These thoughts were true, but they didn’t fully explain why I thought distance running was for white people. Or why Mr. Anderson suggested I run track instead of cross-country. If white people were seeing themselves in distance running, where were we? Who was a runner to us? A Black runner was Jesse Owens, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, or Carl Lewis. They were Flo-Jo or Allyson Felix. A Black runner was a track star.
