When I go for a run, I’m not just going for a run. I am stepping outside as a Black body in a white world. I am Alison Mariella—mother, runner, activist, wife—and I am also a Black woman forced to carry the stereotypes that whiteness has assigned to Black people. I would prefer to just be me, but my country has not given me this choice. I learned from a very early age that I am never just myself in white spaces; I must be aware of how whiteness sees me.
