The sky is big enough for everybody to fly

Tasha Thompson started Black Girls Do Run UK in 2019 after a difficult conversation, and even with the current boom in run crews, thinks there’s plenty of room for everybody to find a space

Jul 11, 2024

It feels like there’s a new run club popping up every week. It can be overwhelming trying to keep up with them all, but do you really need to keep up with all of them? Tasha Thompson of Black Girls Do Run UK doesn’t think so.

“I think the new ones that have popped up are targeting a younger audience, and even if they are targeting an older age demographic, one, two, three, four, five, six, run clubs cannot serve all of London, so I think it’s a good thing.”

“Somebody who’s 22 might not want to talk to me - somebody whose daughter’s just finished high school - when they've just finished high school themselves not too long ago. For other people, maybe Monday is the worst day for them, but there will be another group having a run on Tuesday or Thursday.”

“Some are more focused on the social element, and some are focused on performance. It adds variety, and I think that's good. The more run crews there are, showing people running who aren't elite runners, the more running becomes accessible and normalized. Maybe some people see it as competition, but I think the sky is big enough for everybody to fly.”

It’s an important perspective - one that I agree with. I am a regular at an outrageously fashion-conscious run club, and have made many friends at craft beer-oriented run clubs (yes, plural). Along with running, all three personality styles are very easily memed. My run club is different, and there’s little crossover in attendees. It’s a weekday morning run club that leaves bang on schedule, and has catered to beginner runners from the very first run. It’s the safest of safe spaces, but it’s a run club no different to any other. We meet, and we run. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

From difficult conversations

Today, 11th July 2024, is the 25th anniversary of Tasha’s running journey. It was this day in 1999 that she ran the Flora Women’s Challenge in Hyde Park, London. At this point, she had been going to the gym for four years. She started exercising as a young woman for her future health after hearing about the hypertension and diabetes in her family throughout her childhood. She was determined not to let that happen to her. So far, so good.

Tasha started Black Girls Do Run UK after an uncomfortable conversation - a conversation 20 years in the making.

As a teenager, her friends thought she was strange for running. She was “usually the only black woman at runs.” In 2019, this came to a head when running a 16-mile race with a friend. The two black women were some of the only people of color running that day. Unfortunately, they got a little lost, and sought help. Despite wearing running apparel - including a race bib - the marshal they found asked if they were a part of that day’s race. It was an odd interaction. Tasha says that they’ll never know if it was an innocent mistake or if there was more to it, but those thoughts lingered, and ideas crystallized.

“We wondered why she would think we weren’t running the race. We ran towards her. Were not wearing dresses and high heels, or anything like that. Was it because we're two black women? We'll never know, but it prompted a discussion about the lack of diversity, and especially the lack of black women at start lines.”

Inspired by Black Girls Run, which aims to inspire “black women to be healthy and active,” across the USA, Tasha got the Instagram handle, and set about posting photos from runs with her friends Sasha and Linda. Her goal was to show “regular black women running, for their mental health, physical health, friendship, and having goals.”

Why is this group necessary? Those microaggressions (whether perceived or real) add stress to a life. Wondering if someone said something because of the color of your skin - something that you have zero control over - takes up brain space that others might use to make their millions with. That’s how this works. That’s the disparity. It’s easy for Warren Buffett to tell you not to worry about the haters, but he comes from a privileged world. He can have no perspective on these matters. The way that Tasha has created and provided a space that is free of those microaggressions is a truly beautiful thing. It’s a necessary thing for an equitable society.

The threat of growth

If growth is an inevitable part of showing up and building a community you believe in, people trying to jump on your coattails and enjoy the fruits of your success is a potentially irritating part. It’s certainly something to navigate carefully.

As we know, “everybody started running in lockdown,” but people also mobilized around the death of George Floyd. Black Girls Do Run were a driving force within their community during that time, and enjoyed a period of intense growth as a result.

Tasha tells me that “it feels weird that [they] took off because of something so tragic,” but I point out that she was showing up and standing up as an example to her community. That action gave others the confidence to speak out and show up. They joined her, and stayed. A major side effect of that growth was brands reaching out to work with Black Girls Do Run, but nothing much came of it.

“For a lot of the brands it was a tokenistic thing. ‘This is what we should be doing, so we'll reach out to you.’ I think a lot of brands are frightened to say they’re supporting black girls because the keyboard warriors are gonna come out saying, ‘I'm gonna start a group called White Girls Do Run.’ I did a few things around Black History Month with Gymshark, and they had comments like that, and they fired back. They were brilliant.”

Does Tasha want more brands to come knocking? She wants the correct ones, certainly. Brands adding real value to running communities is a subject that I spoke to Luke Myers about a few weeks ago, but with the added racial layer, it’s clearly more complex here. What’s the solution? Braver, more well-informed brands? Always.

Balancing life and run club

Tasha was 42 years old when she started Black Girls Do Run. In the context of run crews started by influencers, and run clubs started by people looking to find a romantic partner, she started late in life. It’s just more variety added to the rich tapestry of London’s run clubs, of course, but with two kids and a job, it’s a lot to take on.

“Nobody tells you that when you start a running crew it becomes like a second job,” she laughs. “But it's not just me, I've got a team that helps. I realized quite quickly that I couldn't do it by myself. I didn't want to do it by myself.”

Black Girls Do Run is a registered charity and is a member of England Athletics. It’s all a lot of extra paperwork, and filing that admin is time that Tasha could be running - something she’s leaning into spending more time on as she enters the world of ultras. Having run her first 50km race in June 2024, she’s already set to run another this weekend.

“I probably say yes far too many times, but I just think this time next year, I might not have this opportunity - I might be busy, I might be unwell. I do things while I can because life is happening now. Seize the day. Seize the moment. Seize the run.”

Seize the run! Luckily, Tasha also said yes to being a panelist for our discussion on Run Club Culture on August 8th in London.

Yeah, it’s a chalkboard background this week. Why have I chosen school themes? Am I always learning? That must be it. One more run club titan panelist to be announced next week, and it’s an absolute cracker.

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