​What does it mean to you personally to be LGBTQ in running?
As you grow up, you begin to understand areas of your life where being gay limited you or set you a few paces behind non-LGBTQ people. With running, that's rarely the case. Once you lace up your sneakers, toe the line, and the gun goes, everything else vanishes. Everyone's equal. It's just you and the clock. 

What advice would you give to a younger LGBTQ runner?
Celebrate yourself! There are more and more LGBTQ runners out there performing at such an incredibly high level, and it's refreshing to see the sport celebrate these athletes. Look to them as examples, and let yourself shine. 

​Making new runners — and especially women runners — feel safe on the run is one of the founding blocks for Mile Stylers, a Bronx, New York-based running group launched in July 2017 by Miguel Hernandez.

To combat harassment or unwanted attention from onlookers, the new runners — AKA “sexy pace runners” — have a male member stay with them from beginning to end.
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“Our women runners are the most consistent members, who have bonded as a group within the group," Hernandez said. “Their presence in the streets and with us motivates people who see us, and we want to keep them safe. Plus there is always some guy saying something embarrassing to the women, so we want to make sure they feel protected.”

For runners unable to make the meeting time for their local run group, Hernandez suggests that they stay in high visibility areas, and go during daylight hours.

“And I know we all hate them, but if you must run alone, go to the gym and use a treadmill,” Hernandez said.

Additional safety tips include: running with pepper spray, running without music, avoiding isolated areas and carrying a cell phone, Metrocard and cash.

When talking to runners of Lean.Strong.Fast. about safety, coach Marlon Jude will be upfront with his members to never place running above safety, and to skip the run if they can’t be in a safe space.

“You should be able to run anytime that you want, but unfortunately that is not the case,” Jude said. “In the summer, for example, tons of people try to run early to avoid the heat, but sometimes that’s not always possible.”

LSF hosts weekly runs in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, where winter runs are often in the dark due to shorter hours of daylight. In a group that has various pace levels, Jude has a built in safety net.

“We all start together, but I stay in the meeting spot at the Grand Army Plaza entrance in charge of bag check. When the first person gets back from running a loop of the park, they then become bag check as I run clockwise to check on every runner,” Jude added.

In the dynamics of a group setting, there is a larger safety net and a broader awareness of surroundings that gets passed on from runner to runner, he said. Those running alone, including men, should be on double alert as to what is going on around them.​

Jude suggests that if women must run alone in the park they should: not run with music, stay in the middle of the road and run against traffic. If they are harassed, they should be loud to attract attention from others who are walking or running by.
“Another safety tip is to find someone who can run at the same time as you, and if you need to run a bit slower, that’s fine,” Jude said. “The point is to stay safe.”

Joe DiNoto of Orchard Street Runners, David Trimble of Trimble Racing and the Nike NYC team put on quite the show on Thursday night.

At 11:00 pm over 200 runners alongside spectators assembled in Gowanus, Brooklyn to launch the return of this grueling underground masterpiece of pain. With no formal route, racers were instructed to complete 8 checkpoints in sequential order, before the clocks were shut off.

BKTC was proud to have over 20 athletes representing in the field and when the dust settled, several emerging in the top 10!

BKTC Women: Leigh Anne Sharek 2nd, Sarah Fountain 4th, Andrea Burdett 5th, Lena Placzek 6th, Marta Fenollosa 8th, Nicole Quilliam 10th.

BKTC Men: Cameron Erhardt 3rd, Michael Conroy 5th.

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xeflrse2399y5l3/AACtaUWALSzsaepRX06w4cXoa
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