"But I am not a runner..."

When someone learns to swim, they don't usually jump into the deep end and figure things out for themselves.  In order to swim, a person has to learn the proper technique and start slowly.   A person has to learn to move efficiently through the water, rather than fighting against it.  The same principles apply to running as well.

Most new runners start out running as fast as they can until their lungs burn and muscles ache.  I used to think that was running.  The problem with that approach is most people don't stick with running long enough to become good at it.  Like with most things in life, you never really learn to enjoy an activity until you have attained a certain level of mastery.

In order to  enjoy running,  a 'new' runner needs to start with the proper training.    As a rule of thumb, a new runner should be able to recite "The Pledge of Allegiance" while they are running.   Many times that means they have to slow down, even walk if necessary.  That's alright!  All runners start out that way.   Run your own race and don't compare yourself to others.   There is no speed that you have to run at in order to be a runner.  With consistent practice, your lungs and body will began to adapt and soon you will become naturally become faster while maintaining that same comfortable pace.   In most marathon training programs, runners spend 80% of training miles at a comfortable pace.  If you run all your miles 'hard,' until you are huffing and puffing, you will get injured more easily.  Getting hurt is not the point of running.  I think that is why people usually say running is bad for their knees.  It certainly is bad for your knees if you are running too fast and using the wrong form.

All new runners are welcome to join the Skid Row Running Club.  We want to make sure that runners get off on the right foot and learn to enjoy running they way we do.  We will teach you all the necessary steps so you don't just jump into the "deep end."

Run by yourself and you may run fast, but run with others and you will go far

A lot of runners prefer to pound it out by themselves.  There is something meditative and relaxing in our hyper connected society where it's just you and the ground.

While running is an individual endeavor, I often think that it is best done in the context of a community.  There are certainly no shortages of running clubs here in Los Angeles, in fact it's easy to find one.  I encourage all runners to run with a group once in a while.  When you run and  engage in conversation, time seems to fly  and the activity itself becomes effortless.  Running with other runners pushes you to become a better runner and often times a better person.

Los Angeles County has a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.  We have the largest homeless population in California.  California has the highest percentage of homeless people in the United States.

While we are not the government, can't build housing and don't have the resources to help everyone experiencing homelessness, there is something all runners can do:  come down to Skid Row once in a while and run with us.

The idea of running in Skid Row, probably the poorest concentration of homeless individuals in California probably sounds appalling, but in the context of a running community it makes all the difference.

Our club shatters stereotypes and perceptions about homelessness.  In the Skid Row Running Club, you learn that everyone has a story.  Many in recovery, have gone thru trauma and circumstances you could never imagine and you realize that sometimes it's just sheer luck that you didn't have those tragedies visit you.  However, running teaches us to just keep moving forward one step at a time.  Show everyday and make something happen, even when you don't want to.

The Skid Row Running Club fosters consistency and persistence.  When you show up to run weekday mornings on Skid Row, you are showing that community that you care and you are making a difference in the lives of others and yourself.   Plato once said that you can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a lifetime of conversation. 

Stamping out hunger

In the United States, millions of people are without adequate food on a daily basis.

The Skid Row Running Club, thru the efforts of Rafael, has been participating in Stamp out Hunger, a nationwide effort to bring food to the needy.

Every year, usually in May, you may receive a brown grocery bag, asking for donations of canned or unperishable food.  Your local letter carrier then brings those donated food items to your central post office, where they are unloaded, separated into crates and delivered to large locations.  

The efforts don't stop there!  After thousand of tons of food are collected, there is still the process of sorting the items and distributing them in an organized fashion.  

So the next time you get one of those brown bags from your letter carrier, make sure to fill it up with food items and you too can help end nationwide hunger!

If you are interested in joining us we will meet this Saturday on June 9, 2018 at the Midnight Mission at 7:30am.

The old guard of SRRC

The first international marathon of the Skid Row Running Club was the Accra Marathon in Ghana.  Only five runners went on that inaugural trip.  Those runners were Ben Shirley, David Ashkew, Ryan Navales, Billy Karz and Judge Craig Mitchell.

That journey is documented in the award winning documentary, Skid Row Marathon.

Since then the club was gone on to bring 26 members to run the Rome Marathon in 2015, 25 runners to run the Da Nang Marathon in Vietnam  in 2016 and most recently 46 runners to run the Jerusalem Marathon in 2018.

In this reunion of sorts, you have from left to right, Craig Mitchell, Ben Shirley, Billy Karz.  All are still very active in the running club.  The club has grown in size significantly over the years, therefore it's unusual to capture a shot of the "OGs" running down the stretch together on Crocker Street.

What if everyone ran?

In Celebration of National Running Day on June 6, 2018, click here to see a study done 4 years ago on the benefits of running.   Not just for you, but the world.

Among the findings:

• $130 billion in health care savings
• $47 billion added to the national GDP
• Nearly 2 billion pounds of total weight loss
• 10 percent increase in household earning potential
• 5 million fewer hospital visits
• Up to 46 percent fewer homeless
• 20 million more great grandmothers
• 7 billion more hours spent outside
• 63 million happier dogs

The best part of running is that it doesn't require special equipment and can be done anywhere, with anyone.  Plus it results in 46% fewer homeless.  The Skid Row Running Club is proof that the power of running can have on getting the homeless back on their feet.