About

Run Your Hood was founded in June 2020 in East Garfield Park, a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, where Black people make up 88 percent of the population.  It was a response to the social unrest resulting from the wave of assaults on Black bodies and the murders of Black people sweeping across the United States. Realizing that Black people are tired of being denied their freedom, Founder Dyani Cox, created Run Your Hood to introduce running as a path to freedom for Black people and their non-Black allies.  In a system that exploits and oppresses Black people, this running  community stands in radical opposition by centering on personal liberation and Black joy. Our goal is to raise collective liberation through the attainment of personal liberation, and to use our shared freedom-consciousness to dismantle systemic racism.

Run Your Hood is more than a running group, it is movement committed to the empowerment of Black people and their neighborhoods.  The group is for all skill levels and is a place where every person can find inspiration and support to build the physical and mental fortitude to defy limits, overcome adversity, and drive change.  We are running for the revolution in the heart of our Black neighborhood.  We run residential streets and local parks to be beacons of health, hope, and self-love to our neighbors and to de-stigmatize our neighborhood that has been portrayed as a place ridden with gang violence, desolation, and poverty.

For us, running is merely training for a greater struggle ensuing.  Self-discipline and self-love are our weapons against white supremacy.  We will prevail because we…
Lace Up.

Drop me a line
runyourhood@gmail.com