Deloris McGee
BROTHERHOOD"
Nationwide (BlackNews.com) -- Black Men Run (BMR) was started out of necessity. The founder, Jason L. Russell, a passionate runner often found it hard to find other African American males to run with and noticed a lack of Black men running regularly in local races in the metro Atlanta area. Mr. Russell states that "There was no open and readily accessible vehicle in place for runners like myself to train with other African American runners and fellowship."He goes on to say "I wanted a way to share my love of running with others in my community so the decision was made to start Black Men Run with the help of a few other like-minded individuals."
Research shows that among African American males age 20 and older, 44.4% of have cardiovascular disease and in 2009, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) caused the deaths of 21,051 African American males. Black Men Run believes that running/jogging can change these alarming trends and are here to encourage African American males to get out and be active. Studies have shown that running on a regular basis not only benefits individuals from a physical standpoint but also increases mental sharpness. Additional benefits of running on a regular basis are boosts in confidence and reduction in stress levels and depression.
The task from Black Men Run is very simple and can be broken down into 6 simple steps:
#1 - Take Running Seriously! Set weekly and monthly goals for distance and pace.
#2 - When you share your running routes on social media with apps like "Nike+ Running"and "Map My Run,"use the hashtag #blackmenrun or #bmr. Using this hashtag will make the term searchable and help with spreading the word.
#3 - Start a Black Men Run group in your city and encourage others to run in local races/events.
#4 - Share the Black Men Run website with others along with following Black Men Run on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
#5 - Purchase a Black Men Run t-shirt from the Gear page to show support and help spread the word.
#6 - Most of all, be an inspiration to others. The goal is to gain momentum and a national following to obtain sponsorship for Black Men Run 5k/10k races around the country.
Black Men Run is still in its infancy, but has seen exponential
growth in a short time. Through their informative website and social
media outlets, men and women have learned how Black Men Run is impacting
their communities and share in the excitement. Black Men Run welcomes
runners of all skill levels from beginners to marathon participants,
vowing to leave no man behind. In the future Black Men Run will be
implementing structured training programs for new members to help each
runner set personal goals around overall fitness. As of today, Black Men
Run has groups in Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Cincinnati,
Greenville, Houston, Jacksonville, Louisville, Macon, Memphis, Miami,
Nashville, New York City, St. Louis, Washington DC and Winston Salem.
Next up on the horizon for Black Men Run is an expanded line of running
gear and a mobile application developed by Diverse Mobile (diversemobile.com) making Black Men Run the first running group with an app catered specifically to their runners.
For more information on Black Men Run, visit the website at www.blkmenrun.com. You can also "like" the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/blackmenrunm