ATLANTA (2019) – When Tes Sobomehin Marshall envisioned the start line of the inaugural The Race half marathon she spearheaded in Atlanta last year, she pictured the sun rising over a momentous new event in long distance running.
That sunrise did happen, but it was at first metaphoric. Lined up to start The Race half that Saturday in mid-October was the largest group of Black runners to ever run collectively in an organized long-distance running event.
Runners who identified as Black made up 86 percent of the field. But it wasn’t until they headed out into the neighborhoods of westside Atlanta, an area of the city that rarely if ever is exposed to endurance sports, that the sun came up over the historic experience.
“There were many conversations about running and race that ...
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