Road To Wellness 5k- 11th Year

ERA of..WTF…resistance and joy

This race is the family reunion of our running community. For 11 years, Road to Wellness (RTW) has been a community event, a community health event. To get our black and brown folks in Roxbury to move for their health. They can run, walk, dance. The goal is to make exercise fun and reduce any barriers that might get in the way. This race is free. All people have to do is register. No registration fee. They get a shirt, course support, a medal, cheer squads to show that running, walking is fun and a community thing.

I love most of all is that this is in Roxbury. The historic heart of the black community in Boston.

Since my Co-ambassador was flying from Sydney. I had to help set up the tent for the community pavilion. Karin, Francesca, and Sai came early to help set up. As we are setting up at the Dimock Center, I see Black Men Run, Trailblazhers, Pioneers, Live Fit Amy, Deltas- from our Divine 9, Ellie Cancer Foundation, BAA- which means Suzanne- we love her. So many other folks.

It is literally a family reunion. There were people I haven’t seen all year but I saw them today.

Many of our BGR ladies that I haven’t seen showed up. This is our premiere event. If I don’t see any BGR ladies all year, 9 times out of 10, I’ll see them at RTW.

The day started off iffy because it looked like it was going to rain( which came much later, 5pm). Then the sun came out and it was hot, hot and humid. For the first time in 11 years, we saw the EMT show up to take people away . And I saw one come on the course because someone had an injury. Later I learned people had tipped, fell, all kinds of bodily things happened and this was a 5k.

Lord have mercy. One of our BMR brothers had to get medical assistance.

For me, I had to deal with this damn wobbly ass right knee. Pain in my ass. I told all the pills and even wore a compression sleeve while running. I walked, hobbled, was hot. I just said F - it. I’m going to get this done and take pictures and enjoy the course.

And that is what I did. Normally I would not have done that. I took a picture at the mile markers, talked to folks, and just kept going.

My garmin told me I finished in 33 minutes. I might have started it late. The email from RTW about my finish time had 38 minutes. Clearly that was a big difference.

I crossed the finish line and we had all the shenanigans of joy, love, and laughter. Plus, our we were able to hung and celebrate our folks that got back from the Sydney Marathon.