When the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC) launched Freedom to Run: Back Outside, it wasn’t just about putting BIPOC runners on trail race start lines. It was about reimagining what it means to belong on the trails in the first place.
As one of the coaches in this program—and as an Indigenous Game Changers coach committed to shifting the culture of endurance sports—I want to pull back the curtain on how we can support runners beyond the race clock. Because for many of us, coaching isn’t about pace charts or race medals—it’s about rewriting the narrative of who gets to thrive in running spaces.
Trail Transitions and Life Beyond the Metrics
The athletes I coach in RIDC’s program are moving from road to trail running, yes—but they’re also balancing family, cultural healing, and identities that are too often excluded from traditional outdoor narratives. This isn’t just training. It’s reclamation.
One of these runners—who led a powerful prayer run a few days ago—is also one of our ReNew Earth Running teammates. Our connection extends beyond pace goals; it lives in our shared commitment to land, language, and leadership. That kind of continuity matters. It gives roots to growth.
You can read more about RIDC’s program here.
How I Coach Outside the Lines
As a coach and Game Changers mentor, my work is about more than reps and rest days. It’s about building spaces where Indigenous and BIPOC coaches lead runners so they don’t have to shrink themselves to be seen.
Here’s what that looks like in real time:
1. Teaching trail skills without gatekeeping.
I deliver weekly trail education topics to RIDC athletes—digestible lessons grounded in experience, not elitism. We talk safety, terrain, fueling, and form in ways that honor where people are starting from.
2. Supporting the whole athlete.
Whether someone is recovering from injury, managing hormone shifts, or simply unlearning years of running culture that centered thinness, whiteness, or grind mentality—I build training that respects the body and the life inside it.
3. Disrupting industry norms through content.
I challenge dominant narratives , question the obsession with PRs, and create bold, nuanced content that helps others think more critically. Not to be contrarian—but to be clear about what real inclusion actually requires.
4. Making room for complexity.
I’ve coached folks returning from injury, parenting young kids, dealing with trauma, or navigating gender identity. Our sessions are often about more than pace—they’re about processing, healing, and reconnecting to joy.
5. Bringing other leaders along.
My teammates—especially those from the RER run team—are part of this story, too. We’re not here to be exceptional. We’re here to create pathways, so no one has to be “the only one” again.
Want to Change the Industry? Start Here.
If you’re a coach, organizer, or brand leader, here’s how to create the kind of environment programs like RIDC model so well:
1. Start with trust, not talent.
Don’t wait until someone “proves” themselves to invite them in. Trust their potential.
2. Ditch the single story.
Not everyone is here to race. Some are here to reconnect to land. Some are here to heal. Build programs that leave space for why.
3. Use your privilege to redistribute access.
Whether that’s gear, funding, platform, or partnership opportunities—if you’ve got a seat at the table, pull up another chair.
4. Learn from the margins.
The best innovations in coaching often come from those who had to create their own maps to begin with.
5. Keep the work going when no one’s clapping.
Representation is the opening act. Culture change happens in the quiet consistency behind the scenes.
This Is How We Disrupt
This work is very personal. I want my legacy to reflect the kind of leadership I needed when I was coming up: Indigenous, nuanced, deeply human, and unapologetically disruptive.
Coaching through RIDC’s Freedom to Run program has shown me what’s possible when we move beyond lip service and into lived support. I hope it inspires others—especially fellow Game Changers and coaches on the fringe—to keep pushing the boundaries of what running can be.
We don’t just need more inclusion. We need new architecture.
And we’re the ones building it.