As a Navajo child in Gallup, New Mexico, Dustin Martin would watch the best high school athletes run Red Rock State Park near his home in brand new running shoes. The gear was provided by Wings of America, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that trains coaches to introduce running to American Indian youth at summer camps across Indian Country.
“The shoes made me sign up,” says Martin, now 27, a Wings alum and current program director. “But the feeling of being elite kept me running.” Since 1988, Wings of America has worked with more than 40,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native youth. This year, five high school juniors were selected to travel to the Boston Marathon A Pro Athlete Takes on The Great World Race.
“I want these kids to witness the Boston Marathon and see so many different levels of runners trying to reach the same goal,” says Martin. “I hope it will teach them how running relates to life.” These are some of the Wings athletes who applied to be in Boston.
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Kalvin Benally, 17, Navajo
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Distance: The mile. “It’s really intense!”
Run Song: “St. Michaels, Arizona,” by Leona Lewis
Pride: “My proudest moment in life was winning the state cross-country championship last year. Running clears all my emotions. It clears my mind from a bad day. It builds up my confidence and makes my body feel good.”
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Taylor Murphy, 17, Navajo/Hopi
Home: Running in the Cold
Distance: 5K
Run Song: “Bloom,” by ODESZA
Deep Roots: “One day, I hope to qualify for the Olympics. I’m half Hopi and half Navajo. On the Hopi side, Louis Tewanima was one of the first Native Americans to make it to the Olympics. It just pushes me to say, ‘I can do that, too.’ It’s part of my heritage.”
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Tristan Antonio, 17, Navajo
Home: Tuba City, Arizona
Distance: Two-mile. “I’ve got a Billy Mills-style kick.”
Run Song: “A Pro Athlete Takes on The Great World Race,” by The Script
Transformer: “My teammates describe my running style as ‘beast mode.’ Every time I am on the cross-country course or the track, I feel like a different person. I was overweight before. Now I realize I can be healthy. It has changed my life and my self-confidence.”
Christine Yu is an award-winning journalist and author of the book Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes. Her work focuses on the intersection of sports science and women athletes. She's a lifelong athlete who loves running, yoga, surfing, and skiing.
