I’m very- I think that club meant a lot for me ’cause I grew and made friends a lot through it personally, and it was really important to me to, I guess, be able to turn around and give that back to people who were younger than me.” – Jack Wegmet
“So oh, when I started, like six people would come regularly, and now it’s like 30, so it’s gotten way bigger over the course of the time that I’ve been in the group, and it’s just really nice to watch everyone be really welcoming.” – Michelle Daniels
“So I’ve run a few races and supported and raised money for St. Jude, and that always makes me feel good, not just about myself, but about the charity and about St. Jude, and then also about my friends and family and those that are willing to support and send money to donate on that behalf. So, I think if anything, that’s the pride I’ve taken. And then the other thing I would say to that is the enjoyment I get from others that I’m running with, especially maybe if I’ve helped encourage them to come.” – Kevin Krisle
“I guess right now with this Bataan race, the marathon that I’m doing on Saturday, the group of girls I’m doing it with, we’re all in Army ROTC here at Clemson. And Clemson always sends a group of guys to do it, but this is the first time that we’re sending an all-female team out to New Mexico to do it, so I guess this is a time that I’m proud to be a runner.” – Caroline Yell
“It’s so powerful, because you have an athlete that is going above and beyond on that running journey, and then waiting for them on the other side is another athlete that has overcome such an incredible journey. It’s like the merger of those worlds and the connectivity, like Courtney wears her shoes, so she’s wearing Paisley’s shoes as she crosses the [finish line] and gifts Paisley those. It’s the best, the absolute best.” – Andy Shepperd
“So we call it our ‘fast family,’ and I think that that’s emblematic of what running community is. It’s- if you run a mile with someone, if you take that first [step], instantaneously, you kind of become fast family. It’s like you exponentially increase the ability to connect. And I really do believe it’s because those endorphins, whatever that is, whatever drops that wall and allows you to be vulnerable, and I think a lot of it does have to do with that you’re not eye to eye, but you’re stride for stride, there’s something about that. The cadence, the miles, the hard work, the camaraderie, it drops the wall and enables you to connect, and that connection doesn’t stop when you stop running, right.” – Andy Shepperd
“…but it’s like you’re doing this difficult thing together, so you really feel connected through that bond of, not suffering, but just of effort really. That’s definitely a big thing just by running, you could be running in silence, and you still kind of feel that connection, because running next to other people who are in a similar place to you, that they both want to do this and they are doing it, despite how it could be a little bit difficult.” – Javier Rodriguez
“But the community there, yeah, it’s great. And you’ll always see people when you’re running, which also kind of is nice, because it’s like you might not be running with them, but someone else that’s out there doing the same stuff as you.” – George Luke
“It’s like a mindset. It’s like, but then once you get past a place, it becomes so therapeutic and there’s a peace, and a calm, and a beauty to it, and a community to it. I look at my running friends, some of my best friends are the people that I never look in the eye. I just look at- we’re side to side.” – Andy Shepperd
“So, I will say that running drastically changed my life, and brought me the most abundance, and looking at our guest list on our wedding, the running- because I segmented it, the running part of our guest list is the longest part of our guest list. We have over 50 people that we’ve run with, we’ve shared miles with, we’ve shared blood, sweat, tears, and magical moments and meaningful miles. That’s the biggest part of our guest list. So it just, yeah, it brought abundance into my life for sure.” – Courtney Ruggaber
“I want to say something, like, really cheesy, that it’s a way of life, which I would say that’s pretty accurate. But yeah, I try to do this all the time, I’m always trying to proselytize and convert people to the ways of running, but it can be a little bit difficult. But I would say it’s almost like, it’s very often, I would say a ‘healthy introspection’ type of activity. It’s good to get away, kind of- if you’re going alone, be alone with your own thoughts, just experience the outdoor world, without all this- although I was talking about sensory overload from new environments, it’s a lot healthier to have that than to have the sensory overload coming in from Instagram, TikTok, all the different apps on your phone.” – Javier Rodriguez
“It’s good for you, and it is one of those sports that you kind [of] have the rest of your life if you want to. You don’t meet a lot of 60-year-old soccer players. I mean a lot of people- all runners are really all ages, all shapes, all sizes. The distance gets longer, you don’t meet a lot of really of, 5K runners who are older, they tend to start to shift towards half and full marathons, but the act of running itself is something that really sticks with you, and I like that I have that already.” – Katy Hall
“The gift that running has given me, and the ability to join a community, and to build a network, and to utilize- what we do literally, but what metaphorically we provide for our families, has been so life changing. And the idea that taking that one step out of my door, led me to this journey, I would’ve never known what running could do, what the metaphor of running could do, or any of these things. I would’ve never participated in the race that spawned this event had I not started that- taking that first step. So running has given me almost everything, which is crazy. It’s crazy.” – Andy Shepperd
“So, at the end of the year, I took a three week break just for my brain, which I’d never done before, any breaks I’d taken were injury related. So I took a three week break for just my mental perception of running and came back, and wrote my own mileage plan, which I didn’t even expect to stick with, but I was like, ‘I’ll write my own mileage plan to try to get 300 miles over the summer and if I don’t hit it, that’s okay.’ Which was completely different than I’d done before. And I did stick with it, and I really enjoyed hitting the mileage that I’d set for myself, so I felt a lot more successful.” – Katy Hall
“I think once I graduated high school, I started to focus a lot more on, you know, the reason I do it being for fun or to enjoy it.” – Jack Wegmet
“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.” – Dionne Bryant
“Well, although I do talk about this culture of suffering, it’s not as bad as I’m making it sound. It’s almost like- how to describe it? It’s almost like type two fun, I would argue where maybe in the moment you’re having a tough time, but you look back on it and you think about how fun it is, or it’s just a shared bond, really, just like army training or something. It’s very tough, but then at the same time it’s like, ‘wow, I really got very close with friends.’ But when it started to become more of my own volition, I think that’s when it definitely changed, and that would have to be, I think, 2021, starting running again, just kind of shifted more from something that I’m required to do, to something that I wanted to do just for myself.” – Javier Rodriguez
“…during that time I wasn’t running as much, I was kind of just, not running, but I missed it. When I came back, I realized how much I missed it. And also, I’ve been injured a couple times and whenever you’re injured you realize how much you miss it. But takeaways, besides realizing how impactful running is to your life, I feel like there’s no other big takeaways.” – Caroline Yell
“It’s made me healthier. It’s probably given me a sense of confidence, a little bit more, and then it’s just added to my social life as well. So I’d say those three things maybe in that order are probably what running has done most for me, and kept me sane during Covid.” – Kevin Krisle
“I think that’s difficult to deal with, it’s just when you are training for a specific goal that’s kind of as demanding as a marathon, especially like a fast time in the marathon, it takes a lot of sort of mental motivation to do that, and sort of a way to push yourself is thinking of, like this is what I’m aiming for.” – Jack Wegmet
“But I like- my favorite part about running is the training aspect. I don’t really like the running aspect, but I like having something to train for, and so I guess it gives me a constant goal to always be reaching at, and that’s what I like.” – George Luke
“So I think for me, especially doing that race the first time, it just gave me the confidence that if I could keep up with this training plan, it’s going to help me accomplish that goal come race day. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened, and it gave me great confidence moving forward. And from there just kind of took it and then maybe challenged myself a little more with the goals, ‘okay now that you know you can do that, let’s see if you can do it in this amount of time’ and kind of set your goals that way, but always kind of following those training programs. And then, as you kind of run enough, you just kind of realize what works for you, and what motivates you to do it, so that’s really what- I mean, the training programs helped me immensely, really just build confidence, especially as someone who’d never done it before.” – Kevin Krisle
“How far I’ll go, I’m not really sure. I mean, I guess my ultimate goal, I want to be able to try to break four [minutes in the mile] someday. I think that’d be pretty cool. Will I get there? I don’t know. We’ll see. But I definitely want to try to keep training pretty, at a pretty competitive level, at least these next couple years out of college.” – George Luke
“But I could definitely see it- and I definitely want to continue using running as a healthy coping mechanism to increase my cardiovascular fitness, improve my times, especially. I mean, I’d love to one day Boston [Marathon] qualify, but I think I have a pretty long time before that. But yeah, I just want to keep practicing, keep improving my time, and I know that at a certain point, you can’t really improve your times, which is kind of a sad thing, but I’m hoping I have a few more years before that, and I want to continue that all throughout, to stay [healthy].” – Javier Rodriguez
“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.” – Dionne Bryant
“But, my main thing was just trying to accomplish maybe a certain mileage each week. Slowly try to up that long run every week, and just kind of estimate what I needed and what I didn’t need. So I would take those hard days and then easy days, which I think is what most marathon plans do, but for me, following such a rigid plan was pretty much- well, I mean, I didn’t really try, but it felt too restrictive for me. I might consider doing it for the next race I have, which is a half marathon in May, but we’ll see.” – Javier Rodriguez
“Then after that, I remember texting my coach, telling him, ‘It’s weird, I feel like I don’t have a purpose right now.’ I didn’t know where I was going to be going with running. I didn’t have a goal. So at first it was just weird trying to find a reason to keep going.” – George Luke
“So I feel like [during] the pandemic, it became a lot more important as just something for my mental health, to get out of the house and actually be outside.” – Michelle Daniels
“That’s where I started! … 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.” – Dionne Bryant
“It helped a lot because I am not a treadmill runner, and not a fitness-center-indoor-person runner. I’m an outdoor runner, and during the pandemic, that seemed to be one of the things you could actually do. And so for an hour a day, I was able to get outside and live normally, and not be cooped up and get your exercise, and see things, and you pass other people and see folks.” – Kevin Krisle
“So with Covid coming, I remember my first idea of being almost kind of happy, a little relieved, ’cause I always did prefer cross country to spring track, so I guess I was a little bit relieved there too. But when the pandemic first hit, I would say I was still running occasionally, maybe once a week. I would say after a month or two though, I probably, probably stopped running completely, which I guess is kind of the opposite of what you might want to hear about running (laughs).” – Javier Rodriguez
“But honestly, I think I was so distracted by so much, like I was graduating, I had prom, I had to think about college and moving out, so I wasn’t really thinking about running a whole lot at that point.” – Katy Hall