Rising Hearts Updates
Hello Community!
This blog is providing updates on community support and events that are coming up fast! Take a look and see how you can be a part! We are so grateful for your support always and we love to amplify what you all are doing in the community as well! It takes a village as you all know and we are so thrilled to be in community with you all. Check out some awesome things below!
WATCH FIRE! SAN CARLOS APACHE TRIBE
Recently, the San Carlos Apache Tribe has been impacted by the Watch Fire. With over 80 homes taken, and people displaced and support direly needed. Rising Hearts has been able to help through our connections and partnerships:
+ GU Energy Labs is donating Lemon Lime hydration tabs
+ Patagonia is donating gear to the community
+ On Running is donating over 400 items: shoes, socks, athleisure clothes
+ Hoka - our friend Mayra from CA, is donating Hoka shoes
+ Rising Hearts + Jordan: monetary donations, shipping out gently used baby clothes, men and women’s clothes, blankets, feminine products, and diapers
All shipping out this week to the community! DONATE HERE!
- Rising Hearts
coMMUNITY eVENTS
ReNew Earth Running Haulin’ Pollen 5k
Sunday, August 11, 2024 @ 9:00 a.m.
Lake Phalen, St. Paul, MN
The 4th Annual ReNew Earth Running Haulin' Pollen 5k will kickoff the Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi Pollinator Festival! Proceeds from the 5k will benefit RER's mission and Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi's work of protecting nature and sacred sites.
Construction has begun on the Wakan Tipi Cultural Center! This is such tremendous news, and as a result, the Haulin’ Pollen 5k and the Pollinator Festival will be at Lake Phalen again this year. The 5k course will include one loop around Lake Phalen. After you finish your amazing run, runners are invited to stay and enjoy a full morning of activities at Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi’s Pollinator Festival!
SHIRTS:
RER is also partnering with Tuscarora Woodworks for race t-shirt ordering. Shirts are available for purchase for an additional cost to registration ($12.99-$14.99). Click the link to order. Order your shirt by July 21, 2024 to ensure that you receive it for race day.
AWARDS:
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers for female, male, and non-binary will each go home with a hummingbird feeder.
Runners will receive a custom Haulin' Pollen wooden medal by Tuscarora Woodworks.
Free Entry!! Become a Haulin' Pollen 5k Dollinator and receive a free entry to the race! Want to go the extra mile? Commit to fundraise a minimum of $100 as you train for the big day and have an even bigger impact in supporting Indigenous land stewardship. Please consider becoming a HP5k Dollinator. Sign up to be a Dollinator here, then email us for your free entry comp code.
THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT!
SAVE THE DATE!
When: Sept. 30th - Oct 1st
Where: Virtual and In Person
Distances: 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Trifecta
In person locations: TBD - will be shared soon!
Every Child Matters Shirts: In the works and will be live via the registration site soon!
Create or join a virtual team
Option to just donate!
Free - registration isn’t required, you can download the digital bib on website
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
The Siekoya Remolina are part of the Siekopai Tribe (a name that means multicolored people) which is made up of just over 50 families (only about 2000 people in total) spread across the Ecuadorian and Peruvian border.
Their people, their language, and their culture are very literally facing extinction. and the engine of extraction hums on, ever increasing the threat due to oil drilling, mining, mono-cropping of palm which causes deforestation and flooding, poverty, diseases of modernity (including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer), racism and marginalization, and of course, the broader climate crisis.
Earlier this year, they fought and won a historic victory culminating with the ecuadorian government agreeing to return 104,000 acres of their ancestral land back to them. Unfortunately, the current administration has dragged their feet when it comes to delivering on this legal obligation, and as a result, tensions along the borders of their land have increased.
This community does not want to take money from anyone or anything that would harm their land, water, air, or bodies. like many indigenous communities, they understand the importance of protecting themselves and their land (which, for them, is an extension of themselves). But still ensnared in capitalism, they have to find ways to bring in income to provide food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and education for their families.
So they find other ways.
Recently, they started their tree climbing team (there’s no name in english, and in spanish they just say “grupo de escaladores siekoya remolino” or group of climbers siekoya remolino).
They attended an event alongside other climbing teams in the region. and in order to participate fully, they wanted to offer the community as the location for the next event, set for the end of this month. Initially a foreigner said he would help them raise the funds necessary in order to host (all in all about $1400), but at the last minute, he bailed, even taking the equipment he’d promised with him.
I offered to help them raise the funds, and that’s what this piece is doing. But even if you can’t donate, I ask that you spend a few moments learning about this project, sharing this piece with friends, and reflecting on what you can learn from their example.
The tree climbing team is not just about tree climbing. Because in this worldview, everything truly is everything in a practical, material way.
So far, we need about $1000 within the next week. (again, originally they were meant to have other funding that fell through. And the organizations they sometimes look to for grants, such as WWE, weren’t able to accommodate them with so short notice.)
But I know we can do this. please, give what you can. share widely. Check the links below to learn more. And please, in the comments, if this brought up anything for you or helped you see something in a new way, let me know and i will pass it onto the community.
-Written by Rae Dohar
Move Well by RH Program Coordinator Lex Saenz
We are so excited to share with you our very own Lex Saenz’s new business! Move Well provides movement wellness classes for companies and organization’s employees through dance, fitness and movement meditation. Empower your team by encouraging them to connect with us through movement wellness classes. Our classes are designed to rejuvenate your spirit through mindful movement. Invest in your employees and see the difference in the workplace. Be a part of a community that values the art of movement and its profound impact on well-being.
Check out her website and follow her on Instagram!
@lexxsaenz | @movementwellness_
RUN REFLECTIONS
Running With Purpose Athlete Advocate, Gaby Alcala!
Gaby completed a run this past weekend with community in Los Angeles for the Peace & Dignity Sacred Prayer Run. They had a great run and and great turnout running on Tongva Land! She has been growing her connection and relationship with the community for a while to ensure a proper welcome of the runners and the community along the journey supporting them as they make their way to Colombia.
”Since 2012, I have been actively involved in the Peace & Dignity Run, and while this year marks my third participation, it could have been my fourth had it not been for the events of 2020. As an Indigenous person, I feel a profound responsibility to stand up and protect what is sacred – the land, our native communities, and our shared heritage. I believe that one way I can fulfill this duty is by offering my prayers and running on the land that links Alaska to Colombia, uniting in a chain of prayers that brings together indigenous communities from North America all the way to the south. Our collective purpose is to breathe life into the ancient prophecy of the eagle and the condor, transcending tribal boundaries to recognize our unity as a people. This year, I have the dual role of runner and organizer, tasked with the responsibility of moving the prayer run from Tavtavian to San Juan Capistrano within just 2 days. Over the past three weekends, I have been actively participating in practice runs, and our journey began in January with regular Tuesday meetings held since April.”
About the Peace & Dignity Journey:
The Peace and Dignity Journeys originated in 1990 in Quito, Ecuador. In July of that year, Indigenous Peoples from as far north as the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and representatives from the Caribbean gathered to address the state of Indigenous Peoples and to organize a hemispheric response to the upcoming quincentennial celebration of the founding of the "New World" led by Christopher Columbus. This assembly in Ecuador under the Eagle and Condor Prophecy marked the first time Indigenous Peoples from Throughout Abya Yala had come together.
The Eagle symbolized the Indigenous Peoples of the North, and the Condor symbolized the Indigenous Peoples of the South. The gathering leaders encouraged participants to embrace the prophecy as a guiding principle. In 1991, participants from Quito and other Indigenous organizers met in New Mexico, leading to the birth of the Peace and Dignity Journeys.
The first Peace and Dignity Journeys were realized in 1992 with a commitment to organize these intercontinental spiritual runs every four years. Unfortunately, the 2020 Journeys had to be postponed due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Peace and Dignity organizers and Indigenous Communities have reaffirmed their commitment to participate in the 2024 Peace and Dignity Journeys.
2024 Intercontinental Prayer Run:
In the 2024 Peace and Dignity Journeys, participants will embark on a seven-month prayer run from Fairbanks, Alaska, and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, converging at El Cuaca, Colombia. This journey emphasizes the commitment to prayer, underlining the obligation to strengthen spiritual connections among Indigenous Peoples across Abya Yala(Western Hemisphere) . The runners' dedication transcends geographical boundaries, underscoring the imperative nature of fostering unity and respect among Indigenous Peoples.
PODCAST SPOTLIGHTS
EPISODE 18 FEATURE: Alex Staten and Stefanie Flippin
The Trail Network Podcast brings the untold stories of magical moments amongst trail runners to life. These stories of runners on and off the trail capture the spirit of trailrunning and the power of friendship and connection.
On this week’s episode, we chat with Alex Staten and Stefanie Flippin. Alex is a trail and ultra runner from Fayetteville, Arkansas, a Diné and Mexican woman, and this year’s Gu Energy Labs and Rising Hearts athlete in the Western States Endurance Run. If you followed along with Golden Hour at Western States, you followed Alex’s journey from Olympic Valley to Placer High, where she missed the cut off on the track by 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Her day was one of rising above countless challenges and willing her body to the finish line, for reasons far beyond herself. Stef Flippin is a professional trail and ultra runner for Gu Energy labs and lululemon, physician, coach, and podcast host. She had the privilege of being a coach and holistic mentor for GU’s and Rising Hearts’ diversity runners at this year’s edition of Western States. Stef and Alex formed a lasting bond over the last year as a result of Alex’s journey to Western States. We hear about Alex’s history in ultrarunning, Alex and Stef’s coaching relationship, her WSER build, her involvement with Trail Sisters in Arkansas, the partnership between Rising Hearts and Gu Energy Labs, and ultimately, how Alex’s day at Western States played out.