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When Ashlee Green was at a running race and she\u2019d see another Black woman on the course, the two would often exchange a knowing look: <\/span>I see you<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That mutual feeling of familiarity, understanding, and camaraderie\u2014that feeling of being <\/span>seen<\/span><\/i>\u2014was a feeling she hoped to \u201cbottle\u201d when she and Jasmine Nesi began creating a space for Black women distance runners like themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Presented in partnership with Under Armour as part of the Limitless series<\/i><\/p>\n Nesi and Green, who met at the District Running Collective, a running club in Washington, D.C., recruited a powerhouse team of other Black women from the club to bring that seed of an idea to life. That team included Stephani Franklin, who, like Green, worked in the creative industry and could help with graphics and a visual presence. Na\u2019Tasha Jones was a writer and editor who could oversee content strategy. Natalie Robinson was a digital media specialist who would bring social media expertise. Dominique Burton was a researcher who brought the perspective of an accomplished multisport athlete to optimize members\u2019 experiences. And Nesi, who worked at a PR agency, brought communications prowess.<\/span><\/p>\n The six women met for an all-day summit at Jones\u2019s house to hammer out the vision. \u201cWe knew so many Black women running half-marathons, ultras, full marathons, and they were crushing it, but we\u2019d turn to mainstream publications and we never saw people like us featured in those stories or on the covers,\u201d says Jones. The women decided to create an outlet for the representation they felt was missing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In April 2018, they launched RUNGRL, a digital media and events platform for Black women distance runners. Today, RUNGRL consists of a vibrant website full of running advice, stories, and downloadables; real-life events like a \u201cMiles and Mimosas\u201d morning-run series; and an Instagram community of over 10,000 followers. The name originated from a sentiment that began as something of a joke between Green and a friend from District Running Collective: <\/span>You better run, girl.<\/span><\/i> There\u2019s a spirit of encouragement, inspiration, and empowerment in the quip, she says, \u201cbut it\u2019s also delivered in a way that is unique and familiar to the Black community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In its first campaign, RUNGRL led with hair care for Black runners. A history of discrimination in workplaces and schools\u2014both codified and subtle\u2014against natural hairstyles like afros, braids, and locs has meant that Black women feel significantly more anxiety about their hair than their non-Black counterparts. A study by the <\/span>Perception Institute<\/span> found that one in three Black women avoid exercise out of concerns about getting their hair sweaty or wet, compared to one in ten white women. \u201cA lot of people who haven\u2019t experienced it may not understand the nuance,\u201d says Jones. It\u2019s not about vanity: \u201cYou take a deeper look at it and you understand that we\u2019re judged by how we look at work, differently.\u201d Encouraging Black women to run despite these concerns, then, means providing education and practical advice. To that end, RUNGRL has published articles like \u201cThe Importance of Scalp Care for Sweaty Naturals\u201d and \u201cThe Best Natural Hair Tips for Sweaty Workouts,\u201d and encouraged followers to post photos of their natural hair while running on the hashtag #MyRunningHair. Some of these hair articles continue to be among RUNGRL\u2019s most popular content.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides covering issues that are specific to Black women, RUNGRL also explores popular running topics through a Black lens. For example, \u201cAll women runners think about running and safety,\u201d says Jones. But when you\u2019re a Black woman, she says, there\u2019s another dimension to it\u2014the reality of racial profiling and violence. \u201cWe had a whole conversation sparked around Ahmaud Arbery specifically. The conversation becomes a little different.\u201d Finally, RUNGRL simply aims to show Black women runners who look like them. \u201cIf you look at certain magazines and all you see is skinny white men in split shorts, you might think, I can\u2019t be a runner,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n The group\u2019s latest campaign, called the Legacy of Movement, reflects a new, more holistic direction for RUNGRL. \u201cRunning is the vehicle, but ultimately we\u2019re pushing for wellness in the community at large,\u201d Jones explains. Because women play such a powerful role in establishing healthy habits for families, the campaign celebrates the Black woman runner\u2019s role as the \u201clegacy bearer\u201d of her family\u2019s wellness. Due to systemic problems like income disparities, discrimination, and a scarcity of safe places to work out, it may well be that some of RUNGRL\u2019s readers may be the first generation in their families to bear that legacy. Or they may come from families with long legacies of serious fitness: one of the campaign videos features the mother of cofounder Natalie Robinson, Gail Robinson, reading a letter to her daughter about their family\u2019s history of prioritizing sports and exercise, starting from Gail\u2019s father\u2019s aspirations to play baseball in the Negro National League. The campaign celebrates the entire breadth of these experiences among Black families. \u201cWe have begun to really beautifully tell this story about how wellness is a part of generational wealth,\u201d says Green. Breaking down barriers to running for Black women, she says, can be one way to help Black families turn wellness into \u201ca wealth-building tool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The six cofounders have full-time jobs, and operating RUNGRL is essentially like having a second one, Jones admits. But seeing the impact of the work makes it worthwhile. Early in the pandemic, for example, RUNGRL created a daily training calendar to help community members work out at home. Seeing that people still wanted to connect, even though they couldn\u2019t run together in real life, was \u201creally beautiful,\u201d she recalls. And it\u2019s rewarding to hear women tell her they ran for the first time, or went from running 5Ks to longer distances, because of the group.<\/span><\/p>\n For Green, the work feels most meaningful during moments with members of her community who aren\u2019t runners\u2014yet. Once, when she and cofounder Stephani Franklin were about 13 miles into a long training run for the New York Marathon, they passed a little Black girl and her mother. \u201cShe just stopped and looked at us, and was like, \u2018Mommy, look at what they\u2019re doing,\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt just felt like we were an inspiration to her. You could see the spark in her eyes.\u201d She feels a similar dynamic when she\u2019s running through historically Black neighborhoods in D.C. and older women cheer her on. There\u2019s a sense of pride and collective triumph, \u201cbecause I\u2019m doing this thing that they either never knew they could do or never had the opportunity to.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Both Green and Jones emphasized that Black women are not just participating in running culture; they\u2019re shaping it. Green shows a photo of cofounder Dominique Burton stretching in her running shoes, wearing a silver bracelet and long, sculpted nails with pastel-toned nail art. \u201cIt\u2019s this sort of authentic Black-woman-ness that we bring to the sport and we want to see more of,\u201d she said. RUNGRL wants to highlight that this, too, is running culture. And they want other outlets to do it also.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBlack women deserve to be well,\u201d Jones said. They deserve to know they can do anything they want, she continued, including running long distances\u2014and not only that, but she wants Black women to know that \u201cyou should be celebrated when you do. People should be excited to have you there, running with them and sharing your story. You elevate that experience just by showing up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Under Armour, Inc., headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a leading inventor, marketer and distributor of branded athletic performance apparel, footwear and accessories. Designed to empower human performance, Under Armour\u2019s innovative products and experiences are engineered to make athletes better. For further information, please visit the\u00a0Under Armour website<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"rungrl](\"https:\/\/www.oxygenmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/RunGirl_07-scaled.jpg?width=730\")