[00:00:00] Kim: [00:00:00] This episode is sponsored by Mid Strike Magazine. The first diverse digital runners magazine visit midstrikemagazine.com to keep up to date on all of your diverse running news.

[00:00:21] The Run crew series continues with Baltimore’s own A Tribe Called Run.

[00:00:37] 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 and welcome to the show. If you are a return listener, welcome back to the show. I truly appreciate you tuning into The Run Wave each and every week. We are continuing the run crew [00:01:00] series.

[00:01:00] Next up, I have Baltimore bass run crew, A Tribe Called Run. If you are a hip hop head, then you know where that name comes from. And I love it. I had the pleasure of chatting with the founder. Will he created this run crew? Believe it or not during the pandemic. And they are just growing and making waves in the city of Baltimore.

[00:01:25] Every week, the crew is just getting bigger and bigger. They have built a unique community. They are a multicultural crew, so they have a little bit of everything in their crew and I love it. So get to know will and a trial cold run right now. All right, please. Welcome William Walker leader of A Tribe Called Run.

[00:01:50] Welcome to the show. Well, 

[00:01:52] Will: [00:01:52] thanks so much for having me. Definitely appreciate it. 

[00:01:54] Kim: [00:01:54] Now, do you prefer William or will? Okay. Cause I know some [00:02:00] people, you know, I’m Kimberly and most people don’t call me that, but I say, call me what you wanted, but I know people have their preferences, right? 

[00:02:06] Will: [00:02:06] Oh yeah. Now you got it.

[00:02:07] You got to make people call you what you want them to call you. Right. You know what I’m saying? Like. You don’t want to, you don’t want, wanna, you know, you just want to let people know who you are, be strong and confident about herself as well. All 

[00:02:19] Kim: [00:02:19] day. I hear that. So where are you from? 

[00:02:23] Will: [00:02:23] Um, I’m originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but I’ve lived in Baltimore for about 20 years.

[00:02:28] So, you know, Baltimore’s home now. Um, come to love it. Appreciate it. It’s it’s the city. That’s definitely made me over these last 20 years. So, you know, I’m a, I’m a Maryland. I’m a, I guess you could say I’m officially a Maryland, or now, 

[00:02:42] Kim: [00:02:42] now, how do you get from Ohio to Maryland? 

[00:02:45] Will: [00:02:45] Um, attended school here. I attended Morgan state university.

[00:02:49] Um, one of the greatest HBC use in the world, you know, you know, I know a lot of people might want to recruit that. I, I could see that little weekend get high real quick.

[00:03:00] [00:03:00] Kim: [00:03:00] schools. I think it’s a combo of that. 

[00:03:03] Will: [00:03:03] No doubt. No doubt. Hey, you know, I, I, I believe in my HBC use. Strong and proud. So, you know, I got to stand up for it with confidence, you know? 

[00:03:12] Kim: [00:03:12] Okay. I have that. So you stayed around in the Maryland area then? 

[00:03:17] Will: [00:03:17] Yeah. Um, I had, uh, had an internship, uh, going or co-op going into my senior year.

[00:03:24] Um, worked there a bit stuck around for grad school and then found a, a job in my, in my career field. So it was just like, all right, I’m here. I ain’t going back home. So here we are. What is your career field? Um, sure engineer. Um, I work in the defense industry, so pretty much I just do like a lot of project management type of work now, um, overlooking programs just to make sure they’re like stand on budget and making sure you’re not spending too many hours in a factory, according to what they proposed.

[00:03:56] So, yeah, that’s about it in a nutshell, based on what I can, I can [00:04:00] share. 

[00:04:01] Kim: [00:04:01] Wait. So I thought that you were going to come on here and say you were a 

[00:04:05] Will: [00:04:05] chef. I mean, I Moonlight as a chef, but uh, 

[00:04:09] Kim: [00:04:09] cause you know, I’m, uh, I’m greedy, I’m a foodie. So I was like, yeah, this is . I can dig 

[00:04:13] Will: [00:04:13] it. I can see, you know, that the thing that are paying the bills right now is the engineering.

[00:04:20] Um, no, I mean, I do have a, I have a huge, huge passion for cooking. Um, I started, well, I mean, definitely, I guess it’s almost like every chef’s tail, right. I started in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother, but, um, you know, it was definitely started off with my grandmother, very young. Um, and then my parents, both of my parents worked, so they kind of relied on me to cook a few meals in high school while I was in high school.

[00:04:45] So kinda got the feel for it in, and then in college it was just survival. But, um, throughout that, a lot of friends started tasting my food was like, Hey man, you can. You can get down. So, um, a few years ago I’d say probably like [00:05:00] 2015 or so 2016. Um, I there’s a local cafe here called Dovecote cafe. Um, they asked me to come in and do like one of their chef takeovers and I pretty much like never looked back since.

[00:05:13] Um, so definitely doing a lot of private engagements, um, through a number of like my home brunches, uh, with a local furniture company, which I got this amazing chair from, by the way. Um, thank you. Um, but it is great because all of these companies are up. Black on black owned cafe, black owned furniture company.

[00:05:33] Um, so it was great to like build community with these places. Um, and them opening the door for me, um, to even share a passion of mine, you know, a lot of us I’m sure even as a runner or a podcast, or like whatever your full-time job may be. Um, sometimes we may feel like we have imposter syndrome and things like that.

[00:05:53] Um, So it was great to have these, you know, local, reputable, um, black owned businesses to like reach [00:06:00] out to me and allow me to, or want to collaborate with them. So that kind of got my forte into doing the chef thing going, um, Focused on doing a lot of meal prep work, but once the pandemic hit that kind of put a damper in it, um, and just had me refocusing my energy.

[00:06:16] So right now I was just focusing on the full time focusing on, uh, the truck car run and, um, you know, we’ll, we’ll see. Um, we’ll see if I feel like put patch on the energy back into, you know, the chef thing heavy, like I was before. So. No, come 

[00:06:31] Kim: [00:06:31] on. I looked at that brunch in Bern. I wouldn’t 

[00:06:35] Will: [00:06:35] do it at brunch.

[00:06:38] That was, so that was like, that was definitely of combining the passion of athletics and food, uh, with my buddy, Tony Sutton, he he’s a physical trainer. So, and that idea actually came about actually, I had been attending some of his bootcamps on Saturday, and as soon as I got to boot camp, I was like, I’m hungry, I’m starving.

[00:06:58] And it really wasn’t anything in the area. [00:07:00] Um, or if it was it wasn’t the healthiest thing to eat. So, you know, just like the next idea was like, Hey man, let’s make something happen. So reached out to him. And we came up with the, um, I approached him about coming up with the idea of brunching burn and that took off for a while.

[00:07:15] And that was another thing that I can say that, you know, unfortunately, Coldwell put a damper on because it’s, it’s definitely based on building that community, um, you know, working out together then breaking bread together afterwards, um, you know, family style servings. Uh, COVID definitely, it’s not something that you definitely want to do in COVID just to be on the safe side because it’s very intimate and, you know, we, um, we, we can’t have anybody.

[00:07:41] So in this, we, we, we ain’t built for that right now, you know? So, um, you know, um, It’s something I definitely want to revisit, I guess once things are a bit clear and I guess there’s more folks get vaccinated and things of that nature. Uh, but yeah. Is, you know, something that’s on the back burner. Um, but definitely something to kind of [00:08:00] paved the way, um, of knowing that I could start building community, especially in this space when it came to physical fitness for folks in here in Baltimore, especially in the black community.

[00:08:10] Um, so yeah, yeah. 

[00:08:14] Kim: [00:08:14] Well, I hope you bring it back when you know, COVID takes a hike. So I might be able to take a trip down to turnpike and join you guys for an event. Nope, 

[00:08:24] Will: [00:08:24] you will be the first one. I let know when it’s popping. Gotcha. 

[00:08:29] Kim: [00:08:29] So what got you into running? When did you start this long distance running thing that we torture ourselves with?

[00:08:39] Will: [00:08:39] That’s all the question you always ask yourself. Like when, how and why did I get into this? Right? Um, it was probably roughly around 20, 2017 was like the. That the, the peak of kind of getting into it. I had always, like, I had the Nike app and we’ll go on a few [00:09:00] runs here and there, but it would only last for like a quick season.

[00:09:03] Right. Um, so maybe when it first get hot outside or when spring started, I would kind of dibble and dabble. Um, but probably in 2017, I did my first 5k, which was actually from Oregon state. Um, it was to supply, um, my best scholarships for students that wanted to, uh, Study abroad. Uh, so I did my first 5k and I think I had like a, like a nine 30 time.

[00:09:30] And I was like, hold up. I’m faster than this G I got it. No, I can’t. I can do better than this. And you know, just, uh, it was this no disrespect at all right. Older gentlemen that, uh, Nice. Nice round stomach. Like I say, he, he probably, he probably was, he probably had to be about 50, 55 for real. Right. And when I say like, he was, he was looking at me or the wrong, you’re like, all right, come on with your book.

[00:09:59] You [00:10:00] can do this. I was like, hold up. Nah, man. I, so, so it was like after I finished that race, so it was like, all right, I gotta, I gotta get serious about this. I gotta redeem myself. And it, it, it picked up a bit. Um, and like once the winter came, I wasn’t ready to that whole transition. Um, so 2018, um, unfortunately I had went through like a, uh, a rough breakup and it was just like the thing that I needed to like, just help me focus.

[00:10:29] So like very consistently since 2018, I’ve just been locked in on the long distance running journey. And haven’t looked back since. 

[00:10:39] Kim: [00:10:39] So, what is, um, the longest distance that you’ve done to date? 

[00:10:43] Will: [00:10:43] Um, as long as this is the date? Not, not much really. I think the longest I’ve actually done is like 15 miles.

[00:10:48] That’s probably been my longest run so far. So I’m still looking to add, um, I think, well, actually I was scheduled for a marathon. Actually may of last year, but of course, that [00:11:00] got canceled and pushed back. Uh, they were trying to do it in person this may, but they pushed it back again just to be on the safe side.

[00:11:07] So they’re looking at fall, uh, Cleveland marathon. So yeah, I wanna, I want to do the first marathon back home. Um, so yeah, Cleveland marathon are pushing it back to 2021. I guess they’ve got to work out some logistics to make sure it’s not the same weekend as the Cleveland Browns, uh, home game. So once we find that out, I can, I’ll start prepping again for, uh, to do 26.2 miles.

[00:11:33] But as of right now, long as this has only been 15 miles, 

[00:11:37] Kim: [00:11:37] um, that’s the longer than most people can do. So don’t say only 

[00:11:41] Will: [00:11:41] true. True, true. I just, I guess I’m just surrounded by so many athletes that like, you know, I got, you know, got nine marathons under the belt and, you know, I see all the metals in the background back there, you know?

[00:11:56] Kim: [00:11:56] Racking them up a lot of years though, [00:12:00] you know, I was trying to look because I know that a couple of guys are trading for a marathon in Toledo. How far is that? From Cleveland 

[00:12:10] Will: [00:12:10] two hours, roughly two hours. 

[00:12:13] Kim: [00:12:13] And they are saying that it’s in person and it’s like next month in April, this month, actually April 24th.

[00:12:21] Will: [00:12:21] Okay. 

[00:12:23] Kim: [00:12:23] So, I don’t know if that’s happening, but maybe that’s one it’s not in Cleveland, but it’s close. 

[00:12:27] Will: [00:12:27] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I, I love to lead out, but you know, it’s right there. You’re on a quarter of a Michigan. So if anybody knows anything about Ohio state versus Michigan, that big rivalry, um, I actually got a lot of friends from, from that area.

[00:12:43] So sometimes they sway tour has been a Wolverine fan. So was. It’s hard to even claim as, as true Ohio state Buckeyes. When they, when they grow up in the state, you live in the state, like, how are you rooting for them, man? Like, so Toledo is, it’s got that. It’s, it’s, it’s hard to classify [00:13:00] Toledo for me. It’s still part of the state, but you know, it’s, it’s a, it’s a weird relationship with some folks.

[00:13:05] So you’re going to keep it in Cleveland. I’m going to keep it in Cleveland. Got it all day, two, one six all day. 

[00:13:11] Kim: [00:13:11] I hear that. So I wanted to have you on the show because you have a run crew called A Tribe Called Run. And if anyone listening to this podcast is a hip hop head. We probably know kind of where that name came from, but why did you choose that name for your crew?

[00:13:29] Will: [00:13:29] Honestly? I mean, you just really just hit it on the head. I mean, huge fan of a tripod quest. Um, but. It honestly is probably more so driven from, um, the collective that they were a part of, uh, native, native times, non native tongues crew. Um, so, you know, that was, uh, jungle brothers, uh, de lasso tripod quest, Moni love queen Latifa.

[00:13:53] Um, but you know, I guess if you put the, another reference to it, um, back to the eighties with the co the, [00:14:00] the cartoon Vultron, you know, it’s just like every time they mopped up and linked up, it was just always. Like when you look in the videos, it was just like, it just looked like it was, can I cuss on here?

[00:14:09] I’m sorry. Or is this 

[00:14:13] Kim: [00:14:13] there’s no ratings. All 

[00:14:15] Will: [00:14:15] they’re great. You know, I just eat, but you know, every time that you saw him, like link up in the videos, it just looked like it was a good fun ass time. And it was like, honestly, um, that was just like, if I, if I do a Runk run crew or anything like that, that’s like the spirit.

[00:14:32] That I want it to be embodied, um, as a part of the recruit. Definitely. It’s just a good, fun, genuine time of people from so many different walks connecting together and just, you know, and in the spirit of running and hopefully building towards, um, better things in the future. So that’s ultimately where it came from.

[00:14:55] Kim: [00:14:55] So you’re a fairly new, not totally new, but fairly new runner. You have a few years [00:15:00] under your belt. What made you want to start a run crew? 

[00:15:02] Will: [00:15:02] Uh, conversations with a number of folks around town, um, that I was either friends with on social media, um, or friends with them in real life. Um, Just kind of, for different conversations of just like, you know, run crews, um, around the city, um, you know, just different aspects of, you know, um, our health, you know, scheduling just the vibes that we felt with, uh, the rock ruse, you know, it just like, um, and ultimately I think it was just like, well, you like to run.

[00:15:35] I like to run. We like to run. Why don’t we run together? Um, but it, it honestly, honestly, I can’t even say that. I didn’t even really know that this was going to happen the way it did. Um, the conversation came up, but it really started from just running with a few homies. And like I said, just reaching out to the few folks that I was either friends with on social media, [00:16:00] um, or real life that just, I knew it was into Ronnie.

[00:16:03] So it’s amazing to kind of like, see just what what’s happened. Um, So, I can’t even say it was just like I had a plan or a vision or a goal, and I wrote it down. I’m going to start a running club. This is why I’m going to do it. This is how I’m going to do it. It was, it was just like, you know, just a few conversations of, well, if we did start one, what’d you think of what’d you think about, about that?

[00:16:24] Or what would you like to see and, you know, what, what are some things that we can bring to the table? Um, that, that may be different and if you know, or may not be different, just, you know, um, So, yeah. That’s I guess that’s how we got here. 

[00:16:40] Kim: [00:16:40] Well, did you feel like something was missing in the Baltimore running?

[00:16:43] Same because there are other crews in Baltimore ready that you could have. Did you run with another crew at first? 

[00:16:49] Will: [00:16:49] Right squad? I know you’ve had them on interview. Um, great crew. And honestly, if, if scheduling wasn’t a problem, I would probably still be running with them today. [00:17:00] Um, but I, I can’t say anything was missing.

[00:17:02] Um, But that I, I don’t know either, you know? Right. It’s um, like said if I can be completely honest with you, I didn’t like running with people. Um, it would be all the way up. Wait, how, you know, like 

[00:17:16] Kim: [00:17:16] runaway people, but you started recruiting. 

[00:17:18] Will: [00:17:18] Exactly. Right. So, um, so as I mentioned to you, it was, and to, to take from RIAA squads, um, their name, uh, right, uh, running really was like a form of therapy for me.

[00:17:32] So it was, it was, it was a way to, um, just clear my mind, everything that I had going on, whether it was work, as I mentioned to you, like early in the start, it was just like my breakup and things like that. Um, I was actually in therapy and my therapist was like, yeah, you know, keep running. It’s probably a great thing.

[00:17:50] You’re, you know, you’re boosting the endorphins and things like that. It’s clearing your mind. So it was really that, that, like that me time that I think a lot of us. Probably don’t realize [00:18:00] that it is a, it is a great me-time that you probably don’t get. I’m sure when you get home from work and you got to cook dinner for the kids and things like that or whatever, it’s like.

[00:18:11] Yeah. Yeah. Right. So it’s like running, running is probably like that me time. And you don’t even, you don’t even get to realize how, how pure and enjoyable level a moment it is. Um, Until, until other people like, yo, what’s up, you want to, I’m trying to run with, hold up, hold up chief. I’m like, yeah, you’re right.

[00:18:33] So it, it was like, it was, it was hard to like, to like even invite people in my space to want to run, like, you know, like my best, one of my best friends. Um, that was actually another reason that this actually started. Uh, but it was like, he was like, yo, what’s up, man. We was, let’s get out here. And I’m just like, uh, I was ducking and dodging him left and right.

[00:18:54] Um, because it was still just trying to figure out, you [00:19:00] know, can I give up this, this time? That’s so critical to me in my development to get me over whatever I was dealing with at the time. Right. Um, but yeah, it, it just. Running with Ryan squad a bit kind of opened my mind. It was like, all right. Running with people actually ain’t that bad.

[00:19:20] And then, um, you know, so me and my buddy, we actually finally did connect to do some runs and it was like, damn, all right. It feels good to actually half fellowship. Um, so we, we used to be roommates, um, you know, and it was fine. His family was getting bigger. It was finally time for me to move out, get my crib and things like that.

[00:19:38] So we really hadn’t been hanging out like that, you know? The typical adult things. Um, so it was, it was good to connect again, like just like, it was just a little at times and just talk and shoot the shit. So it just felt good. So it was just like, okay, it might not be bad bringing other people into the fold and doing things like that.

[00:19:56] So then, like I said, just. Building on conversations [00:20:00] and things like that. And essentially, you know, here we are, what seven, eight, nine months later, what a recruit is growing and we’ll see where it goes. 

[00:20:11] Kim: [00:20:11] So what’s the, what’s the, like the racial makeup of your crews of bunch of Brown folks running around.

[00:20:17] You got a 

[00:20:17] Will: [00:20:17] mixture, very mixed, very mixed. It’s like it’s, it’s like the, uh, The Caribbean and cheddar cheese popcorn, isn’t it, it’s a whole mixed bag. Um, you know, uh, I, which is, I mean, you know, I never, never saw it happening. Um, but I, I embrace it. I definitely embrace it. It’s, it’s been cool to fellowship with folks from other walks of life as well.

[00:20:43] Um, uh, we’ve got black, Asian, um, not next. I’m trying to think what else I’m missing. Uh, I hope I’m not missing anything else. I hope they don’t kill me for this. Um, but uh, [00:21:00] everybody, everybody, but we definitely got a number of members from the LBGTQ community. I’m sure some other acronyms that I’m missing on the end of that, but, um, it’s, it’s definitely a mix of a lot of people from a number of different walks of life.

[00:21:15] And it’s, it’s interesting because you learn a lot, you learn a lot about yourself and. Um, it’s, it’s definitely been interesting. I think for a lot of people to probably see just how much they grow with interacting with all of these different folks from either to different racial makeups or just like, you know, their, their looks and their beliefs right 

[00:21:35] Kim: [00:21:35] now.

[00:21:35] That’s interesting because you know, being an outsider or all I know about Baltimore is like the wire. 

[00:21:45] Will: [00:21:45] Baltimore. I ain’t going to call you out right now. I’m not even from here, but I hate when people would say no. You’re 

[00:21:53] Kim: [00:21:53] right. I know it’s not like a big city. It’s not like a, like a vacation spot. Like people don’t travel there.

[00:21:59] Like, so 

[00:22:00] [00:22:00] Will: [00:22:00] the Harbor, everybody come down and kick it out the Harbor, at least once you feel me. No, 

[00:22:08] Kim: [00:22:08] no, like I’ve been to, I’ve been through Maryland. Like I did a race in Maryland one time and I go through Maryland to get down South, but I don’t think I’ve ever like. Stayed, you know, in Baltimore I’ve been to DC.

[00:22:22] I stayed in DC, but you know, when I think of Baltimore, I think it’s black. You know, I don’t even, I wasn’t expecting you to say that your crew was mixed because when I think of Baltimore as like a majority black city, it is it’s 60 something. Yeah. 

[00:22:37] Will: [00:22:37] I think the last time I looked at the stats and it was like 63%, it’s still a black city.

[00:22:41] It’s still a 63% black city. Um, I mean, but. You know, I I’ll say, 

[00:22:49] Kim: [00:22:49] but how do you advertise, how do you market to get like a multicultural group like 

[00:22:53] Will: [00:22:53] that? They didn’t market it to get it like that. Right. I just straight up serious with you. [00:23:00] Um, like I say, it really started out with a group of homeys, um, to, to rewind real quick.

[00:23:06] The Baltimore running community is very integrated though. Um, it’s very integrated to the fact of. People just like people just like to run and like to see other folks run and like want to know who the other yeah. Runners are. Um, so there’s a number of crews, all white crews, all black crews mix crews with older folks, crews that are based off of diets.

[00:23:31] It’s literally a big mix of folks that have different types of rock crews here. Um, but like I said, it started out with just a group of homies. Um, which was roughly, probably 90% black people, one Latin X guy. Um, and I think maybe, maybe even just one girl on the first run, um, then like the next run, uh, one of the guys that, you know, for you after you use posts on social [00:24:00] media and they see you running like, Oh shoot, y’all, might’ve been up for round is like, I want some of this action.

[00:24:05] And then there was a couple of white folks joined. Um, you know what I’m saying? I actually, one of my buddies in the crew, his name’s, uh, Dave, he brought one of his friends. So, uh, him, her join in, you know, he started to it, then it started to spread and it was one day that I think, um, it rained and it was only four of us.

[00:24:23] And we all took our shirts off. For whatever reason. We was like, we just go make it sexy. Right. And mind you. Maybe it was four of us. Two of us was probably the only two that should have been taking their shirts off. Oh my boy. 

[00:24:38] Kim: [00:24:38] Did you post that 

[00:24:39] Will: [00:24:39] picture? It’s all. I think it’s on my page. My personal page.

[00:24:45] It should be on your show, but you want to marry page two. Um, but like I say, me and my boy Chapo we’ve we, we, we, uh, we was like, we held it down for the folks that ain’t been in the gym crazy like that. But, um, [00:25:00] but one of the guys, uh, the guy, Dave, he posted it to his page literally, as soon as we finished and, um, the place where we start our Monday night runs, um, our house, they saw it and tagged it and they reposted it and everything kind of like spread like wildfire since then.

[00:25:15] And it was like, Honestly, every week it was constant growth. I made you think in the middle of a pandemic, people haven’t been anywhere. Um, so this was like a cute, an excuse to get outside, to connect with people and in a safe manner. Um, so to be honest with you, I’m going to give some credit to our house.

[00:25:34] They did a lot of heavy lifting, um, with judge. Spreading the word and that’s a local, um, like food hall. Um, so very popular is probably got about 20,000, 30,000 some followers, maybe even something more, more than that. Um, but I definitely give credited that to probably open that’s probably the big reason why it opened up to such a huge demographic.

[00:25:56] Uh, folks. Um, but I mean, you know, once people came and [00:26:00] started running, they just felt the vibe of it too. Um, so it’s just always, as I mentioned earlier, we just made sure that we wanted to have good vibes and just have a good ass time when we ran. So, you know, post run, um, we got to the cooler for the water cooler for the beer and we just hanging out a bit, you know, and again, this is something that nobody’s been able to do for what, four months, three or four months, I guess when the pandemic shut everything down.

[00:26:29] So it was a, it was a good change of pace with people, I think. 

[00:26:33] Kim: [00:26:33] So you started a crew during the pandemic? Yeah. Yeah. Which is like, I, I spoke to, uh, you know, another run crew and they said that their membership actually boomed during the pandemic as well because people just had nothing to do. And, you know, running just so many newbies picked up running, because that was one of the only things that we can go out and do like safely.

[00:26:57] So, you know, I think it’s great [00:27:00] that you guys are come, came up during this time because you’ll always have a interesting story to tell about how your, your crew was formed. 

[00:27:07] Will: [00:27:07] Definitely it’s. I mean, like I said, again, I can’t even, I never envisioned this. I’m still like flabbergasted over like the growth that we’ve experienced.