Along South Ashland Avenue, Marketa Whitaker slowly jogged past the White Castle restaurant and the crowds outside the currency exchange and stamped her feet on the oil-soaked concrete sidewalk in front of the Englewood transmission shop.
In her bright pink shirt, she hustled past a fried chicken restaurant and a thrift store that had stacked used mattresses, stoves and couches along the sidewalk.
Breathing hard and clapping her hands together for motivation, Whitaker pushed by the man being questioned by Chicago police and past the broken windows, boarded-up buildings and taco stands.
As she moved, strangers turned their heads, children glanced and drivers paused to look.
“Power walk! Power walk! Do it! Do it!” one woman chanted.
“Work it out! Work it out,” a man, smoking a cigarette on the corner yelled to her.
At the end of March, Whitaker had gone running for the first time. She was surrounded by other African-American women as they huffed their way for three miles down a South Side lakefront path on a cool spring afternoon.
The next day, Whitaker was inspired to take her workout back to her own gritty, urban South Side neighborhood of Englewood.
“I asked my girlfriends to come (run) but they wouldn’t,” Whitaker, 36, said. “It’s not scenic, but as long as my goals get met, and I slim down and get healthier, I don’t care.”
Whitaker is one of nearly 1,000 African-American women in the Chicago region who joined Black Girls RUN!, a growing grass-roots movement to inspire women of color to take up distance running.
The concept started as a blog. Last year, the mission was extended to running groups around the country in an attempt to tackle obesity, particularly among African-American women. The group is informal, and joining requires no fees, registration or paperwork. The women simply sign up to be alerted electronically about runs in their neighborhoods and show up to exercise together.
While the main objective is physical fitness, the movement also pushes black women to reclaim their communities by inaugurating a healthy activity that is not normally seen in some neighborhoods.
Black Girls RUN! comes at a time when an alarmingly growing number of African-American women are suffering from obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and other conditions. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, obesity rates for African-American women rose to an estimated 45.6 percent in 2011. Overall, statistics show that more than 28 percent of U.S. adults are obese, or have a body mass index of 30 or greater.
In African-American communities, there just aren’t enough examples of runners, said Ashley Hicks, a co-founder of the blog, who lives and runs in Harlem in New York City.
“It’s important that our kids see and are exposed to health and fitness and know that this is a lifelong adventure. They need to see women who want to stay in shape for the rest of their lives,” she said.
The Let’s Move! Program founded by Michelle Obama has sought to draw attention to childhood obesity and tackle it as a national epidemic. Black Girls RUN! is trying to do much of the same thing by recruiting African-American women to walk, jog and eventually run to improve their health.
“What’s so amazing is that it has spread by word of mouth,” Hicks said. “Many of us didn’t have this sport when we were younger, and our families are not involved. So to grow a network of women, that support you, gives you an amazing feeling.”
Historically, African-Americans have excelled at track and field events and have looked to heroes like Wilma Rudolph and Florence Griffith Joyner as inspiration.
Still, in general, African-Americans are missing from distance running, said Tony Reed, the executive director of the Association of Black Marathon Runners. At major races all over the country and on cross-country running teams, African-American faces are often absent from the huge crowds, Reed said.
“Distance running is not considered a glamour sport,” he said. “Another reason African-Americans are missing is a lot of races are not routed through the black community. So we just don’t see that many blacks running.”
His own organization is different. The group has about 5,000 runners, and the women outnumber the men, Reed said.
Still, black women face specific cultural barriers when it comes to distance running, he said. They worry about their safety and are concerned about the effects the sweating, sun and heat could have on their hair and skin. If they come from a sedentary family, they could receive negative feedback as they try to learn more about the lifestyle.
“In black, urban communities there just may not be places to run,” Reed said. Plus, some African-Americans view running as a form of discipline.
“A lot of us are raised to look at running as a form of punishment. If you mess up, or do something wrong in football or basketball, your coach will make you run laps.”
The only reason Renisha James started running longer distances, was because someone bet the sprinter that she couldn’t finish a mile.
“I was huffing and puffing at the end, but I became intrigued,” she said.
For nearly a decade, James has been passionate about the sport. She noticed when she’d arrive for local running events or meet ups and training groups, she was often the only black woman there.
“Running in general is a bit intimidating,” she said. “And if a support system isn’t there to help you through your journey, you may not go after it. I don’t think white people see they have a support system, already there, automatically. With us, it’s not the same.”
James stumbled upon the Black Girls RUN! blog when she was looking for tips for running tailored specifically to her demographic, she said. The questions black women ask are sometimes different from women of other races.
“What do I do about my hair? What do I do about my really large chest? What about my legs rubbing together? How can I keep my relaxed hair from getting sweaty? How do I explain to my family that I’m a runner now?” James said.
When a call went out for ambassadors to start their own running groups for African-American women, James eagerly raised her hand. And she coordinated a group in Evanston and Rogers Park using social media.
“Black women are dying of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and we don’t have to. If you see people who look like you, doing what they need to be healthy and fit, it’s more appealing and it catches on pretty quickly,” James said.
On a recent afternoon, nearly 30 African-American women gathered along a South Side Lake Shore Drive running path to embark on a three- to four-mile run.
Before this year, Karla Johnson, 41, had never run. She decided to try it to lose some weight and complete her first 5K.
“I’ve always hated running, but when I don’t like something, I want to conquer it,” she said. “I’ve learned to push myself with this group. When I’m by myself, I’m not motivated.”
That afternoon, the women bunched together in a circle, stretching and making introductions. As they did, strangers wandered over, asking questions and checking them out.
“Excuse me, are y’all like … a running group,” Alexandria Willis asked the women. “Is it like, every day? Do y’all always come here?”
Willis, 24, said she saw the ladies crowded together and wanted to know more.
“I saw a big group of black women and wondered what was going on,” said Willis, laughing. “I felt they had a good vibe. It looks like something I’d like to do.”
That day in Englewood, Whitaker, accompanied by her husband for “protection,” ran three miles in about 40 minutes. At times she took breaks to walk a stretch, but then she’d push herself to speed up into a light jog and then a steady run.
“I’m sure I looked odd,” Whitaker said, after she finished and caught her breath. “But I could tell people were excited. Will someone else decide to come out? Maybe the more we do it, the more people we will get.”
