[00:00:00] Kim: [00:00:00] Continuing with the run crews series up next is R.I.O.T. Squad. Right?

[00:00:16] Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Run Wave Podcast. I am your host Kim. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome to the show. If you are a return listener, welcome back to the show. I so appreciate you tuning in week after week. If you haven’t already done. So please be sure to subscribe to The Run Wave Podcast so that you get notified each and every time I upload a new episode and also stop it or doing, take a look at your phone, scroll up and rate the show.

[00:00:51] Five stars, please. It really

[00:00:54] helps the show to get recommended

[00:00:56] to other runners like yourself and helps me. Keep [00:01:00] this little show that could going this week on the show. I had the chance to sit down with Rob the founder of R.I.O.T. Squad Running and Alison one of the leaders of the crew.

[00:01:12] And we just chatted it up

[00:01:13] about everything.

[00:01:15] R.I.O.T. Squad, running the city of Baltimore. And I just got to know these two and how their crew

[00:01:23] works. I think you

[00:01:24] will really enjoy them because they were so down to earth. So let’s get into the

[00:01:29] show, please. Welcome Alison and Rob to The Run Wave Podcast from R.I.O.T. Squad Running. How are you guys? Good. How’s the weather down there, man?

[00:01:44] Uh, Maryland. It’s chilly. I

[00:01:47] Alison: [00:01:47] think it was 35 ish today felt

[00:01:51] Kim: [00:01:51] same about the same as us here. Yeah. You know, I was perusing Rob’s Instagram and I saw him in a pair of shorts. I said, what’s going on with [00:02:00] Beverly? Yeah, I got some good water over there.

[00:02:02] Rob: [00:02:02] Yeah. A few weeks ago we did a few weeks ago. We had the weather.

[00:02:05] So.

[00:02:06] Alison: [00:02:06] Yeah, he just likes to, he just likes to show his legs off. Don’t be fooled.

[00:02:13] Rob: [00:02:13] So

[00:02:13] Kim: [00:02:13] tell us a little bit about yourself. Rob you want to go first? Sure.

[00:02:18] Rob: [00:02:18] So, um, my name is Rob Jackson. I’m the founder of riot. Um, prior to that, uh, served in the army for six years. Um, and that kind of started right at as just a way to build my own issues as opposed to like. Them was like a sort of therapy.

[00:02:39] And, um, what else? I’m a Leo. I’m married and I have one child.

[00:02:45] Kim: [00:02:45] Wait, wait. We’re

[00:02:50] Rob: [00:02:50] for myself. So. Pretty I’m pretty laid back and chill. Not much about me.

[00:02:59] Kim: [00:02:59] Okay. What about [00:03:00] you, Alison?

[00:03:00] Alison: [00:03:00] Well, I’m a, July Leo Kim. I already know how you feel about July Leos. Um,

[00:03:05] Kim: [00:03:05] I let y’all in a little bit. Cool. So you, you you’re officially elite  I can’t.

[00:03:15] Alison: [00:03:15] Um, I joined the group in, I want to say it was 2017. I had just finished training for my first marathon.

[00:03:23] Um, with the group, with the local chapter here at black girls run, and we will wake up at like three or four o’clock and one of the go runs, they all were married and have kids. I am not married. I do not have kids. And yeah, I didn’t feel like I needed to wake up that early to go runs. So I did a hashtag search, um, came across Rob’s Instagram page and shot him a DM and said, Hey, can I come out?

[00:03:45] And he said, yeah. And then it’s kind of grown from there. And now I’m one of the leaders of the group. So that is nice.

[00:03:52] Kim: [00:03:52] So Ryan is actually an anagram, which I did not know until recently. So what does riot stand for and how did you come up [00:04:00] with that name? So

[00:04:02] Rob: [00:04:02] it’s a, it stands for running as out therapy and, um, the nanny before we was officially riot, we would just want a group chat, not even group me, just a group chat.

[00:04:12] I would text everybody say, Hey. Are you running today or, you know, and that’s how eventually it was like 10 of us on the list. And then a guy named, we call him FIDI, that’s his nickname? Uh, he started yeah. Group me and then it just happens. It’s our therapy. So he started the actual name of the group, me and then it just grew from there.

[00:04:34] So it was, and honestly it kind of happened organically, especially around the timeless, like the Freddie gray uprising. So that’s around that time. So that’s honestly, that would make us stand out as well, too. So it was like a, like a play on words, like almost like a double entendre.

[00:04:52] Kim: [00:04:52] You said what makes it, so you were the sole founder of the group?

[00:04:57] Yes. And what made you want to start [00:05:00] a running crew? So I, I

[00:05:01] Rob: [00:05:01] didn’t, it just happened. It didn’t like, yo, I’m gonna go out and start this running crew. Like initially the group was just. Me by myself, then it’s like, Oh my homie gonna come around with me or my wife, cousin, and then, Oh, Rob, you running our word.

[00:05:17] I’m gonna come out with you. And then that’s how would do it? It wasn’t like, all right, it wasn’t going to strategize and make this group. And we going to do this logo. Like the logo came years after like, so everything I tell everybody it happened organically. Like me and Alison met organically. It wasn’t like, Oh, I’m searching for like, Another run leader, just everything just happened.

[00:05:37] So that’s what made it so dope.

[00:05:39] Kim: [00:05:39] So when and where do you, does the group meet for runs?

[00:05:45] Rob: [00:05:45] So we meet our main day a Sunday. Eric 8:00 AM at Rusty’s cupboard at the, in Harbor. That’s what most people know Baltimore for. We pre COVID. We used to do Wednesday at Penn station, which is the train station. And [00:06:00] we did Tuesday morning track at Dunbar high school at five 30 in the morning.

[00:06:07] Kim: [00:06:07] So do you just, would you describe the group as like more of a competitive group or more of a social kind of run crew?

[00:06:14] Rob: [00:06:14] Both you have those individuals that’s super competitive that, you know,

[00:06:19] Alison: [00:06:19] social. Um, it always ends up being competitive. Once we start running now,

[00:06:24] Rob: [00:06:24] actually, you know what? It starts to have a social and then like the last three or four miles, it was like, okay, like, It becomes competitive, but it’s not.

[00:06:34] Alison: [00:06:34] We always start saying like, Oh, Lauren run slow. We’re just going to run together. We’re going to chat and talk about the week of the weekend. Um, and then somebody always more sprint or somebody always wants to be somebody. And it’s a good time.

[00:06:46] Kim: [00:06:46] Listen, after I was like my grill, because they’re like, we’re going to do sexy pace.

[00:06:50] Right. And then all of a sudden everyone’s running like an eight minute mile. I’m like what happened to sexy pace? Right. I want to be sexy by myself.

[00:06:57] Alison: [00:06:57] Y’all go here now.

[00:06:59] Rob: [00:06:59] Real [00:07:00] fast mint. Um, Alison one day she said, yeah, I’m gonna go do 10 miles, but I’m gonna run a nice, easy place. Right. So I said, bet, you know, cool.

[00:07:07] So it talking the whole way in, so maybe around like mile seven, eight, she left, she was picking it up and I’m looking at my watch. I said, no, you’re not. The patient was running. And then eventually I stayed. I kept the same pace. She got faster and I couldn’t see it anymore. When she left?

[00:07:24] Alison: [00:07:24] Well, my defensive was out and back and I, I like to treat our own bags, like two separate runs.

[00:07:29] So I’ll run the first half a lot slower than I run the, the back half. Um, I told him that though. Yeah, but

[00:07:36] Rob: [00:07:36] I told you, I didn’t know, you’re going to leave me.

[00:07:40] Kim: [00:07:40] But you know why sometimes that’s good. When you have someone that does push the pace cause they motivate you to get, become a better person.

[00:07:47] Rob: [00:07:47] Yeah.

[00:07:48] And that was a great run. That’ll probably like my best run ahead all year there. I felt good.

[00:07:53] Alison: [00:07:53] You’re welcome.

[00:07:58] Kim: [00:07:58] Your crew like [00:08:00] made up in the leadership position. Do you have like captains coaches? What’s the structure of your

[00:08:06] Alison: [00:08:06] group? For a while. I was just Rob and I, um, and then we started with UA and, uh, 2019 for some of you Ray, I believe. Um, and there’ll be pigs three captains, I believe. So we have another male.

[00:08:23] Um, actually we have two men, um, and two women who also serve as captain. So we meet every so often just to collaborate on ideas, bring those ideas together. Um, around coach, um, there is another captain who leaves track Tuesdays and she puts together the workouts for Tuesdays. Um, one of the other male captains is also a personal trainer, so we all kind of bring out background and knowledge of expertise to the table.

[00:08:50] Kim: [00:08:50] Now you mentioned you AE, which is under Armour. So are you guys sponsored by under Armour? Yes. And how did that come about?

[00:09:00] [00:09:00] Rob: [00:09:00] Organically. I mean, we’re in the town. So like they notice us and no, I mean, we kind of have, uh, they have the pulse of the city, so, you know, we outside, so people are going to see us.

[00:09:12] And eventually, you know, the running community is small in Baltimore. Baltimore is known for like basketball and actually just basketball. So, uh, you’re going to know people who run and especially if you see a group of black folks running. So it just kind of happened organically over the years that we built a relationship.

[00:09:31] Then we just made it official.

[00:09:32] Alison: [00:09:32] The marketing director at the time was really adamant about forging community. Um, she’s a really good people connector and she sent us a message one day. It was like, Hey, I’m just going to come out and run with you guys and be stayed, at least contact. And then we made it official.

[00:09:48] Um, maybe, maybe a few years after her personal and with this. So we kept the Elise. Relationship, um, for a few years before we made it official, it’s under

[00:09:57] Kim: [00:09:57] Armour based in Baltimore. It [00:10:00] is, it is. And y’all look like the only crew that I see wearing under Armour. There are some

[00:10:06] Alison: [00:10:06] more, there is a resident run as in New York there’s district running collective in DC.

[00:10:12] Um, there is electric flight crew that has different chapters across the country as well, running. There, there we are out there. We exist

[00:10:24] Kim: [00:10:24] now since we’re on under Armour. Cause I don’t see anybody running on an under Armour, but I did see Rob post, these flies shoe that I think I screamed, I meant to screenshot it, but I don’t think I did.

[00:10:36] They were gray. And you had like your outfit laid out.

[00:10:42] Rob: [00:10:42] See here’s the thing. Alison, get all the cool stuff, honestly. And I wear like a sample. I wear like a size nine and a half. So everything has always sold out in my size, but, um, they make some cool stuff for me. Like prior to running with under armor, I wore under him.

[00:10:59] I tried [00:11:00] other brands and they just didn’t work for me. So besides, I mean, it’s great that they sponsor us, but I actually wore the shoe. You know, it worked for me, you know, like I tell everybody not everything is going to work for, you know, each runner. But they, they had some dope stuff. They’ve gotten better over the years, you know, a lot better, you know, they have a dope lifestyle brand, which is really good and just machines works for me.

[00:11:25] So

[00:11:27] Kim: [00:11:27] the what, what is the name of the shoe that you guys run it?

[00:11:31] Rob: [00:11:31] Um, I run in the guardian, which is a stability shoe.

[00:11:36] Alison: [00:11:36] Um, yeah, I’m a neutral rider. I don’t need a lot of stability. Um, I’ll do my tempos and my speed work in velocities. And anything up to 10, I’ll do a Mokena um, or some of the fandoms are cool.

[00:11:49] I like all the hover technology they have.

[00:11:53] What’s

[00:11:53] Kim: [00:11:53] the price point because I have, my arm is not on my, I mean, for like the heat gear, you know, people always wear that, but you don’t see [00:12:00] anybody running and sneakers. So like, what’s that, are they like in the average price point of a running shoe? I know y’all get y’all stuff for free, but that’s regular reg regular folk.

[00:12:10] How much are we going to pay for some sneakers? You’re not

[00:12:13] Rob: [00:12:13] ready to go by the

[00:12:13] Alison: [00:12:13] way,

[00:12:15] Kim: [00:12:15] you’re gonna head up a nice sale. Um, no,

[00:12:18] Alison: [00:12:18] but I think most of the shoes fall in between the one 2150 range, the cold gear, reactive shoes, uh, Robin both have, I think over one 70. And I think that’s the highest that I’ve seen.

[00:12:31] Kim: [00:12:31] Why don’t you as again, expensive man. Yeah,

[00:12:34] Rob: [00:12:34] I’ve seen a brand is it’s Mikey has a band it’s like two and some change.

[00:12:39] Kim: [00:12:39] That’s an IMS. Or with Nike, they going to have to go somewhere with that mess. And you can only wear them for like 200 miles or something like ridiculous. Yeah. But I

[00:12:48] Rob: [00:12:48] see regular folks and them now, like not even outside of running, so was, you know, yeah.

[00:12:56] I mean, they’re all stock now. I’m like, they’re selling for like three 50 now on stock [00:13:00] X, which makes it even worse.

[00:13:01] Kim: [00:13:01] Well, send your girl a coupon code is something so I could try out some under Armour shoes, shoe.

[00:13:06] Alison: [00:13:06] Okay. So she’s going to try and love this. This is the step for

[00:13:09] Kim: [00:13:09] her to try anything once one time.

[00:13:16] So what is like the member makeup of R.I.O.T. Squad? Because you two are obviously of black racial background. What are your members look like?

[00:13:29] Alison: [00:13:29] Those look like. Us. Um, I remember it’s a predominantly black run group, although I will say since COVID, uh, run group has the combo, whatever is with just people wanting to get out, people want to run more.

[00:13:41] Um, so we do have whatever as a group than we did years ago.

[00:13:48] Kim: [00:13:48] And what is, um, what has it been like for you guys during COVID? Cause I know you kind of stopped posting group runs, so did you stop group runs and then start them back up?

[00:13:59] Rob: [00:13:59] Yeah, it wasn’t [00:14:00] official. Like we folks who still meeting up at it wasn’t official, but honestly, for the group, it hasn’t been that bad for like riot as a, as a whole, our membership has grown.

[00:14:14] Um, we’ve gotten faster, like folks put in a lot of work. We had a lot of guys on the ultras, multiple marathons throughout the year. Um, we just try to be safe, you know, and just. Continued, you know, run and just help the community. We

[00:14:30] Alison: [00:14:30] let people use their discretion when they want to run. So for a while, we weren’t running officially, but people would still meet up on when we decided to bring officially bring back runs.

[00:14:39] It was because we had quite a few number of people who still wanted to run. Um, and we. Break up, um, Albert run. So we don’t all take off at the same time. We don’t all run together and we always carry mess. Um, so we felt that it was safe for us to come back officially.

[00:14:57] Kim: [00:14:57] So how many people should, cause I haven’t had a [00:15:00] group run since March of last year and you know, my club, they’re not doing runs at all.

[00:15:05] They said we can’t risk it cause they’re like a big corporation. So how many people are showing up for your runs and can you even socially distance and group runs, like how does that work?

[00:15:18] Alison: [00:15:18] The most, I think we’ve had is maybe, maybe 20. Um, maybe we try to follow the guidelines of the city. So I know for awhile it was like no more than 25 people outside at a time.

[00:15:33] So we’ve stayed under that for the most part. Um, you be kind of socially distance. We don’t stress. Close together. We don’t really give hugs anymore, but again, it is up to the discretion of the person who comes out, how much interaction you want to have with somebody.

[00:15:50] Kim: [00:15:50] So just to pivot a little bit, I saw that you recently did a shoe drive to donate footwear to Haiti.

[00:16:00] [00:16:00] How did that come about?

[00:16:02] Rob: [00:16:02] Um, one of the members are he’s a captain on Tim. Uh, he had a relationship with one of the running stores. So we was just trying to think of ways to give back, pull at the end of the year. And most runners have a ton of shoes like between myself and Alison Alison bought a ton. I mean, cause we get so much and like after, I mean after awhile, just like, okay, I’m going to just donate them.

[00:16:26] So. It actually surprised me how many shoes it’s like the everyone bought. It was, it was a ton, it was a ton of shoes. So that was, that was a real dope thing. Cause normally I give them away. If I, I carry them in my car. If I see somebody that’s homeless or whatever, why give them to like my younger cousins or my dad or something.

[00:16:44] Kim: [00:16:44] That’s a good idea to carry shoes

[00:16:45] Rob: [00:16:45] in your car. I did it. Yeah.

[00:16:48] Kim: [00:16:48] Need to do that. As I got a load of shoes I don’t wear anymore,

[00:16:53] Rob: [00:16:53] it just takes up space at the laws, like a bunch of shoe boxes of sneakers.

[00:16:57] Kim: [00:16:57] It definitely does. So how many sneakers [00:17:00] did you guys end up collecting?

[00:17:03] Alison: [00:17:03] I think it was 60 something years.

[00:17:06] It may have been more because more people dropped some off, um, to the actual store. After the round boat, it was, it was close to a hundred.

[00:17:14] Kim: [00:17:14] Now I like how you guys format your runs. I see that you do like a lot of run tours in the city who thought of that. It’s actually a good idea because you get to, you know, know your surroundings cause which a lot of people don’t do, even though, you know, the city that they live in.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:32] Alison: [00:17:32] Right. Things out with all the routes. Um, after we harassed him for years about changing the route pretty much like he does a good job. Yeah. When we first started, we ran the same route. Um, so maybe like a year or two, then we would branch off from that route, but it was essentially like the same route and it just got born.

[00:17:53] Um, so Rob was in charge of all the routes from now.

[00:18:00] [00:18:00] Kim: [00:18:00] Let’s say that you, um, you go to businesses as well, that some of the owners, some of the runners and the crew may own.

[00:18:08] Rob: [00:18:08] We did we have, um, we have a dope group, you know, we have, uh, one gentleman, he owns the juice bar. He opened up a juice bar in the middle of a pandemic, which is amazing. And then we also had one of our runners.

[00:18:21] Uh, she owns a mess in the bottle, which is an apparel company and she, she was just featured in target, uh, all across the country. So, you know, we try to hide like, Certain things like that. And, um, again, we try to get out of running at the, in inner Harbor where everybody know Baltimore for. We want them to really like run the city and, and inter out.

[00:18:41] So that’s why, like every week I try to play on like a different route.

[00:18:46] Kim: [00:18:46] So tell me something about Baltimore. Cause I’ve been through Baltimore, you know, going to DC and going down South, but I don’t think I’ve actually ever stopped and hung out in [00:19:00] Baltimore chills. So what is like Baltimore known for food?

[00:19:04] Tell me about the foods that eat some food,

[00:19:07] Alison: [00:19:07] bread, cakes and crab cakes.

[00:19:11] Rob: [00:19:11] Yeah, crabs, crab cakes, chicken boxes. I don’t like chicken boxes, full wings and fries. That’s what I mean.

[00:19:21] Kim: [00:19:21] We had that yet. That’s like a four piece, you know, two, three foot

[00:19:24] Alison: [00:19:24] dots. That’s a little different.

[00:19:29] Rob: [00:19:29] No, four wings fried

[00:19:30] Alison: [00:19:30] hard salt, pepper, ketchup.

[00:19:31] I’ll have to catch up. You got to have soccer for catch up. That’s the one word

[00:19:35] Kim: [00:19:35] for catch up. Yeah, I can put ketchup on my chicken. It’s cool.

[00:19:42] Rob: [00:19:42] I mean, you don’t have to, but salt, some pepper, and then you get a half a half, not an auto polymer. You don’t, we don’t call it

[00:19:51] Kim: [00:19:51] half of that. I call the team and aid the element.

[00:19:58] That’s what I call it now. Saba [00:20:00] team and aid,

[00:20:03] some water and a half and half. Is it looking in that.

[00:20:08] Rob: [00:20:08] You can put it more than likely, uh, next to the chicken, uh, chicken spot is, uh, it’s a liquor store. It’s a liquor store. So you can, uh, we’ll get a little shorty or something and put it in there. But now we really know for crab cakes though. Like if he, if he want seafood, if you want a crab cake come to Baltimore though.

[00:20:31] Alison: [00:20:31] No, no, don’t go to a chain of, and people will come here and go to light. I don’t know, like Ruby Tuesdays or somebody’s crazy. Oh, me. Let me stop. Uh, uh, non chain restaurants. You really well with crack cakes and some food stuff.

[00:20:50] Kim: [00:20:50] Um, Baltimore I’ve been because you guys are pretty, how close is Baltimore to DC?

[00:20:56] Alison: [00:20:56] 45 minutes.

[00:20:59] Rob: [00:20:59] It’s like 30 [00:21:00] miles knowledge, but it’s like a 45 minute ride because of

[00:21:03] Kim: [00:21:03] traffic. How has Baltimore been like during the unrest in the summer that when we went through, you know, when, um, we were doing all the protests and things like that, that R.I.O.T. Squad participated in any of that.

[00:21:18] Rob: [00:21:18] I think members, I think some members did.

[00:21:21] Um, I think our leadership at riot, we’re kind of, we’re not like a young, like our age demographics. They’re not like young, like Al members. We have young members, that’s like 20 something, right? Like one member told me she was 25 and I’m like, geez, that’s nuts. Yeah, but then like, I’ll be 40 this year. You know what I mean?

[00:21:41] So we had,

[00:21:43] Kim: [00:21:43] so, so you were born in 81, like me, exactly.

[00:21:47] Rob: [00:21:47] Hey Carlin. We had some people that was out there, like constantly out there. I know this time around, I wasn’t like on the front line when the Freddie gray was going on, I was outside because I’m a photographer. So I’ve captured [00:22:00] a lot of images, but, um, folks who stole involved, like whether it be community service project, so they would just.

[00:22:08] You know, posting something on social media, everybody chose to, you know, did a different activism in their own way.

[00:22:15] Alison: [00:22:15] Uh, we do have, we did have some protests here in the city, but I think a lot of us, myself included, I drove down to DC, um, just to be in that environment just to be near, um, the Capitol, just to be in that environment of.

[00:22:31] W it, it just felt good to be around so many people who bonded over the same kind of issue, um, on a larger scale than maybe the protest here in Baltimore had. I know they were about three of us had drove down in DC.

[00:22:43] Kim: [00:22:43] So, what is Baltimore like now during COVID like, are you guys open? And our thing is everything’s shut down.

[00:22:50] What’s going on? There is different, you know, this country Rose state one. So,

[00:22:59] Alison: [00:22:59] so yeah, [00:23:00] the city restaurants are closed and I think has been away for maybe three weeks. Um, well, who knows what that’s gonna look like? OB plater. The County is still open. So the County, um, restaurants is open. Gyms are still open are though they’re not full to capacity.

[00:23:16] So it really just depends on city versus County versus, you know what district you’re in.

[00:23:23] Kim: [00:23:23] What are your are? Y’all a democratic city. Okay. We call them,

[00:23:29] Rob: [00:23:29] yeah. Have a feeling. It hasn’t been a Republican mayor since. I don’t like the sixties and I probably wouldn’t have switched. Yeah, we haven’t, you probably won’t see a Republican man.

[00:23:41] Yeah.

[00:23:43] Alison: [00:23:43] Hogan is Republican though. Our government is a Republican. Yeah. I

[00:23:46] Rob: [00:23:46] mean, you got to think Hartford County, Cecil County, like, you know, those other counties, but I don’t see a Republican mayor coming to Baltimore. At least

[00:23:58] Alison: [00:23:58] Baltimore

[00:24:01] [00:24:00] Rob: [00:24:01] with two black, it’s like 70% black. Like it’s

[00:24:04] Kim: [00:24:04] not happening. Yeah, no, not in Baltimore.

[00:24:07] So what’s up next for R.I.O.T. Squad. I know you guys do a lot in your community. You have that you’re participating in a contest to try to get funds from under Armour. I think I read about that. So

[00:24:21] Alison: [00:24:21] that was the mouse challenge we did back in. Through October. I think, I think it was it’s coming back around, um, down the line.

[00:24:31] But for right now, we’re focusing on our black history month tour, which will be in a few weeks. So every week we’re going to run, um, to a different location, do a nice, informative educational stop. Um,  yup.

[00:24:48] Kim: [00:24:48] I was going to say, send me the info, but you know, you girl, I, I haven’t been going nowhere. I didn’t even want to commit to that.

[00:24:56] Rob: [00:24:56] No, listen, listen, listen, I, I totally get it outside of running. [00:25:00] I haven’t really did much, like I see folks on my timeline, like mainly like down South, like in Houston, the land I’m like, man.

[00:25:10] Kim: [00:25:10] Hey, ain’t up in the club. I saw people act in the club. I’m like, what are y’all doing?

[00:25:15] Rob: [00:25:15] That’s all people in Houston this weekend.

[00:25:17] I’m like, Oh, word, like you guys are outside was like, maybe I’m bad, too safe. And I was like, no, I’m good. I’m good. I’m good on

[00:25:25] Kim: [00:25:25] that. No, they, they open open. Like I can’t do it. Just not, I mean, I’ve traveled a little bit over the summer, but other than that, I’m like home. I don’t go nowhere, but say I didn’t plan.

[00:25:39] Rob: [00:25:39] I probably should have had, I know I would’ve probably did like a staycation or I would probably maybe went to a different city and just rented a house and chilled and

[00:25:50] Alison: [00:25:50] worked from home.

[00:25:55] Rob: [00:25:55] going to be somewhere warm right now. Like really, really warm.

[00:26:00] [00:26:00] Alison: [00:26:00] We’ll still be an S

[00:26:01] Rob: [00:26:01] Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely.

[00:26:03] Kim: [00:26:03] Sustained more than a few months. We probably have another year. I think so too. I mean,

[00:26:10] Rob: [00:26:10] it’s not bad. I mean, it’s bad. Right. But

[00:26:14] Kim: [00:26:14] it’s look, we’re optimistic.

[00:26:20] Rob: [00:26:20] What about the numbers I’m talking about just being at home and just been, Oh,

[00:26:23] Alison: [00:26:23] this is, yes. It’s bad. It’s

[00:26:25] Kim: [00:26:25] bad. I’m over it.

[00:26:28] Rob: [00:26:28] I mean, I’m getting COVID fatigue now. It’s like, I, every day is the same. Like, like I work from home, I put on the same clothes. I don’t get dressed for work, you know, it’s just,

[00:26:39] Alison: [00:26:39] it’s the same, the reason to why we decided to bring back the ranch.

[00:26:41] It’s just, I mean, it’s just mentally, um, it’s just tough to get him through this. I mean, the isolation. Not being able to see your friends, not being able to have the same outlets that we used to have, even something as simple as like going to the movies or whatever it was you used to be before it’s not available to us.

[00:27:00] [00:26:59] And only thing available now is kind of, you know, loosely meeting up, um, and, and running. So I think that’s one of the citizens or reasons why I made the decision to come back.

[00:27:12] Kim: [00:27:12] Dennis. Is there anything else that you guys wanted to talk about? You want to let people know about the crew?

[00:27:18] Rob: [00:27:18] Oh, whenever you’re in the city, come check us out.

[00:27:20] You know, we run on Sundays at 8:00 AM. Um, what about you?

[00:27:24] Kim: [00:27:24] Alison? We leave at eight 15.

[00:27:28] Alison: [00:27:28] Okay. I’m just gonna put that out there. We

[00:27:31] Kim: [00:27:31] leave at eight 15, but y’all got the CP run off

[00:27:36] Alison: [00:27:36] time. Don’t be later in eight, 15. We’ll wait for it to

[00:27:42] Rob: [00:27:42] they’ll pull up late. Yeah,

[00:27:45] Alison: [00:27:45] it’s a good group. Um, you know, everybody has their own pace.

[00:27:49] Everyone just comes together just to talk and commune and, um, you know, no, there’s no bad feelings between buying the [00:28:00] group. It’s really just a cool joke to come out.

[00:28:03] Kim: [00:28:03] We break. Can we find y’all online? Cause I was doing my research. I’m like, when is writing a school? I found a couple of news articles that I couldn’t find too much.

[00:28:13] So where do we find y’all give me your social handles any other websites where people can look up the crew, Ryan

[00:28:21] Rob: [00:28:21] squat running on Instagram, and you can look up a R.I.O.T. Squad Running on Facebook. I’m not too active on Facebook because it’s just, Facebook is for the folks who don’t have ID really like.

[00:28:34] Kim: [00:28:34] Ooh, nothing. I’m so thrilled with Facebook right now. I think I get on maybe

[00:28:39] Alison: [00:28:39] once a week, make sure nobody died,

[00:28:47] Rob: [00:28:47] family, you know, it’s for the family. So if I post something on Instagram, I’ll make sure, like, I link it to the Facebook because I have to check it like, Oh, it’s like, Oh, I sent you an article, something on [00:29:00] Facebook. I’m like, Oh, okay, cool. But you know, Normally we do everything out of Instagram or, um, we have a group meeting for the members, but, uh, myself and Alison run the Instagram page.

[00:29:11] So all of the, if you see any cool captions or anything like that, it comes from Alison.

[00:29:16] Kim: [00:29:16] I want to read enough caption. And I was like, I don’t think it’s. It was Alison. I was like, get out

[00:29:20] Alison: [00:29:20] of rabbi cigarette.

[00:29:23] Rob: [00:29:23] I’m not built for that. Right. It’s too hot.

[00:29:29] Kim: [00:29:29] So if I come to Baltimore, what area am I staying in?

[00:29:35] Alison: [00:29:35] Um, Victor, I’m going to run. You’re going to stay downtown at the Harbor.

[00:29:42] Rob: [00:29:42] Melbourne in hot-button area, but, um, yeah, that’s what you would say

[00:29:48] Kim: [00:29:48] race. Cause I haven’t run ma I don’t think I, Oh, you know what? No, I ran DC. That’s when I first saw you guys, I did that, um, that women’s run crap.

[00:29:58] That was like the worst, worst [00:30:00] was like, no, it wasn’t Nike national, the national woman’s had that, that, and I saw yelling Assata RO I’m like, who are these people? Well, that wasn’t the C though, I think, right? Yeah. Uh,

[00:30:15] Alison: [00:30:15] the Baltimore running festival is the main race that happens in us in October. Um, it’s

[00:30:22] Kim: [00:30:22] a 5k, a half a marathon, and then we had a

[00:30:27] Alison: [00:30:27] marathon relay, but I don’t know if they’re going to keep it.

[00:30:30] Oh with that. Yeah.

[00:30:32] Kim: [00:30:32] That was the crap metal. Right. Get these Hills. And

[00:30:36] Rob: [00:30:36] it’s a tough course.

[00:30:37] Kim: [00:30:37] Yeah. I don’t know about, so of course now I’m a, I’m a leisurely runner.

[00:30:42] Rob: [00:30:42] Good details. It’s a listen. It’s nothing but Hills of Baltimore, but yeah, come get this work. If it was supposedly the 25th anniversary last year.

[00:30:52] Well, Was that probably 20, but you know, of course COVID shuttered that

[00:30:57] Alison: [00:30:57] 5% in 2020 in Grogan down in 2022,

[00:31:00] [00:31:00] Kim: [00:31:00] 2023. I think that’s what it’s looking like for down South racing, like nothing going on. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but yeah, I think 20, 22 is when we’ll probably get back into

[00:31:12] Rob: [00:31:12] I’m okay with it.

[00:31:14] Kim: [00:31:14] Me too. I said a lot of money that she is shoe. Yeah.

[00:31:18] Rob: [00:31:18] Because thinking about when you first started running, you wasn’t worried about racist. He was just like, it’s

[00:31:22] Kim: [00:31:22] okay. Like, yeah. We didn’t even know about racing when we started running

[00:31:28] Rob: [00:31:28] and it’s not like a place I know. And he’s like, that’s just me. I mean, for others, they may feel different.

[00:31:33] I’m not, I did play some, well, I played his top five one time. It was only six people though in age group. Okay.

[00:31:40] Kim: [00:31:40] Second one time out of two, seriously, I was taught from  second place, the gift card, a winner, the one celebrate that’s right. I was second in my age group and the other girl, [00:32:00] she finished like 20 minutes ahead of me.

[00:32:01] It was like, It was a try, but yeah.

[00:32:06] Rob: [00:32:06] Yeah.

[00:32:08] Kim: [00:32:08] All right.

[00:32:09] So thank you again, guys, for being on The Run Wave Podcast, I will be sure to leave all of the groups info down below. So if you’re in the Baltimore area, you can check out R.I.O.T. Squad Running our.dot O dot T.

[00:32:25] Rob: [00:32:25] Yup. Thank you for having

[00:32:26] Kim: [00:32:26] us. Thank you so much for being on.

[00:32:31] Okay.

[00:32:31] Awesome. All right. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Rob and Alison of R.I.O.T. Squad Running the Baltimore, a base run crew. I will leave all of their details down below so you can squirrel up and you can find out where you can

[00:32:49] contact. I’m on

[00:32:50] Instagram, on Facebook. And you know, if you’re in the Baltimore area, be sure to check them out.

[00:32:58] They have two runs weekly. [00:33:00] So I am sure that

[00:33:01] you will feel right at home with this run crew. Well, thank

[00:33:05] you again for tuning into this week’s episode. Don’t forget to rate and review the show, especially if you’re on Apple podcasts, subscribe to the show. You can go to therunwave.com and subscribe to my email list.

[00:33:20] I send an email out every time I upload a new show, so you can get it first. And if you want to be on the show or, you know, someone that would be an interesting topic, send me an email. You can send it to Kim@therunwave.com or you can hit me up on Instagram as well at The Run Wave,

[00:33:39] or are you to hit me on my personal Instagram at straight Kim.

[00:33:44] All right. So I will catch you on the next slide later. Thank you so much for tuning into the show. Be sure to subscribe to The Run Wave on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review of the show on [00:34:00] Apple podcasts. It would really help me out if you are a runner that has a story to tell, and you would like to be on the show.

[00:34:06] You can email hello@therunwave.com or send us a DM on Instagram to the run. Wait, see you next time. .