We Run Kings
Photos courtesy of We Run Kings
Joseph Shayne and Jennifer Blalock stay on the run — just 26.2 miles a time. As co-owners of the membership-based running club We Run Kings, the couple provides structured programs for all abilities, whether you’re attempting a first 5k or training for your third marathon.
While Jennifer’s a longtime athlete who ran high school track in her hometown of Rome, Georgia, Joe, a native New Yorker, wasn’t always about that life. He started running seven years ago, after witnessing a friend’s transformation while training for the New York City Marathon. “He was a drinker and a smoker, and he stopped cold turkey to focus on the goal,” says Joe, 36. “Watching him get that focused drew me in.”
Although he now has 14 marathons under his belt, in his early days Joe often felt like an outlier in the world of competitive running. “The running community in New York City is vast, but when it came to training for races and specific goals, those groups weren’t geared toward people of color,” says Joe, who found either elite teams that were predominantly white or POC groups that concentrated on non-competitive, just-for-fun runs.
“My thing was, if we’re going to be serious about this sport and dedicate a lot of our life to it, then we should have an organization that’s catering to our people.” He founded We Run Kings in 2016, for the culture.
“If we’re going to be serious about this sport and dedicate a lot of our life to it, then we should have an organization that’s catering to our people.”
Since its inception in 2016, We Run Kings (which goes by TeamWRK — “teamwork” — for short) has trained more than 250 people with individualized regimens, plus coaching on how to incorporate running into their daily lives.
“It’s very holistic,” says Jennifer, 32, of the group’s monthly memberships. “It’s not just the running; it’s the sleeping, the nutrition, and how you balance running with family and your career. Because if you’re gonna race and you want to meet your goals, then you have to make sacrifices.”
Amid COVID-19 restrictions, We Run Kings had switched to virtual sessions and check-in calls for a few months, but with the city’s Phase 1 reopening, the organization recently resumed group training.
Meeting in Prospect Park on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings (during winter months they use an indoor track in Park Slope), the coaches split up runners based on ability levels: fast, faster and fastest. “If you’re out there running, then we see you as an athlete,” Jennifer says. “No one’s slow.”
Running in community has formed tight bonds. “We not only celebrate our running accomplishments, but we go to each other’s barbecues and kids’ birthday parties,” says Joe. “It’s a very supportive network, like a little family.”
With running among the few outdoor activities that were allowed during quarantine, We Run Kings has seen an uptick in interest — though Joe and Jennifer hope the group’s visibility has played a part too.
“It's important to have visibility in these sports just to let others know what's possible,” says Joe, who, along with Jennifer, also trains some of the homeless youth they both work with in their social service day jobs.
But the fear of “running while Black” is real, horrifically evidenced this year by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased by armed white residents as he jogged through a South Georgia neighborhood. “Kids don't feel like they are able to go for a casual 20-minute run,” Joe says.
“There is a fear of being targeted by police or being associated with, like, running from some kind of criminal activity.” Though safety is always a concern, Joe encourages Black communities to reclaim spaces that are rightfully theirs.
“We often as Black people feel like we need to justify our reason for being somewhere, but no — you are entitled to take up space. And you don’t have to explain that to anybody.” —By Morgan Carter
