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Rob Lee: Welcome to the Truth in His Art, your source for conversations connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter and I am your host Rob Lee. Thank you so much for joining me. Today, I'm excited to welcome my next guest, who is the founder of a tribe called Run, a offering community runs, events, and coaching to promote fitness and connection. We all could use a bit more fitness and a bit more connection. Please welcome to the podcast, Will Walker. Welcome to the podcast.
Will Walker: Thank you for having me, man. Definitely appreciate you, you know, thinking of me, glad to be here.
Rob Lee: I appreciate that. I appreciate you coming on and it's one of those things where, you know, I do this podcast, I run into people and it's like, I'll follow the person for a while online and then see him in like a real situation. I was like, kind of celebrity. I was like, let me just sit here. I was like, hey, man, I know you, not for sure, but I follow you. I know you enjoy your pancakes or whatever the situation was that day at Corner Pantry. Yeah, yeah.
Will Walker: Yeah, I mean, dude, it was like, when you messaged me after work, I was like, oh snap. I was like, man, I wish he would have just said something in the moment, bro.
Rob Lee: It's so odd. And the thing is, it's just like, people never think that I am who I am too. That's another thing. Cause they're like some six four and people are like, nah, you're short. So when you see like this giant dude, say, hey, man, I do this podcast, blah, blah, blah. They can't connect the dots. So it just looks like a rando is talking to them.
Yeah. But, um, you know, before we get to the deeper conversation and all of that good stuff, could you tell us a bit about your personal journey, you know, um, you know, really introducing yourself and talk a bit about your background in athletics and running? I want to hear a bit about that.
Will Walker: Um, so yeah, again, I'm, I'm Will Walker, founder of a tribe called Run, uh, 42 years old. I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio. So a transplant to Baltimore. But I love the city dearly. Uh, essentially, I guess I've lived here longer now than I did in Cleveland. But, um, you know, everybody always asks me, like, are you going back home? I'm like, no, I love Baltimore.
Um, honestly, Baltimore and Cleveland are almost like the same type of city to me that that blue collar, you know, hardworking city. Um, but, uh, you know, as we discussed briefly with the Morgan state, um, came here to study engineering, um, got my master's following up in engineering as well and pretty much had like a, you know, a career path in tag. And I was like, okay, this, this is going to be home for the foreseeable future.
And here we are 25 years later. Um, in terms of my athletic career, been an athlete pretty much my whole life, man. Um, my parents always had me involved in some type of sport, um, football, baseball, um, some basketball were in primary, were primarily my sports.
Um, but definitely got into some track and golf as well as a youngery kid, but high school football and baseball were my sports and high school. Um, we had too many, uh, D one cats on our basketball team. So, uh, you know, I had, I had to go play for like some others, some others. The, the, the other squads that wasn't quite really the, the 100% um, you know, top tier varsity in our group.
But, um, I mean, I just speak to my high school, man. It was, uh, we were on, we won two, was it two triple crowns? I think we won at least one triple crown and had a double crown, um, while I was there. Um, so, but we just have a very historic background in terms of, in terms of sport at my high school, man. Um, but yeah, like I said, play sports, play sports all my life, walked on briefly to play football at Morgan. Um, you know, but that didn't pan out because, uh, you know, engineering was the way and I wasn't going to the league.
So, you know, had to, had to give back, right? Focus. Um, and, uh, you know, the athlete that I was, man, I still try to be involved in the, um, the, what's it called? The, the co-ed leagues, uh, like the Sobo, I guess now a Volo league. And it was like, you know, a lot of the players and some of those leagues were still like D one players, man. So it was still very physical. Um, you know, the men and the women playing the co-ed football, um, I played in the, uh, I used to work for North of Grumman, the basketball league that we had there. We had a lot of cats that, uh, who'd like semi pro cooped in college.
So again, very aggressive. Um, and I'm like, man, I'm pushing 35, 36, 37. My body ain't the way it used to be. I had to find something else. So, um, so kind of like round and around about way, um, started doing some running didn't take it a hundred percent seriously. Um, went through a very, very tough, uh, breakup and I was in therapy and my therapist was like, you know, Hey, what's, what's, you know, find those things that are bringing you joy or find those things that help you sort things out. And running was, was starting to be a bit more of my practice and she was like, Hey, you know, why you like it and why it's helping you. It's like, you know, it's getting you that those dopamine hits, you know, things like that.
So you can kind of, you know, find that joy, find the pleasure that you need, especially something that, that picked me up energy, um, especially when you're going through a period of like not knowing or mourning and being down. And I would say probably around 20 and this was around 20, 2017, 2018. Um, 2018 is probably when I got very, um, consistent because that was the time that I was, you know, dealing with all of this.
And you know, the rest is history, man. Um, uh, as a, a group that I started out running with a riot squad, their theme was running is our therapy. And that's essentially what it was for me. Um, it was where I found time to sort my thoughts, um, figure out what I did wrong, what I did right. Am I tripping?
Was I the wrong way? You know, but you know what they say is three sides of every story, your side, day side and the truth. Um, so, so yeah. Man, it was my place of like trying to kind of sort things. I really didn't like running with people because again, it was my time to just find like the piece that I needed as I was going through and dealing with what I was dealing with. Um, but yeah, man, essentially been an athlete my whole life. And you know, here we are as I'm, uh, on a, in, in, in my forties and in my seasoned version with my salt and pepper, you know, trying to, trying to relive my youthful days.
Um, we're remembering when I used to run the 454 seconds, you know what I'm saying? So, so, you know, here we are, man. Um, you know, glad, glad to be here. Um, have this community and that's kind of like my, my, my brief bio in overview. Yeah.
Rob Lee: Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And sort of, you know, it presented two quick questions. Um, and I think one of them is kind of trollish. Um, we're, we're about the same age as we, we talked about. So I mean, look, I like to just pluck my salt and pepper. I'm like, look, this is, I got a freshly shaved head for this interview. Cause I was looking a little drastic right now. Um, and you know, just as the pun goes, it's like, so where you were running back at Morgan, I know.
Will Walker: Oh, no, no, no. Oh, corner, cornerback, cornerback. That sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. High school, I was a defensive back and receiver and I walked on at Morgan like two years removed from playing high school ball. So, um, you know, man, try, try it on as a cornerback, but like I said, that, uh, that, that ain't last too long. Hey, I hear you.
Rob Lee: And, um, so having, and I think it's a good point, like, you know, sort of your foray and revisiting running in a consistent way was a response to really like clear from, from like a mental health, sort of an emotional sort of, you know, figuring yourself out, having time with yourself, sort of standpoint. And, you know, I really vibled in, I connect on that. And also I too, like doing my stuff by myself.
It's like, look, I'm getting up to torture myself at like five or whatever in the morning. I'm not running. I'm not running. I got a bad Achilles, bad knee, right? But, you know, I got my, uh, I think I'm at 500,000 steps in the last two months, you know, back to back months and getting that in.
And, you know, and then I left and it's been sort of a running thing. And it's definitely something that clears out all of the, the, the, the weird, just the weird thoughts. Like we're living in a weird time. So that's the thing. So I think in it, one of the things that comes out of this podcast is specifically with this season is leaning on community and trying to build up something. So talk about that moment where you got to like founding a tribe called run, because like you're, you're talking about sort of that, that early, those early stages of you getting back into the, the running component, but sort of founding a tribe called run.
Will Walker: So I'm going to try to talk about this as fast and concise as I can because I can drag it out. It was, you know, we found, we founded a group in the middle of COVID, a buddy of mine, he had the brand and Night Brunch had reached out to me because he knew I was a runner and he saw that I had been running with a group and was like, Hey man, what's the group you run with? I was like, you know, as I mentioned, alluded to Ryosquad and I was like, you know, I run at his group called Ryosquad.
I was like, but you know, a couple of people in my circle or spear had been talking about, Hey man, you know, let's start a run club or you should start a run club and stuff like that. And he was like, Oh, let's talk then. Cause I had worked with him in another venture as well. So he kind of knew my background in terms of like working on projects and building projects and stuff like that. And I had, I had already actually had a wellness, wellness business, I guess you could call, yeah, wellness business, but COVID kind of, you know, put the nail in the coffin with it. So, but so he knew I was already in like a wellness space. And I think at that time, Night Brunch was trying to add like a wellness size, wellness lifestyle component to what they were doing.
Similar to like broccoli city, how they had started like the 5k or whatever they have added in or the yogurt or whatever it was, but kind of like similar in that sense. We had, we had a talk and I was very hesitant because it was COVID. And like I said, I just had to shut something down because of, you know, what was taking on going on at the time. And I was like, you know what, let me circle back.
Let me think about it. You know, definitely sounds great, but I was hesitant and I reached out to the people that had been talking about it, like, Hey, what y'all think? Talk to my partner and she was like, you know, I told her my thoughts. And, you know, again, like I said, being hesitant, you know, she's like, yo, we don't make fear based decisions, man.
You know, you at least got to try it and do it and say that you did it. And rolling back with him and we talked some more. And he's like, and I was like, man, I don't know. He's like, yo, look, why not now, man? So between him saying, why not now? My partner saying we don't make fear based decisions. And just realizing like, okay, this could be dope.
Could be cool to do something a little bit different. We all met up, got together and the group started, man. And it kind of took off from there. I think the biggest thing with me was, as I mentioned to you, how running was like a place of peace for me was that I didn't want to start something with people, with other people not putting in the same energy. And then I started regretting something that was bringing me, you know, peace and solace. And then I don't have that as a, so it was like, I was like, you know what, are we going to do this? I'm going to just do a lot of the upfront work.
So that at least I know that I did my peace and did my part. And if it does go downhill, it was more so my doing or lack of attention than relying on other people. But, you know, ended up having a great team. And like I said, we started it. We started it and it just kept growing and building. And here we are today, man. So, yeah, that's kind of like the early days. So I tried to make that concise as possible.
Rob Lee: Oh, you're good. You're good. And I appreciate that. And it helps because I think that that's sort of COVID time. It led to a lot of different stuff. Like, you know, obviously sort of the, from a creative standpoint, not sort of what's happening in the world because that's impacted. But, you know, this podcast kind of like grew out of that time. It grew up a lot. Like I started this podcast in July of 2019. So, you know, it was just like really hard getting guests initially and so on. I was like, oh no, you know, let's see where this goes. And by the time like we're all like at home, that knowing what's happening, people want it to connect.
People want it to have some sense of community, whether it be through fiber optics, whether it be in person when permitted, but be safe, but also commune and socialize, be a part of something. So going into this next question, you know, as your last name suggests, you have to walk before you can run. So tell us a bit about sort of the mission and the vision that's there, how's that evolved over time for a Tribe Called Run?
Will Walker: So kind of read what you just, man, you had a perfect segue. When we started out, man, it was just like, you know, it's homies. We just gone out for a run hanging out because that was who we kind of built it off with first. And as it started to grow, it was just like so many people coming. And the common theme was, like you said, the lack of community or the lack of connection that so many people was looking for at that point of time because we were all locked in the house. Only thing that you literally really could do was be outside. So it started to take on this life of being purpose, more purpose driven, I guess, in a sense, because so many people were just like, let me step back a little bit.
It started to mean so much more because so many people were like, oh my God, thank you, I needed this so much. And I was saying, we think like what? I'm like, what?
What you mean? Like this was just a homie thing. And not recognizing that it was bringing people the peace, the connection that they needed, when so many people were probably having some of the worst thoughts of their life and, you know, harmful thoughts or negative thoughts. And, you know, who knows what was going through people's mind being so isolated. But that, in essence, brought a sense of responsibility that this is no longer just a, I don't want to say playful thing, but, you know, it was no longer, it was something that we had to take serious and organize in that sense as well. So it went from being just a cool thing to hang out with the friends to really building a community, building an organization, getting practices in place of making sure that when people are coming out in this time to making sure that, hey, you have your mask on, we're practicing good housekeeping to make sure that we keep each other safe and that we don't take anything back home to our families.
A couple of incidents later to having to have a code of conduct in terms of, you know, physical contact with people and things like that, you know. So it just took on that life of its own. It just stepped into those tiers of hanging out, social root, then next to, oh, we actually have a community that has form. To next, it's really an organization because we have to have some practices in place. We want to make sure that we keep people coming back.
And then it just, like I say again, continued to grow to where we are an LLC, but we are trying to become a 501c3 in terms of the community efforts that we're trying to do when it comes to impact in things of that nature. So BIPOC-LAID group, you know, our values are trying to continue to shape, disrupt what the norms are, what you see in the running community. So yeah, man, we're always trying to celebrate the folks in our community. We're always trying to have impact within our community. Always trying to make sure that not only our running community is uplifted, but the general community that we run in or the space that we take up and things of that nature. So, you know, those are some of the things how we intertwine our, how it's grown, how it's, you know, the mission has stayed, the vision continues to stay in place. And, you know, the things that we're trying to celebrate as far as carrying on our practice out in our daily values. So hope that answered the question.
Rob Lee: It does. It does. It actually makes me, you know, be a host and move up a follow-up question was actually my close-out question, but sort of the ATCR's website features pillars, you know, I'll call them, you know, including diversity, growth, and joy. And moreover, as you touch on, celebrating everything. So, you know, can you share a story or a moment, you know, from that to you that really captures the spirit and the energy of that community?
Will Walker: I think it's a lot. So it's probably hard to pinpoint one. One of the most recent, I would probably say, is we have a runner, Myra. She just completed, I think, three years straight of running earlier this summer. And it was kind of like a, let me, if I could step back real quick. Actually, it was kind of like a lesson learned of celebrating those people in our space because it, we need to. And especially our folks of color and things of that nature just wanted to continue to highlight and take up space and in this space that we aren't always highlighted in when it comes to running. Learning lessons as a leader of, you know, when to celebrate folks or where I may have dropped the ball on celebrating folks, kind of circling back with our team of how do we, how do we celebrate the people in our community, right? And one of the things that came out of it was like, all right, well, let's make sure that we are being more intentional about it.
And this was one of the pillar lists of like, hey, you know, we got this athlete that just had an amazing milestone of three years within one of our captains meeting, someone reached out and said, hey, we know you about to come up on three years, like in a week or two. Are you planning to celebrate? And it was as simple as, are you planning to celebrate? And they were like, I hadn't thought about it. It was like, okay, well, let's figure something out. And like, I think it was like a Thursday evening, Wednesday or Thursday evening, kind of just set up that we would meet at Covell, start there, go for a quick run. And everybody would kind of hang out and grab food and break bread afterwards.
And it was, it was, it was cool to see people come out for that. We already do three days a week. So it was like, oh, y'all came out for a fourth day of the week. But it also showed the community's response to somebody that I guess they can, they can look up to one, it's a peer that they can celebrate, but also the community's response. So like, oh, you did something that's really dope, man. And I want to be kind of like a part of that. So it was, I, I, I, I, you know, I'm ashamed to say, I don't know everybody's friendship and connection, but it was, it was cool to say, folks, that I didn't, that I didn't think was as connected to her where we're popping out and showing up and went to go run and support this effort of this person, you know, hitting a three year, three year straight running milestone.
And so that's like one of the more recent stories that I can talk to. But I think it then just goes to the strengths of the community and how people are there to support each other.
Rob Lee: That's, that's really important. And thank you for sharing that. The, you know, celebrating those wins and giving sort of space for it. Like, you know, I, I kind of struggle in this space at times of, you know, you have to be the person that gasses yourself up. And it's just like, I think I'm cool.
I think I do stuff. And, you know, I'm marching towards 900 episodes of this podcast. And congrats, bro.
Thank you. See, and it's one of those things where, you know, the six year anniversary was July. And I'm not good of, Hey, you know, here's, here's this thing I hit celebrate me because I find like often it's just like, for me, I look at it as here's another thing to do. Let's, let's keep rolling with it.
And I try not to celebrate too often or really at all, because I've had this, this bit with a friend who's like his restaurant hit seven years and I encouraged him to celebrate seven years. And he's like, are you gonna take your own advice? I was probably not because it's just, just my inclination. And I think when I get to a thousand episodes, I'm definitely going to have to do, do something big because I don't know, like it's so against what I naturally do of, Hey, make it about me, make it about the thing that I do. But also, you know, people should know, and it's been many people who've been a part of this story, you're going to be one of the people that's a part of this sort of overarching thing.
And, you know, the series. And I think it's not necessarily a celebration of, you know, sort of this and me, but it's a celebration of sort of the culture and sort of the community that's being built and being highlighted, especially with, you know, the reason why I started this, I started this because of who's in office talking illa baw Baltimore, and he's back in office talking illa baw Baltimore. So like, oh, I'm here continuing this to show that we have, if the city is as dangerous as people put it, not saying that it's not, it's any like any other city, you got people out here doing run groups, getting it and enjoying the city and establishing community through it. So, you know, like great things like this are happening.
Will Walker: Man, to your point real quick, though, and like you said, if we're around the clips saying, you know, the Mr. Me Too culture, you know, it's like we, we like we grew up in that culture like you don't brag about what you did or what you done, especially when everybody, I ain't gonna say everybody else is doing it, but we just kind of grew up in that culture like, you know, just because everybody else is celebrating themselves or being highlighted from what they're doing is like we grew up in that culture like, man, we just didn't do that, man. But my one of my really good friends, her name is Alanda. And also my, my girl, she was like, you know, and I never really celebrated my birthday like that. But they were just like, if you don't plan or celebrate your birthday, nobody else is. So, you know, you can't be mad that nobody didn't think of, you know, not to say that people ain't gonna think of you on your birthday, but nobody plans your birthday party.
So, that's why you didn't go out and party for your birthday. So it's like, it's like that both end of, yeah, we didn't do that. Because that's kind of maybe the culture that we grew up, especially as you know, black man and things like that. But also at a time is, you know, the things that are worth celebrating, we do need to highlight and lean into that. So, but yeah, I feel you, I felt where you're coming from on that.
Rob Lee: Celebrating more. And I'll throw this tidbit before I get to this next question. Your boy's birthday is an operation day. Oh, wow. I was just like, so this is my gift.
Will Walker: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, you need to definitely have a party because, because of that, man. I was like twice, you got me the same bad time. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's all, man. You were supposed to take a trip out of the country, right?
Rob Lee: Look, look, I, my partner, she hooked me up. She was like, look, I know you're, I turned 40 and she was like, I know that you love New Orleans. I've gone seven times. She took me to Mardi Gras, you know, I was just like, this makes up for January being such a CF. So I'm good.
Will Walker: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good, yeah. That's a good, that was a good, that was a good recovery from it. Yeah.
Rob Lee: So, you know, the, the, a tribe called Runs website has meetups, right? And so you, you touched on that a little bit. I see the other school in there, I went to city, so I won't say the name of the other school and the BMA who I've, you know, worked with many a times in this pod. What places or running routes in the city are especially meaningful to you or to like the community that you're like, yeah, this is a good spot or this works. So this is, you know, super relevant on this really is inspirational for sake of argument. And what makes them special?
Will Walker: I definitely won't say that there's a running route that is special. I think the places that we meet up are unique. I can't even say unique. They have some meaning in the sense of, or not even meaning our house we selected because it's like a very central point of the city, right? You can east, west, north, south, you can get around or get there from, from any of those vantage points.
And I think my son is probably playing with my mouse because I see the, I see the feet keep dropping down. I don't know if you can see it, but um, But you can get there from any vantage point in the city, right? One of the guys in our group comes from Columbia every day. One of the captains, she was coming from White Marsh.
So, it was very strategic in a sense of being able to do that. The other school that you mentioned, you won't. I'll go ahead and throw it out there. Polly, Slash, Western's track, man. It's actually one of the few central points in the city that had a track that was open to the public, which baffled me because I'm just like, how could one of the...
He is really moving, playing with my mind. Sorry, again, I don't know if you see this. I can't see it over here.
Cool. But it surprises me how a city can want to have health initiatives and things like that. One of the quickest and easiest ways for people to feel safe to a degree of, like you said, with whatever crime that may be out or happening is to be on a track and walk. A lot of places that I went in the city, their tracks were locked. Or, let me say, some of the updated tracks were locked.
It baffled me. So, that was Polly Slash, Western's track was one of the few, again, a central point and it was one of the few that was unlocked. BMA, again, central point in the city. But the thing that I liked about them is that you can go north, south, except for Polly, because we stay doing intervals. But our house and BMA, you can go north, south, east or west and touch so much and touch a lot of different neighborhoods. And so many people say, oh, my gosh, that's one of the things that they liked about running with us is that they got to see so many different parts of the city coming to our runs.
And I think it means a lot, especially with the different communities represented in terms of the racial aspect, Black, white, Asian, Latina or Latinx, etc. You know, man, you have all of these folks that are running in parts of the hood or running through Rowland Park where you don't get to see folks in these different dynamics. You don't get to see a ton of black folks running through Rowland Park. You don't get to see a ton of white folks rolling through, you know what I'm saying? Rolling through parts coming all the way over this part of Wavelier down 25th or North Ave like that, man. You know, so it's cool in a sense to hear people like, oh, my gosh, I'm seeing so much of the city that I never got to see running with you. So I don't want to say any particular route is special. It does mean a lot that people can see so much that they normally wouldn't see. And they're everyday travels. What's Lawrence, the guy, the writer, forget his name, his last name, but he got the white ale and the black butterfly.
Rob Lee: Oh, yeah, yeah. I know you're talking about. We have so many of our runners living in the white ale that, you know, there are few ventures into the black butterflies when they run east or west on those days that we do set up a route that goes in those directions, man. So, you know, it means a lot to be able to
Will Walker: open up people's eyes to how beautiful our city is when some at some point in time, they can only be stuck in and in their bubble.
Rob Lee: It's, you know, what I was hearing is it's practical and, you know, it has that sort of like relevance to connect. And I think in many ways it's that running bit that, you know, you won't go over east Baltimore, if you're living over west and vice versa, I don't go over east, you know, I don't go over west. And I think sort of the routes and sort of the planning and the consideration that goes into that, it makes an effort to make the city, which is not huge, but to make it smaller, that folks can see it. You know, I do, you know, 3.1 miles every weekday and sort of it's a little different on the weekends, but every weekday and sometimes I just do like the same static route over here, Paterson Park, check out some stuff. Sometimes I venture out a little bit further and it's like, yo, we hit Bayview word.
And I'll head back or sometimes I would just like, oh, I'm literally at Candom Yards and, you know, stretching it out a bit just to see things. And I think when you're doing something with a different intention, you're running and it has that sort of isolated, you're not engaged in your phone and all of that stuff. You're observing things in a little bit differently. You're seeing sort of the city in a different way. So I think that that's one of those real benefits and by products of that.
Will Walker: Yeah, we've had some, we've had some, some white women who are like, worked in as like behavior, special, specialist type of roles and things like that. And it was like, you know, it's kind of good to lay my eyes on where some of these people I treat might, you know, come from or where they, you know, where they deal at on a daily basis.
Whereas their commutes take them, you know, again, white ale or from the burbs to work and then that's it. So, you know, it's done with intention, but not, not to, not, not to, not, not, not, I'm trying to choose my words correctly. It's done with intention, but not to be overwhelming, right? It's again, touching in where, where, where we live on a daily basis, man. This is just normal life for some of us in the city in Baltimore. And another thing, you know, uptown, man, you know, we, we, we, we uptown, everybody wants to go around in the harbor. So it's touching on a different space of, you know, to where people can access and feel, and still feel safe or, you know, there's more to see the Baltimore than just the harbor, you know?
Rob Lee: 100, 120%. And, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, when folks talk about sort of activated and revitalized areas, I'm like, oh, so right down there with the stadiums and a harbor and all of that, it's like, what about these other places? And, you know, my partner's in that Waverly area, you know, I'm over here in East Baltimore, I live in my old neighborhood I grew up in, well, I was in this area and, you know, seeing those shifts and those changes and, you know, sort of that assessment, right? That, you know, folks who are in the sort of health space, you know, they can not acknowledge what's right in front of them sometimes. Um, I remember having a conversation that kind of came out of this podcast.
I had some, I had a connection with someone. I was like, let's, let's, let's talk about this. And I was just like, so we're in the middle of a food desert and we have the biggest health provider and biggest employers of this state in the area.
And we're in the middle of a food desert. I was like, those things aren't an alignment, right? And, and then I started just kind of, you know, I mentioned that and kind of got a little traction, got the answer. I was looking for, I suppose.
And, um, there was no answer really. And, you know, ultimately, I started just kind of assessing the folks that had a lot of talk about how dangerous and how, blah, blah, blah, blah, sketchy it was. And I was like, I live eight minutes away from this office by walking. I was like, so I live in this area. I was like, nothing, I live in this area.
Have you walked around the area? So, so that I think that kind of adds to it in a sort of practical and real life sense as well. So I got one last real question and I'm going to do a speed run on the rapid fire questions at the end here. Speed run. You see what I did there?
Will Walker: I still got time. So if you want to get through to rush your questions, feel free. Okay.
Rob Lee: But definitely speed run. So this is one thing that I'm very curious about. You touched on a little bit as far as like some of the online stuff. So given that the internet and, you know, I might look at like, how do you do this tricep extension?
And then suddenly I was like, I don't want to hear about this nutrition and you have my algorithm resets. So given that the internet could be a breeding ground for sort of misinformation and sort of health of health centric misinformation, community centric misinformationally, everything is a community suddenly. And I say, yeah, it's a community in the past sense. And the wellness thing is played with a bit.
I think people have been very conscious over the last, it's been here for a while, but definitely since like COVID, right? Like folks are much more aligned. Um, so, you know, a Tribeca run like stands out as a genuine community. Like, you know, in the research that I've done and sort of this conversation as far as real connections, you know, authentic spaces, you know, so what was important for you in building sort of authentic space for fitness and connection, especially in this sort of online climate where, yeah, if you run five miles a week, you'll lose weight, you know, you don't use it, they go, whatever the thing is.
Will Walker: One, I'll circle back to what I said earlier. And, um, it was recognizing that there was a responsibility that came to, um, to what we had built based off of the people, again, needing community, needing connection, not wasting people's time, again, having ultimately growing to build, you know, three days a week of runs. You're taking up a lot of time from people to be able to spend with family, partners, kids, you know, those who are coming out on a consistent and regular basis. So, so one, just trying to, one, make sure that it was worthwhile when people came out. But also, man, you know, just again, people was like, I needed that connection.
And as an adult, it's hard. It's hard to build genuine connections, right? One post college, you know, college is probably like the last real time you're going to build immediate and vast amounts of community, um, just because of proximity, whether those things are similar because you play sports, we're in a group, um, or same majors and classes, right? After that, you kind of own your own and your next community is work. I really want to hang out with people from work all the time, right?
Yeah. Oh, but after that, man, it really does boil down to common interests, making things accessible to folks and not being pretentious about it and not in the sense of, oh, I'm a runner and you got to wear these colors. You got to look this certain way to come run with us or to come run with our group.
And I mean, man, from the perspective of, uh, how, how, how, how, how do I want to be treated? And I think, uh, one of the reasons why we have majority of our group to be BIPOC, uh, or some marginalized community as a leadership is having those thoughts and perspectives in place when building out our programming. And if you've been a part of a community who has been ostracized your whole life or, or, or came out and, or you've always been this way and really couldn't come out of whatever you identified as, you know, you probably just never felt a part of the mainstream wave.
And, um, I think keeping in mind, always having that in mind. It's like, you know, just want to make people feel, feel safe, feel happy to be who they are and not really put any, anything around that, you know, come, come as you are, come, come who you are. Black, white, you know, red, green, brown, gay, not gay. Um, sorry, not gay LGBTQ. Let me not say not gay, but you know what I mean? Um, because, you know, we, we definitely have a very strong LGBTQ plus community. Um, so I want to make sure I represent them properly and correctly. Um, but yeah, man, you know, uh, being black in this country, I think immediately teaches you how it feels to be on the outside of a lot of things. Um, whether, um, in a professional sense of always having to prove yourself even more.
And I was loving it. We don't have to prove yourself to be here. If you, if you run, you know, 15 minute miles or, you know, seven or six minute miles, you know, you're still a runner. So kind of, kind of keep that in the front of our, our, uh, programming and the things that we build out and just making sure that everybody feels accepted. Um, when they come in, when they join and sometimes had to learn at the hard way of like, Oh, a lot of people might have been really fast and took off from this person that was a bit slower and it's like, okay, we don't have to have a, um, a caboose crew as one of the, one of the captains kind of named it.
And, and you know, she was a slower runner and she was kind of stay back with the slower crew man. And you know, but, um, just making sure you learn those lessons from, you can, you can say that, Oh, we are all inclusive. We include and love everybody.
Um, but if you say it and don't follow up with it, it means nothing. Um, but we're all humans. So it's okay to learn a lesson as long as you learn that lesson and then start to implement those protocols to say, Hey, you know what, we asked up that time. Let's, let's circle back.
We're going to try again. And again, like all, like I said, just being a, being a part of a minority community that has always been exercised, um, just making sure that we identify people or make people who don't feel seen, seen. And you know, for, for those, you know, black kids who was, who was too white or the, or, you know what I'm saying?
You know, or being too white because they like nerdy things or something like that, man, or you know what I'm saying? You, you, you, you, you was, you was too nerd. You was too smart to be with the cool kids.
You know what I'm saying? Or, you know, and too cool to be with the ultra smart kids, man. You know, it's, it's kind of like that, that place for everybody, man. So, you know, taking the, some of those life lessons I had, man, in some of those categories and just applying it, man. So, um, and again, I want to thank you. Thank my leadership team, um, cause they've also made sure that these types of things stay at the front of making sure that we feel people, make, make sure people feel safe, um, making sure that we have practices in place to, um, cultivate that genuine community that you've, that you have been able to witness from, you know, your research and seeing things online or whatever.
Rob Lee: And I think, and that's, that's a really good point. Like having, I think when I look at it, and I look at it from the same lens as even podcasting, when you have sort of a very myopic perspective, that just is a breeding ground for sort of that misinformation because it's siloed.
And it's like, well, I think this, so this must be true. Let me bring on people that kind of, but if you have not necessarily people who are dissenting, but people who are like, well, my experience is different. Let's talk about that. And then it's some more fuller, more holistic sort of dialogue and sort of real, real community. And, you know, I got sort of this with one observation I'll share when it comes to, um, sort of running one of the guests that I've had on this podcast. And I remember, I remember most of my guests, which is wild. One thing I remember everything else I forget.
I forgot what I have for lunch day. I remember this dude I interviewed a couple of years ago, um, to dude, um, Martinez Evans from Run Flow, you know, Run Flow is AF. And it got this book, had him on 300 pounds and running that whole thing. And it's sort of that, that vibe. And I remember, you know, reading his book and just sort of what that experience was like, and it's like, Oh, guys at that size don't run. It's like, well, he's done a bunch of marathons.
No, we'll cares about his perspective. So you even mentioned the sort of caboose side of things. I was just like, Oh yeah, they run a flow way out.
So they kind of like creeping up. And, you know, I'm not a particularly fast runner. It's sort of like building up indoors from a sprint guy, if you will. And, but it's sort of, but I like what you said there.
If it's you, you do a 15 minute mile, you do a six minute mile, you're a runner. And I think that's a thing. It's, it's, it's really important to not sort of separate folks from a thing.
It's just like, this is for everyone. If you want to pull up, you want to come out and be a part of this. This is for everyone that's walking the talk, walking, walking, talking, talking, and talking, running the run, whatever the thing was. So any final moments, I want to actually hit you with these rapid fire to speed run rapid fire because, you know, I think it's fun. And then after that, we'll close out with some final thoughts.
So here's the first one. What is, you can put the parameters on it like being recently, but what's the most unusual thing you've seen or encountered on a group run in Baltimore?
Will Walker: I can't, yeah, I can't say I've seen anything unusual, man. I don't, I don't know. That's a tough one. Um, I will say there are a ton of funny moments. There's one, one runner that used to run with us, uh, him and his partner have recently, um, moved to, uh, to, to Thailand. And for whatever reasons, when he's always talking to my guy, Angelo, whenever he was talking about stuff, I would always come in on a part where he's always talking about butts, man, but your booty or something like that. And it would just happen. Stands like this happens so often and I don't know why, but like all the time on a run, like he would always be talking about butts or booty and some different contexts or another. I'm just like, Oh, why is this always happening?
But, um, it was just like a kind of funny running thing that we would have. But I can't say, I can't say anything stands out. I mean, Baltimore city, man. So you, you see a lot that people that's not from the city might think is weird, but you see, you see this stuff kind of like every day is like, it's not weird to you anymore every day. You know what I mean?
Rob Lee: Well, go back to Angela. We're quick with either person that promoted the whole caboose side of things, you know, with the bus.
Will Walker: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that way.
Rob Lee: It'd be two on the nose, you know, to work at that.
Will Walker: That was our captain April. Uh, she's a former captain, but, uh, uh, she promoted the caboose crew.
Rob Lee: Um, no, that's, that's great. You're right. Um, you know, every now and again, cause I've interviewed a lot of different people as one guy I had on who was based in New York and, um, he would, he, he did like a, um, I'm going to put it like, uh, experimental like public art. And it was just like creepy clowns everywhere. So just like imagine like you're just running this like, yo, is that a clown right there?
I don't know. I really would. Let's just run past. Actually, let's pick up the pace guys. We get past this part. Right, right, right. Um, you said three, three times a week that, uh, there's the run meetups. Um, what is the average length of a run?
Will Walker: Uh, they're all different. So, uh, Monday is probably like our most popular. There's a one mile option, uh, for folks who are kind of new to running or maybe recovering from injury, um, or, you know, trying to work their way up. Um, also we have a three, three plus mile option, which range between three to four and a half miles. Uh, so that's Monday. Wednesday, uh, is interval training and that could be all the way from 200s up to mile repeats or, or maybe even more.
Um, but that's at the discretion of the coach for that day. Um, her name is Alex. She does a really good job of getting our folks in gear and preparing them. And Saturdays we do a long run. Uh, that's our long run version also called Wolfpack Saturdays, uh, which is five, eight or a 10 mile option. Um, so again, the distance is very. Okay.
Rob Lee: I dig it. Get getting those, getting those miles in and you mentioned the word gear. So I must ask this, um, it's a personality, right? So honestly, what percentage of your closet has been taken over by running shoes? Athletic gear? Uh, man, that's a, that's a good question.
Will Walker: I, I, I, so I was, I've have been a big sneakerhead. So I pretty much have my, my grails, um, you know, my go-tos of like my regular rotation, uh, once, once, once my son was born, we had, or as he was, uh, his, his birth was approaching had to take all of them out of one room and put them in my office.
Um, I still have my, my grails. I've always been a sneakerhead, but it's just in addition to, I just have a ton of, ton of additional sneakers now that are running sneakers. Um, so we have a partnership with ASICs. So I have been able to flesh out and get rid of a ton of other running shoes. Um, so most of the running shoes that I have now are from ASICs, um, cause they're always sending, uh, uh, a pair, um, here and there. Um, so pretty much my, my, my rotation of running shoes is nothing but ASICs at this point in time. Um, but I mean, I, I mean, I've always been in the fashion. I've always been in the shoes.
So I think I've done a good job of like kind of keeping those separated. Um, also, you know, the corporate life, man, it, it, uh, when, well, when I was, I've actually recently recently been laid off, but you know, when I had to go into the office, um, you know, still having to have that right combination of stuff you could wear to the office, but could still step out in. And I've always been about, you know, nice clothes, man.
Um, you know, and, and, and nice shoes. So I can't say that running and sport have taken it over. It's just, it's just it's own life. You know, I, I, I can't even say it's taking over a big percentage. Cause I'm still, I still love to look and see what, you know, I'm alien door about to drop for the new spring. You know what I'm saying? Or something like that. You know what I mean? So I'm always, I'm always testing and tapping in with what's, you know, what's, what's fresh on the gear side. Yeah.
Rob Lee: I mean, you know, if my partner puts this, he's like, you're like in this utilitarian sheet, you could go from gym to work briefly. And then it's like, oh, I got to hop on a train and do a podcast in a different city. And, um, you know, I got back before we started this for my, you know, second sort of walk sprint sort of thing today. And I'd have my ASICs. I had on some, the Kinsai blast.
And it's, it's great. Cause I've just got rid of some Brooks that I've had for, you start looking at how many steps I've, I've started looking at how many steps I was getting in a given month. It's like $400,000 to $500,000. And I was like, I'm going for shoes. I was like, this is a lot.
So, you know, it's a, it's a lifestyle. Um, and that's kind of it for the conversation, um, the, the main stuff in the pod. So as we close out, there's, there's one, well, two things I want to do. One, I want to thank you for coming on and spending some time with me. It's been a pleasure.
It's been a treat. And, um, secondly, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can follow you, a tribe called run, any of those things. The floor is yours. Okay.
Will Walker: So, um, in terms of social media, um, in terms of the group, a tribe called run, uh, our, is our Instagram handle and also Facebook. So, um, at a tribe called run for both of those, um, as you alluded to, our website is not 100% completed yet. Um, but it is up and running.
Um, at least to the point that people can buy stuff. Uh, so you don't think go ahead and hit that shopping and, and, and find something you like, but, um, our website, it's in the process of, you know, we're, we're trying to find tuna before we do a full release. Uh, but it's, uh, a tribe called run.org.
Um, so again, you can go there and find, as you alluded to our schedule, um, shop coaching in terms of, uh, run coaching. And also we're, we've, we've trying to, I'm trying to go back. Now, I don't even know if this is old school, but you know, the, the blog error, man, I came up in the blog error, bro. So, you know, trying to, trying to get back to that where, um, either myself or runners, um, within our, within our community can write about things that, um, are relevant to, you know, what we do, do in the space, right? Um, we got a few articles up talking about some people's experiences or, you know, nutrition and things of that nature. So great thing to check out there.
And, uh, YouTube, man, we got a YouTube channel. Um, just Google a tribe called run. I know it's like a tribe called running like some numbers behind it. Cause I don't know who else has a tribe called run that we couldn't just get the outright a tribe called run, but, uh, but yeah, a tribe called run on YouTube, where you can see some of the, um, videos that we've kind of put together over the course of time as well.
And those are the main places that you can find out about our community. Um, my personal Instagram is water, the letter in oxygen. So what water and oxygen again, that's water, the letter in oxygen. And, uh, yeah, man, that's, that's, that's how you can find myself, our organization and, uh, yeah, tap in. Emma.
Rob Lee: Um, and I feel like the, the folks that might have the, the non numbered a tribe called run is just guys dressed up like run DMC, but doing covers of a tribe called quest songs.
Will Walker: That could be it. That could be it. I'm, I'm having to do some further research and figure it out, man.
Rob Lee: And there you have it folks. I'm going to again, thank will Walker from a tribe called run for coming on to the podcast and sharing a bit of his story background and the story behind a tribe called run. And for will, I am Rob Lee, saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to run to it. See what I do there.