"I had to run..."

"I had to run. Running was my saving grace, a not-so-ordinary talent I possessed. There was a freedom in movement against the wind that could not be put into words. This was my sacred ritual and rite of passage." 

The above quotation is from the powerful story called The Olympian: An American Triumph  by Craig T. Williams. It's about John Taylor Baxter, Jr., the first African-American Olympic Gold Medalist. I've chosen the above quote as the opening lines of the first post of this blog to mark the first steps of my journey of inspiring minorities, and specifically, African-Americans to lace up their walking shoes and invite the sport of running to be a part of their daily lives. 

In 1865 slavery was officially abolished and freedom officially established throughout the United States of America with the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, which states:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

In the post civil war era John Baxter Taylor, Jr. was the first African-American to use running as a tool to build on the freedom that many Americans fought so hard to establish during the American Civil War (1861-1865). His life is a great example of how the tool of running transitioned from being used to create freedom when it wasn't available to all Americans (i.e. the Underground Railroad) to being used to build upon it once it became available to all Americans.

The simple act of putting one foot in front of the other has been so influential to the positive transformation of my own character that I feel compelled to share it with others. Through my exploration of the history of African-Americans and other minorities in the sport of distance running in America I hope to reveal a greater understanding and appreciation for the positive impact it can have on a person's quality of life. Through my exploration I hope to discover and share stories like John Taylor's that'll inspire others to find within themselves the desire to set themselves free from the limitations of the broader experience of human existence and fight to run towards living a life worth remembering.